Battle of Fort Niagara

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Coordinates: 43°15′46″N 79°03′48″W / 43.262691°N 79.063314°W / 43.262691; -79.063314

Battle of Fort Niagara Part of the French and Indian War Fort Niagara Date 6–26 July 1759 Location near Youngstown, New York Result British-Iroquois victory Belligerents [1]France Great Britain Iroquois Confederacy Commanders Pierre Pouchot John Prideaux † William Johnson Sayenqueraghta Strength 486 2,000 regular 1,000 militia 945 Iroquois Casualties and losses 109 killed or wounded 377 captured 239 killed or wounded

v • d • e Seven Years' War in North America: The French and Indian War Jumonville Glen – Fort Necessity – Fort Beauséjour – Monongahela – Lake George – Fort Bull – Fort Oswego – Kittanning – First Snowshoes –  – Fort William Henry – Bloody Creek – German Flatts – Second Snowshoes – Louisbourg – Fort Carillon – Fort Frontenac – Fort Duquesne – Fort Ligonier – La Belle-Famille – Fort Niagara – Ticonderoga – Beauport – Quebec – St. Francis – Sainte-Foy – Restigouche – Thousand Islands – Signal Hill

The Battle of Fort Niagara was one of the final battles in the French and Indian War, the North American theatre of the Seven Years' War. The British attack on Fort Niagara was part of a campaign to remove French fortifications from the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley regions, allowing for a western invasion of New France in conjunction with General Wolfe's invasion to the east.

In early June, Pouchot sent 2,500 of his 3,000 men to prepare for engagements in the Ohio valley. Having secured Fort Oswego the previous month, Brigadier General, John Prideaux arrived at Fort Niagara on 6 July with 2,500 men. The French had about one hundred Iroquois allies at the Fort who deserted when the British arrived. Captain Pouchot directed a vigorous defense that claimed Prideaux's life several days into the siege. Command of the British army fell to Sir William Johnson. The French capitulated on July 26 after a French relief force was defeated at the Battle of La Belle-Famille two miles south of the fort. After a 20-day siege, a British army under Brigadier General, John Prideaux forced the surrender of Fort Niagara from the French on 26 July 1759.

[edit] Aftermath

Following the loss of Fort Niagara, manpower shortages (General Montcalm had assembled the remnants of New France's military in Quebec City in anticipation of the decisive British blow) compelled the French to withdraw their depleted garrisons from Fort St. Frédéric and even from Fort Carillon, so famously held from the British the previous summer. Although the easy water route to Montreal and the St. Lawrence Valley via Lake Champlain now lay open, French resistance at Niagara and elsewhere had sufficiently delayed the battle to prolong the war for another year and to allow the Chevalier de Lévis to fight one last battle for the reclamation of Quebec in 1760.

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

• Dunnigan, Brian Leigh (1996). Siege - 1759, The Campaign against Niagara. ISBN 0-941967-15-8.