The war referred to is the French and Indian war, or the Seven Year’s War, which was fought between 1754 and 1760. It is not a war that looms large in the American consciousness today. In fact, I don’t remember hearing about it at all in history class. In this war, the American colonists fought alongside the British, against the French Canadians and their Indian allies. One of the main reasons this war was important to the future of the United States was that a young soldier named George Washington was a participant. He did not exactly cover himself in glory in this war, but he did learn from it.
There were two things that stuck me from this book. The first was that, at this point in time, the colonists thought of themselves as loyal Englishmen. They were therefore predisposed to think of the Catholic French Canadians as the enemy. The second thing was the involvement of the various Native tribes and the Five Nations. This was not always a straight forward matter of which tribe was aligned with what country. Not only did the various tribes have differing opinions on the long-term benefits of an alliance with either European power, but sometimes individuals had a view different from the rest of their tribe!
Another thing to keep in mind is that, while French and British troop, colonists, and Native Americans were fighting each other in the New World, hostilities had broken out in the Old World as well. When the war ended, the boundary lines in Europe went back to where they had been before the war, but almost all of the territory of New France came under British rule. So, Canada and the American colonies were both under British rule at that point, for a while, anyway!
If this was your family, how would you research them? Since any colonists who served in this war did so either under the French or English flag, there are no “official” United States records. Any records should be in the local historical society of wherever your ancestor was living at the time. There is a lineage society, open to men, called the General Society of Colonial Wars. Men who have an ancestor who served in any wars fought in what would become the United States between the establishment of Jamestown, and the Battle of Lexington, are eligible to join. Not every state has a chapter, however.