The Battle of La Belle-Famille occurred on July 24, 1759, during the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

along the

Niagara River The Niagara River () is a river that flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the province of Ontario in Canada (on the west) and the state of New York (state), New York in the United States (on the east) ...

portage trail.

François-Marie Le Marchand de Lignery François-Marie Le Marchand de Lignery (24 August 1703 – 29 July 1759) was a colonial military leader in the French province of Canada. Active in the defense of New France during the Seven Years' War (also known as the French and Indian War), ...

's French relief force for the besieged French garrison at

Fort Niagara Fort Niagara is a fortification originally built by New France to protect its interests in North America, specifically control of access between the Niagara River and Lake Ontario, the easternmost of the Great Lakes. The fort is on the river's e ...

fell into Eyre Massey's British and

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

ambush. This action formed part of the larger

Battle of Fort Niagara The Battle of Fort Niagara was a siege late in the French and Indian War, the North American theatre of the Seven Years' War. The British siege of Fort Niagara in July 1759 was part of a campaign to remove French control of the Great Lakes and Oh ...

. The British knew of the French approach well in advance and constructed a breastwork across the road about two miles south of Fort Niagara. The French were ambushed, their force was routed, with many casualties. Captain Le Marchand de Lignery was mortally wounded in the battle.Severance, p. 321.

Background

British General

Jeffery Amherst Field Marshal Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst, (29 January 1717 – 3 August 1797) was a British Army officer and Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in the British Army. Amherst is credited as the architect of Britain's successful campaign ...

made plans for the 1759 military campaigns of the

that included an expedition to capture

, a major French military and supply point between the French

province of Canada The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British North America, British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham ...

and their forts in the Ohio Country. Amherst chose Brigadier General

John Prideaux John Prideaux (7 September 1578 – 29 July 1650) was an English academic and Bishop of Worcester. Early life The fourth son of John and Agnes Prideaux, he was born at Stowford House in the parish of Harford, near Ivybridge, Devon, England, ...

to lead the expedition, which was accompanied by

Sir William Johnson Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet of New York ( – 11 July 1774), was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Ireland. As a young man, Johnson moved to the Province of New York to manage an estate purchased by his uncle, Royal Na ...

, the British Indian agent who led the expedition's Iroquois forces. Prideaux arrived at Fort Niagara on July 6 and immediately began siege operations. On July 20, Prideaux was killed when struck by a shell fragment thrown from one of his own guns, and Sir William took over the siege operations. Fort Niagara had been largely constructed under the direction of Captain

Pierre Pouchot Captain Pierre Pouchot (April 8, 1712 – 1769) was a French military engineer and officer in the French regular army. He was born at Grenoble, France, son of a merchant. In 1733 he joined the regular army as a volunteer engineer and on May 1, 173 ...

of the French Army. In early 1759, General

Louis-Joseph de Montcalm Louis-Joseph de Montcalm-Grozon, Marquis de Montcalm de Saint-Veran (28 February 1712 – 14 September 1759) was a French soldier best known as the commander of the forces in North America during the Seven Years' War (whose North American th ...

and New France's Governor, the

Marquis de Vaudreuil The Marquis de Vaudreuil may refer to: *Philippe de Rigaud de Vaudreuil (1643–1702), governor of Montréal then of New France * Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil (1698–1778), last governor-general of New France * Louis-Philippe de Rigaud, Marquis of ...

, sent him with about 2,500 men to fortify Niagara. About 500 men had wintered there. Pouchot, under orders from Vaudreuil, sent many of those men south to

Fort Machault Fort Machault (, ) was a fort built by the French in 1754 near the confluence of French Creek with the Allegheny River, in northwest Pennsylvania. (Present-day Franklin developed here later.) The fort helped the French control these waterways, ...

(later

Fort Venango Fort Venango, a small British fort built in 1760 near the present-day site of Franklin, Pennsylvania, replaced Fort Machault, a French fort built at the confluence of French Creek and the Allegheny River. The French burned their fort in 1759 aft ...

) in mid-June as part of a plan to reinforce the French forts of the Ohio Country and attack the British at Fort Pitt. When the British arrived on July 6, he immediately dispatched messages to the south, requesting support. Captain Le Marchand de Lignery was organizing the French expedition against Fort Pitt from Fort Machault when Pouchot's appeal for help arrived on July 12. On that day, Lignery was trying to convince nearly 1,000 Indians to join in the planned attack against Fort Pitt. Johnson had sent messages to Fort Pitt, urging Indians there to join the British in attacking the French forts, and many Indians were unsure about which side to take. Lignery was able to rally support; when combined with forces under

Charles Philippe Aubry Charles-Philippe Aubry or Aubri (died February 17, 1770) was a French soldier and colonial administrator, who served as governor of Louisiana twice in the 18th century. Career Aubry began his military career in 1742, when he was commissioned as ...

, a large force left Fort Machault for Niagara. Messengers he sent to Pouchot also leaked news of their advance to the besieging British, who prepared an ambush. Before the action, the British native allies told their French counterparts that they intended to remain neutral in the upcoming clash. They wished that the French native allies would do likewise. This induced many of the French-allied Indians to desert.

Battle

Lignery and Aubry, in spite of their knowledge of Indian ways, apparently advanced without taking normal precautions against ambush, and marched right into a prepared trap.

Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

Massey of the 46th Foot commanded 464 British regulars to defend the trail running north from

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Falls, ...

. On the right flank covering the portage trail, Massey deployed about 130 men of the 46th in the La Belle Famille clearing. Thrown forward from the right flank, just above the river gorge, were the grenadiers of the 46th and a small detachment of the

44th Foot The 44th Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment in the British Army, raised in 1741. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 56th (West Essex) Regiment of Foot to form the Essex Regiment in 1881. History Early history The regimen ...

. To the left of the 46th, the converged light companies of the 44th, 46th, and 4th battalion of the

60th Foot The King's Royal Rifle Corps was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army that was originally raised in British North America as the Royal American Regiment during the phase of the Seven Years' War in North America known in the United St ...

took position. On the extreme left stood a detachment from the 44th and New York Regiment. Understanding that his enemies included a significant number of regulars, Massey ordered the redcoats to lie down and fix bayonets. As the French came out of the woods into the open, they immediately opened fire and began to deploy from column into line formation. Waiting until the French were within very close range, the British commander gave his troops the command to rise and fire. The 46th fired seven volleys, then advanced, firing at will. Massey later estimated that his men each fired about 16 rounds in the action. Meanwhile, the grenadier company's fire caught the French left flank in enfilade. When the French flinched before the deadly fire, the British attacked with the bayonet. French morale collapsed and the British-allied Iroquois rushed the survivors. The French began a panicked retreat, in which the British gave chase, according to one report, for as much as . French casualties were significant, including Lignery, who sustained a mortal wound. Massey was wounded.

Aftermath

Pouchot surrendered Fort Niagara on July 26 after it became clear the relief column had been driven off. Johnson, who was not present, wrote an account of the action which gave equal credit to the regulars and their native allies. To Massey's fury, this version reached the newspapers. The British officer later claimed that the tribesmen behaved "most dastardly" by slaughtering the wounded and those who were trying to surrender.Brumwell, p. 254

References

Printed materials

* Brumwell, Stephen. ''Redcoats: The British Soldier and War in the Americas, 1755-1763''. NY: Cambridge University Press, 2002. * Dunnigan, Brian Leigh, ''Siege - 1759, The Campaign against Niagara'', 1996,

External links

Frank Hayward Severance, ''An Old Frontier of France''

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Belle-Famille, Battle Of La Belle-Famille Conflicts in 1759 1759 in New France Battles involving France Pre-statehood history of New York (state) Battles involving Great Britain Battles involving the Iroquois 1759 in the Province of New York