Thirty-First Annual War College of the Seven Years’ War

Fort Ticonderoga presents the Thirty-First Annual War College of the Seven Years’ War over three days, Friday–Sunday, May 21–23, 2027. Since its beginning in 1996, the War College has become a venue for historians on subjects related to the Seven Years’ War in North America and beyond, drawing speakers and participants from across North America and Europe.

Friday, May 21, 2027
- 5:30–6:30 p.m. Reception
- 7:00 p.m. Opening Session

Saturday, May 22, 2027
- 9:00 a.m. Welcome
- 9:15–9:45 a.m. Not the Only War in the World — The global scope of the Seven Years’ War is well-known, yet it was not the only war in the world at the time. This presentation introduces and analyzes three other contemporary conflicts: the Burmese-Thai war of 1759–1760; the Afghan-Maratha war that culminated in the Third Battle of Panipat (1761); and the final Qing Chinese assault on the Zunghar state (1755–1757). Although these conflicts may initially seem unrelated to the Seven Years’ War, examining them enhances understanding of the war itself. Mark H. Danley, Ph.D., M.L.I.S., is a member of Princeton Research Forum, a community of independent scholars in the Princeton, NJ, area and beyond. He publishes in history and library and information science. His previous publications include chapters in Seven Years’ War: Global Views, a volume he edited with Dr. Patrick Speelman.
- 10:00–10:30 a.m. Moving the Military Machine Westward: Colonel Henry Bouquet and His Provincial Staff during the Forbes Expedition, 1758–1759 — Three years after the unsuccessful Braddock’s Expedition, the 1758 Forbes Expedition established a new military road across Pennsylvania’s rugged backcountry to secure the forks of the Ohio from the French. General John Forbes entrusted Colonel Henry Bouquet with overseeing construction of the road and movement of the British Army. This session explores how Bouquet used a Provincial staff to move the British military machine westward toward Fort Duquesne. Timothy C. Hemmis is an Associate Professor of American History at Texas A&M University-Central Texas.
- 10:45–11:15 a.m. Canadian Sons of Vauban: French Military Engineers in New France during the Seven Years’ War — During the Seven Years’ War, France employed 17 military engineers to defend its North American colonies of Canada and Isle Royale (Cape Breton Island). This was an unprecedented concentration of military engineers in the service of the French Crown in America. The session presents the individual and collective careers of these engineers within the French military apparatus and examines the integration of these heirs of Vauban into the Royal Army before, during, and after their assignment to New France. Michel Thévenin recently completed his Ph.D. in History at Laval University (Québec). His research focuses on siege warfare and military engineering in New France during the Seven Years’ War.
- 11:30 a.m.–1:45 p.m. Lunch break (box lunch from America’s Fort Café included).
- 1:00–1:30 p.m. Book signing at the Museum Store in the Log House.
- 2:00–2:30 p.m. The Greater New York We Fought For: Map Horns as Lieu de Mémoire in the Seven Years’ War — Fort Ticonderoga’s collection includes map horns—professionally made powder horns—that map the New York front, showing the Lake George campaign and the Mohawk River axis, with Albany and New York City at the bottom. Their detail and similarity suggest they came from a workshop or collective of artists, possibly in New York City. These maps are not practical navigation tools, but portable lieux de mémoire of the war: representations of where it was fought, where the owners served, and where the lines of civilization ended and the wilderness began. More than decorative artwork, they are symbols of a world colonial soldiers were fighting to enact. Thomas Lecaque is an associate professor of history at Grand View University. John Wyatt Greenlee is a professional mapmaker with a doctorate in medieval studies from Cornell University.
- 2:45–3:15 p.m. Bodies and Burials of the Seven Years’ War — While hundreds of thousands of soldiers and sailors are estimated to have died in the Seven Years’ War, only a handful of burial sites from the war have been identified and analyzed. This presentation surveys research on burials and human remains from the war across Europe and colonial theatres, showing how studying death and the dead provides insight into health and standards of living among eighteenth-century soldiers and sailors. Erica Charters is Professor of Health and Civic Life at UNC (Chapel Hill).
- 3:30–5:00 p.m. Fort Ticonderoga Museum, King’s Garden, and Museum Store open.
- 5:00 p.m. Dinner at America’s Fort Café (pre-registration only).

Sunday, May 23, 2027
- 9:00–9:30 a.m. Records of Conquest: The Fate of French Archives after the Fall of New France — The integration of New France into the British Empire marked a major geopolitical shift and displaced thousands of people. Personal and public papers were also displaced, and archives were established in France and the new British Province of Quebec. This presentation investigates the records’ itineraries and their roles in shaping a new political order after the Seven Years’ War. Riley Wallace is a doctoral candidate at McGill University.
- 9:45–10:15 a.m. The American Revolutionary War from Afar — Historians typically portray the Revolutionary War in the West as disconnected from the “real” Revolution that began on the Eastern Seaboard. This narrative was also the first narrative of the American Revolution: it reflects how the British high command in London understood American society and the Revolution in its early stages. Looking at Revolutionary America from afar—from Indian country in the West, London in the East, and 250 years in the future—shows two different American Revolutions in the East and West. By contrast, Revolutionary Americans understood the war in both regions as one and the same, militarily, politically, and ideologically. Guy Chet is Professor of early-American history at the University of North Carolina, serving in the School of Civic Life & Leadership.
- 10:30–11:00 a.m. From Bloodthirsty Assassin to American Cincinnatus: George Washington as the French Knew Him, 1754–1783 — George Washington was eventually celebrated in France as a great hero of liberty during the American Revolution, but he first entered French consciousness as the vicious murderer of Jumonville, referring to the 1754 events at “Jumonville’s Glenn” at the outset of the Seven Years’ War. This presentation traces Washington’s transformation in French eyes from a murderous Englishman to an honorable American, and examines how the French fashioned his image to reflect their own concerns and longings. Dr. Julia Osman is an Associate Professor at Mississippi State University and is working on a book about the French soldier of the old regime.
- 11:30 a.m. Lunch (box lunch from America’s Fort Café included).

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