Excerpt from “And the Forest Floor Ran Red: The French and Indian War” by Harold D. Weaver (Pittsburgh: Fort, 2007)
Out of the three campaigns planned for 1759, the Niagara Campaign under the command of General John Prideaux was the most ambitious, covered the most area, and relied upon the new Iroquois allies the most. This last issues was the most concerning to anyone who understood the British plans: while the other two expeditions to be conducted that year relied on the skills of rangers to serve as scouts, Prideaux had to depend upon the Iroquois to supply him with intelligence, with warriors, and keep the French from gaining word of his advance on Fort Niagara. If any slipup occurred regarding any of these matters, the entire campaign would be a loss and the British would find themselves back to where they started the year, with the farthest control in the area surrounding Albany. It was this steady reliance on the Iroquois that resulted in Sir William Johnson being named Prideaux’s second in command, a move that delighted the commander[1]. Upon his arrival at Fort Stanwix, in fact, Johnson greeted him with five hundred warriors ready for battle; by the time the campaign was underway that number would swell to a thousand, four-fifths of the total military strength of the Iroquois nation by modern estimates[2].
As with supplying men and intelligence, the Iroquois also held their word in regards to information making it back to the French. Ever since the loss of control at the Forks of the Ohio, the French planned to make a move to recapture them. Lignery[3] was still at Fort Machault with the troops that had abandoned the Forks, and when no word reached the commander of Fort Niagara, Captain Pierre Pouchot[4], of any British movements from the east he sent the majority of the forces under his command down Lake Erie to join Lignery’s command. Pouchot was stunned, therefore, when he learned that on July 6th Prideaux’s forces were not only moving on his fort, but that they were within four miles of his location. He had fewer than 500 men to defend a position against a force of 3,300 men, nine hundred of which were Iroquois warriors. He sent a messenger southward pleading with Lignery to send reinforcements, but could only watch helplessly as the British siege trenches came closer and closer to the fort, soon within cannon range.
In an effort to buy more time for the arrival of reinforcements, Pouchot called for a three day truce to allow members of the Seneca tribe taking shelter in the fort to discuss with those under British command. The members of the Seneca tribe in the fort did not know that neutrality had been ended, and over the next three days discussion, debate, and argument Johnson, and Iroquois war chiefs, and Kaendaé[5], the chief of the Seneca in the fort, over what course the Iroquois should take. The argument was won by the British, and on July 14th those in the fort left under a flag of truce to a location two miles to the south of the fort, known as La Belle-Famille[6].
Siege warfare continued under Prideaux’s command, until the evening of the 20th when they were within eighty yards of the fort. Bombardment continued, even when Prideaux himself was killed on the evening of the 20th, when he stepped in front of a mortar while it was being fired, resulting in a messy decapitation[7]. Johnson took over command, despite little military experience, and continued well until three days later, when French reinforcements arrived to the south. A force of 1600 men under the command of Lignery had marched northward and had arrived before the fall of the fort. Johnson immediately issued two orders: the first was to detach about 450 men to construct defenses blocking the road to the fort a few miles to the south, at La Belle-Famille. His second order, perhaps the more important of the two, was to send a delegation of Iroquois spokesmen to convince Lignery’s own Indian allies to stand down and not participate in what was surely to be an upcoming battle[8].
The following morning, the French force advanced towards the British defense. It was obvious, however, that the Iroquois had succeeded in their mission: only eight hundred men marched upon the breastworks. Under fire from both British troops at the breastworks and Iroquois warriors along the side of the road, the French charged while still trying to deploy into lines. The results were devastating for the French: around 200 dead, 150 wounded and taken prisoner, while the rest fled into the woods. More than likely they were captured by the Iroquois, and with Johnson in command, he let them do what they wanted to[9].
In the short term, this victory guaranteed the fall of Fort Niagara. Pouchot surrendered on the 26th after Johnson guaranteed his men safety from the Iroquois. Johnson, meanwhile, secured the fort and set about creating peaceable relations with the Indian nations in the surrounding areas. Long term, even though Johnson failed to complete the rest of the planned campaign by moving on Montreal, the campaign was a success. The construction of a new fort, Ontario, at the site of Oswego strengthened British control along Lake Ontario and the Great Lakes beyond. The interior French positions had been permanently cut off; by August effective French military control extended only 115 miles upriver from Montreal[10], not even reaching the Great Lakes. The French gradually lost Indian allies in the area as Iroquois diplomats convinced villages and whole tribes to not come to the aid of the French in the ongoing conflict. Of the three British campaigns, the most complex, while not carried out the way it was planned originally, was a British success.
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[1] This appointment makes sense; Wolfe's route involves no overland movement, while Amherst moves through a small section of Iroquoia in what is now New Hampshire and Vermont. If there is anyone who will need the British's most experienced Indian diplomat, especially when dealing with the Iroquois, it would be Prideaux
[2] Taken from
"The War That Made America" by Fred Anderson; I will take his word for it, since I wasn't able to confirm this with another source. Regardless, it is an impressive show of force, one that should prove to the British that the Iroquois have put all their chips on the table and don't plan to back out
[3] See the update regarding the capture of the Fork for information on Lignery
[4] Born in 1712, Pierre Pouchot joined the French army in 1733. He saw action in Europe in Italy, Flanders, and what is now Germany during the various wars, such as the Austrian Succession. In 1754 his unit was sent to Canada to defend it from the British; during this time he was at Fort Frontenac, Fort Niagara (to create its defenses), saw action at the Battle of Fort Oswego in 1756, helped in the construction of defenses at Montreal, Fort Carillon, and Fort Frontenac. He was then given comand of Niagara again before being sent back to Montreal before being sent back to Niagara for the last time a few months before the events of this update. The guy made it around a lot
[5] Besides the information provided above, that he was the chief of the Seneca around the Fort Niagara area, nothing else is known about Kaendaé
[6] I am not sure why this location recieved such a name; if anyone has any knowledge about it let me know, I will fix the footnote and give credit where it is due
[7] You can't make this stuff up - as much as I would love to take credit for it, this did in fact take place; a hell of a way to go
[8] This is a move that few British commanders, perhapse only Johnson and Forbes, would have understood
[9] Some would be taken captive and held as replacements for lost members of the tribe; others would suffer a worse fate (as should be obvious by this point)
[10] Around what is now
Oswegatchie, New York