History of the French and Indian War #1

1755-The French and Indian War: History #2

Part II

By August 1755 The situation had settled to a certain degree into a typical war-like state. Except that there was still no official declaration of war made as of yet.
Dieskau, commanding the French forces in America, had taken the advise of Governour Vaudreuil and decided that the English forts at Oswego were a menace and needed to be removed. The Regiments of Guyenne and Bearn had already been sent to Fort Niagara, and now Dieskau had te Regiments of La Reine and Languedoc marching west towards Oswego. But before these regiments reached La Presentation (present Ogdensburg, NY) the French had finall translated the documents that were captured on the field of battle during Braddock's defeat at Duquesne. These papers gave the entire English military plans for the rest of the year, and part of that plan was a concerted march of forces up the Lake George/Lake Champlain corridor.
Dieskau recalled the regiments of La Reine and Languedoc and re-routed them south to Fort St. Frederic which stood at Crown Point on Lake Champlain.
After receiving information that the English had assembled a force at Fort Lydius (later Fort Edward, NY), Dieskau decided to make a defense of an offense. He gathered 200 men from the two regiments he had at his disposal. (most books claim that he took only the Grenadier regiment of each company, but this is not entirely true, as:
1) The actual Grenadier companies from each of the regiments were captured aboard the Lys, and so Dieskau had only temporarily created a Grenadier company in each regiment from the remaining men for this most recent purpose, and,
2) The number of men in a company at that time ranged close to a total of 35 soldiers (in a full complement), and since Dieskau curiously left most of the officers behind, there must have been nearly 130 men taken from companies other than his new Grenadiers)
He also brought with him approximately 600 Indians and 600 Canadians. This force travelled south via Batteaux, and then marched to the steps of Fort Lydius. However, after reaching Fort Lydius, Dieskau was forced to change his plans of attack because the Iroquois he had with him refused to attack the fort. Instead, he agreed to march on to the south shore of Lake Saint Sacrament (Lake George) and attack the force of men under the Sir William Johnson.
The French force marched some leagues when it became apparent that an English detachment was marching towards them on the road. Dieskau immediately set forth a plan. He sent the Canadians and Indians to hide in the woods on each side of the road while he and the French regiments would stand in their ranks on the road. When the English marched before them and began the engagement, the Indians and Canadians would begin firing, and the entrapped English would be defeated. Whether Dieskau had learned this tactic from the reports of the Duquesne affair, or he had some council from an Indian or Canadian we do not know. It was, however a remarkable plan based on the rigid adherence of most French and English commanders to military habit even in the unfamiliar, and obviously different American frontiers. The plan almost worked.
Before the English were totally encircled, however, the story goes, an Indian recognized other Iroquois with the English party and let out a warning. It was considered sacriledge for Iroquois to kill Iroquois, so this story is believable. But the warning did not entirely save the English. As soon as the warning went out, and the French realized what was happening, the firing commenced. According to Dieskau, the English line "went down like a stack of cards". For some time it seemed to be Braddock all over again. The English, realizing that they were being decimated began a fairly disorderly retreat.
The French made chase all the way to the English camp at the base of the lake. Here the English put up their defenses. Behind a hastily constructed wall of wood, carts, and other rudiments the English began to return fire with their guns, and cannon. Seeing that the English were well entrenched, the Indians and Canadians faded into the woods and almost out of the fighting. But Dieskau did not retreat. The French forces continued fighting with the sporadic help of the Canadians (who, more used to the Indian style of fighting, must have considered attacking an enemy in the open pure suicide). But now it was the English turn for victory. Dieskau was shot, and his troops began to fall into disarray.
The Baron de Dieskau, hours after his first victory in Canada was captured by the English, and now leaderless, and failing miserably, the French were forced to retreat. They returned to Fort Frontenac tired, haggard, and not having eaten for several days. This was the last battle for either side in that theatre for 1755. However, the English still had one huge victory that year, and that was in Acadia.

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