Dieskau orders his Canadians and natives to…
September 1755 CE
However, with their morale already shaken by the loss of their leader, the Caughnawagas "did not wish to attack an entrenched camp, the defenders of which included hundreds of their Mohawk kinsmen. The Abenakis would not go forward without the Caughnawagas, and neither would the Canadians".( Anderson, Fred, Crucible of War: The Seven Years War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754–1766, Faber and Faber Limited, London, 2000, p. 118).
Hoping to shame the natives into attacking, Dieskau forms his two hundred and twenty-two French grenadiers into a column, six abreast, and leads them in person along the Lake Road into the clearing where Johnson's camp is, around which Sir William had hurriedly constructed defensive barricades from whatever materials were at hand.
Once the grenadiers are out in the open ground, the British gunners, crewing Johnson's three cannons, load up with grapeshot and cut through the French ranks.
When Johnson is wounded and forced to retire to his tent for treatment, General Phineas Lyman takes over command.
When Dieskau goes down with a serious wound, the French attack is abandoned.
After the French withdrawal, the British find about twenty severely wounded Frenchmen who are lying too close to the field of fire of Johnson's artillery for their comrades to retrieve them.
They include Baron Dieskau, who had paid the price of leading from the front with a shot through the bladder.
His fall causes great dismay, particularly to the French native allies.
People
Groups
Iroquois (Haudenosaunee, also known as the League of Peace and Power, Five Nations, or Six Nations)
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Maliseet, or Wolastoqiyik, people (Amerind tribe)
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Abenaki people (Amerind tribe)
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Mi'kmaq people (Amerind tribe)
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Christians, Roman Catholic
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Mohawk people (Amerind tribe)
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Wabanaki Confederacy
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Passamaquoddy (Amerind tribe)
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New France (French Colony)
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Anglicans (Episcopal Church of England)
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Puritans
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France, (Bourbon) Kingdom of
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New York, Province of (English Colony)
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Massachusetts, Province of (English Crown Colony)
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Britain, Kingdom of Great
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Nova Scotia (British Colony)
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