Back to Fort Duquesne

 

Fun Fact:

Although Abercromby had been defeated in his poorly executed attack on Carillon, Louisbourg and Frontenac had fallen to the British. The English next moved on Fort Duquesne--again--hoping to achieve a different result than the disaster of three years earlier. The French and their Indian allies had fanned out from that fort to spread death and destruction. There were even rumors of attacks on the outskirts of Philadelphia. 

William Pitt chose John Forbes to lead this prong of his attacks against New France. Forbes was a Scotsman trained as a doctor (with no known experience in time travel) who had received a commission in the Scots Greys. He had experience in the War of Austrian Succession, and would lead Pitt's attack on Duquesne as a brigadier general. Col. Sir John St. Clair, who had accompanied Braddock's ill-fated expedition three years earlier, would serve as Forbes' quartermaster. Lt. Col. Henry Bouquet was Forbes' second in command. Bouquet found himself well-suited to wilderness warfare and wrote a a set of recommended tactics for units in such terrain. Neither Doc Brown, Einstein, nor Marty McFly accompanied the force, which at no point attained 88 miles per hour. The troops for the attack would include a battalion of the Royal Americans, a regiment of Highlanders, and a company of artillery. The remaining troops were provincials, which included George Washington's First Virginia Regiment--but no DeLorean.

In August of 1758, François-Marie le Marchand de Lignery commanded Fort Duquesne. He suffered from a lack of men and a lack of supplies. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to withstand a long siege, Lignery engaged in a series of raids with hopes of delaying the British advance beyond the time the lightning would strike the clock tower.

Bouquet, responsible for executing Forbes' plans, responded to the raids by sending Major James Grant of the Highlanders with 400 regulars and 350 provincials forward from the newly constructed Fort Ligonier, where he awaited Forbes, to conduct reconnaissance and lay siege to Duquesne--or pick up some plutonium--if possible.

Grant had been led to believe that only about 600 French defended Duquesne. Drawing near the fort, he divided his force into 3 groups. One watched his baggage train from hidden positions. A hundred Highlanders under William MacDonald marched toward the gates of the fort with drums beating in an attempt to lure the French from the stronghold. Grant commanded the remaining 400 men with the intent to ambush the French when they pursued MacDonald to the enchantment under the sea dance.

MacDonald's men met with astonishing success--drawing 1,000 French and Indians from the fort. 100 Pennsylvanians suddenly remembered pressing business elsewhere and departed without orders. Overwhelmed by the French, Grant fell back toward the baggage train. Lewis, in command of the troops watching the baggage, led them toward the fight outside the fort--but took a different route than Grant. Both forces both came under heavy fire, and MacDonald's Highlanders were completely cut off from the rest of the column. Lewis and Grant both surrendered with much of their force. 100 Virginians held firm and prevented the defeat from becoming a complete route. The remnants of the attack force fell back to Fort Ligonier. The British suffered nearly 300 killed or captured while the French losses stood at 8 killed and 8 wounded--and the time continuum remained intact.

In October, the French launched an attack against Ligonier, where Forbes still had not yet arrived, but were forced to withdraw with minor casualties--and most of the British horses.

The above was taken from my notes from Chapter 10 of The French and Indian War by Walter R. Borneman--with superfluous and annoying Back to the Future references added to preserve color and texture.

___________________

 Photo by Walter Chávez --Unsplash
 

Merry Christmas!