Monday, July 13, 2009

WESTERN / CENTRAL New York timeline / 1755-1759

1755
January
Governor William Shirley illegally promotes Captain John Bradstreet to lieutenant-colonel and orders him to organize all boat transport between Schenectady and Lake Ontario.

Apr 14
General Edward Braddock meets in Alexandria, Virginia, with the governors of Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, to plan strategy for attacks on French defenses.

August
New York and Massachusetts governor William Shirley learns of Braddock's defeat at the portage between the Mohawk River and Wood Creek, while Shirley's supervising troop movement to Fort Oswego.

State
The British build the sloops Ontario and Oswego at Fort Oswego.


1756
Mar 31
Secretary at War Fox writes to Shirley, relieving him of his command of British forces in America and recalling him to London.

May
Lieutenant Colonel John Bradstreet's troops move large amounts of supplies to Oswego. The garrison is down to around half-strength from last September.

Aug 2
French and Indians blockade the harbor at Fort Oswego.

Aug 10
Soldiers at Fort Oswego spot the body of a scalped comrade outside the works.

Aug 11
Colonel Mercer orders a small armored schooner to go out on Lake Ontario to scout the area. It quickly spots a large encampment and reports back. This afternoon Indian snipers begin firing at the fort from surrounding trees.

Aug 14
The French and Indians under Montcalm capture Fort Oswego and destroy it.

State
Before leaving to attack Oswego, Montcalm sends an advance force under Sieur Colon de Villiers to build a observation post at the Stony Creek portage above Black River Bay, off Lake Ontario.


1757
Jul 12
Soldier and New York State land agent Charles Williamson is born to Alexander and Christiana Robertson Williamson in Edenburg, Scotland.

State
The approximate date that Otetiani, given the same name as a nearby stream (Always Ready), is born at Canoga, near Waterloo; lives along the Genesee River as an adult. ** The Oneida civil chief Scarouady (Half King) dies.

London
William Smith's The History of the Province of New-York from the First Discovery to the Year M.DCC.XXXII is published.


1758
Jan 22
Banker and promoter Elkanah Watson is born in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Apr 5
Mary Jemison is taken from her parents' frontier farm near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by a Shawnee Indian raiding party. Her parents are killed; her two brothers escape. She’s taken on a forced march to the Pittsburgh area and given to two Seneca women to take the place of their dead brother.

State
Daniel Joncaire Sieur de Chabert settles on the south bank of the Buffalo River (Riviere aux Chevaux), site of the future Buffalo. ** Seneca chief Sa-go-ye-wath-a (Red Jacket) is born, probably somewhere in the Finger Lakes.


1759
Apr 21
Sir William Johnson, Baronet, convenes an Indian council at Canajoharie, rallies the Iroquois to attack the French at Fort Niagara. The Seneca, some of them from Ganuskago (Dansville), dependent on the British for ammunition and trade goods, agree to an alliance with them.

Jun 30
Colonel John Prideaux and Sir William Johnson leave Fort Oswego by boat to prepare the invasion of Fort Niagara. Among the party is Mohawk Joseph Brant, Johnson’s brother-in-law.

Jul 1
American, British and Indian forces embark at Oswego under the command of General John Prideaux.

Jul 6
The British under Prideaux and Johnson land four miles from Fort Niagara. ** A hostile party of Indians approaches Fort Niagara. Twelve Canadian volunteers and a small force under French captain Selviert are sent to investigate. They are fired upon and retreat, setting up a defense force outside the fort.

Jul 7
The French in Fort Niagara spot the British forces.

Jul 10
Little Fort Niagara, an outpost, is destroyed by its French troops.

Jul 17
The British begin firing on Fort Niagara.

Jul 20
Prideaux is killed by an explosion; Sir William Johnson assumes command.

Jul 24
The British defeat French relief forces under François de Ligneris outside Fort Niagara, beat off a second party from the fort.

Jul 25
The French, under François Pouchot, surrender Fort Niagara to British and colonial forces.

State
Daniel Joncaire Sieur de Chabert abandons his settlement at Buffalo Creek. Local lore has it that the French burned their ships near the spot now known as Burnt Ship Creek. ** The British build Fort Brewerton, where the Oneida River enters Oneida Lake.

Virginia
New York Indian scout and innkeeper Benjamin Patterson is born in the Blue Ridge country, his mother a cousin of Daniel Boone.


© 2009 David Minor / Eagles Byte

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