Battle of Fort Niagara

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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 of his 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 July 6 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 July 26, 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

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