Siege of Fort Massachusetts

Last updated
Siege of Fort Massachusetts
Part of King George's War
Date19–20 August 1746
Location
Result French-Indian victory
Belligerents
Royal Flag of France.svg  New France
Indian tribes
Red ensign of Great Britain (1707-1800, square canton).svg Massachusetts
Commanders and leaders
Royal Flag of France.svg François-Pierre Rigaud de Vaudreuil Red ensign of Great Britain (1707-1800, square canton).svg John Hawks [1]
Strength
1,000 22 men, 3 women, 5 children
Casualties and losses
1 killed, 16 wounded 30 prisoners, 14 survived

The siege of Fort Massachusetts (19-20 August 1746) was a successful siege of Fort Massachusetts (in present-day North Adams, Massachusetts) by a mixed force of more than 1,000 French and Native Americans from New France. The fort, garrisoned by a disease-weakened militia force from the Province of Massachusetts Bay, surrendered after its supplies of ammunition and gunpowder were depleted. Thirty prisoners were taken and transported back to Quebec, where about half of them died in captivity. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort William Henry</span> Fort in State of New York, at the shore of Lake George

Fort William Henry was a British fort at the southern end of Lake George, in the province of New York. The fort's construction was ordered by Sir William Johnson in September 1755, during the French and Indian War, as a staging ground for attacks against the French position at Fort St. Frédéric. It was part of a chain of British and French forts along the important inland waterway from New York City to Montreal, and occupied a key forward location on the frontier between New York and New France. In 1757, the French general Louis-Joseph de Montcalm conducted a successful siege that forced the British to surrender. The Huron warriors who accompanied the French army subsequently killed many of the British prisoners. The siege and massacre were portrayed in James Fenimore Cooper's novel The Last of the Mohicans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Fort Beauséjour</span> 1755 battle of the French and Indian War

The Battle of Fort Beauséjour was fought on the Isthmus of Chignecto and marked the end of Father Le Loutre's War and the opening of a British offensive in the Acadia/Nova Scotia theatre of the Seven Years' War, which would eventually lead to the end of the French colonial empire in North America..

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Bloody Run</span> Battle of Pontiacs War (1763)

The Battle of Bloody Run was fought during Pontiac's War on July 31, 1763, on what now is the site of Elmwood Cemetery in the Eastside Historic Cemetery District of Detroit, Michigan. In an attempt to break Pontiac's siege of Fort Detroit, about 250 British troops attempted to make a surprise attack on Pontiac's encampment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Fort Detroit</span> Siege during Pontiacs Rebellion

The siege of Fort Detroit was an ultimately unsuccessful attempt by North American Natives to capture Fort Detroit during Pontiac's Rebellion. The siege was led primarily by Pontiac, an Ottawa chief and military leader. This rebellion would be one of the catalysts that hastened the declaration of the Proclamation of 1763 which would eventually precipitate the events leading to the American Revolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beartown State Forest</span> Protected area in Massachusetts, United States

Beartown State Forest is a publicly owned forest with recreational features located in the towns of Great Barrington, Monterey, Lee, and Tyringham, Massachusetts. The state forest's more than 10,000 acres (4,000 ha) include 198 acres (80 ha) of recreational parkland. It is managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Governors Island (Massachusetts)</span>

Governors Island was an island in Boston Harbor in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The island was subsumed by land reclamation for the construction and extension of Logan International Airport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Konkapot River</span> River in the U.S. states of Massachusetts and Connecticut

The Konkapot River is a 22.1-mile-long (35.6 km) river in southwestern Massachusetts and northern Connecticut. It is a tributary of the Housatonic River, not to be confused with the smaller Konkapot Brook in Stockbridge. The river was named for Captain John Konkapot, an Indian chief.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Port Royal (1690)</span> Battle of King Williams War

The Battle of Port Royal occurred at Port Royal, the capital of Acadia, during King William's War. A large force of New England provincial militia arrived before Port Royal. The Governor of Acadia Louis-Alexandre des Friches de Menneval had only 70 soldiers; the unfinished enceinte remained open and its 18 cannon had not been brought into firing positions; 42 young men of Port-Royal were absent. Any resistance therefore appeared useless. Meneval surrendered without resistance not long after the New Englanders arrived. The New Englanders, led by Sir William Phips, after alleging Acadian violations of the terms of surrender, plundered the town and the fort.

Jonathan Eddy was an American military officer and politician who served in the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War. After the French and Indian War, he settled in Nova Scotia as a New England Planter, becoming a member of the General Assembly of Nova Scotia. During the American Revolutionary War, he was strongly supportive of the rebellion against the Crown. He encouraged the residents of Nova Scotia to join in open revolt against King George III and England. He led a failed attempt to capture Fort Cumberland in 1776 and was forced to retreat to Massachusetts, the place of his birth. The following year, he led the defense of Machias, Maine during the Battle of Machias (1777). After the war, he established the community now known as Eddington, Maine in 1784, where he died.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Tripoli (1551)</span> 1551 Ottoman siege and capture of Tripoli

The siege of Tripoli occurred in 1551 when the Ottoman Turks and Barbary pirates besieged and vanquished the Knights of Malta in the Red Castle of Tripoli, modern Libya. The Spanish had established an outpost in Tripoli in 1510, and Charles V remitted it to the Knights in 1530. The siege culminated in a six-day bombardment and the surrender of the city on 15 August.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Noble train of artillery</span> 1775–76 logistical feat during the American Revolutionary War

The noble train of artillery, also known as the Knox Expedition, was an expedition led by Continental Army Colonel Henry Knox to transport heavy weaponry that had been captured at Fort Ticonderoga to the Continental Army camps outside Boston during the winter of 1775–76.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Port Royal (1707)</span> 1707 engagement of Queen Annes War

The siege of Port Royal consisted of two separate attempts in 1707 by the British New England Colonies to conquer the French colony of Acadia by capturing its capital of Port-Royal during Queen Anne's War. Both attempts were made by colonial troops and were led by officers inexperienced in siege warfare. Led by governor of Acadia Daniel d'Auger de Subercase, the French garrison at Port-Royal easily withstood both attempts, assisted by Acadian militia and the Wabanaki Confederacy outside the fort.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Port Royal (1710)</span> Part of Queen Annes War

The siege of Port Royal, also known as the Conquest of Acadia, was a military siege conducted by British regular and provincial forces under the command of Francis Nicholson against a French Acadian garrison and the Wabanaki Confederacy under the command of Daniel d'Auger de Subercase, at the Acadian capital, Port Royal. The successful British siege marked the beginning of permanent British control over the peninsular portion of Acadia, which they renamed Nova Scotia, and it was the first time the British took and held a French colonial possession. After the French surrender, the British occupied the fort in the capital with all the pomp and ceremony of having captured one of the great fortresses of Europe, and renamed it Annapolis Royal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Pemaquid (1696)</span> Action of King Williams War

The siege of Pemaquid occurred during King William's War when French and Native forces from New France attacked the English settlement at Pemaquid, a community on the border with Acadia. The siege was led by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville and Baron de St Castin between August 14–15, 1696. Commander of Fort William Henry, Captain Pasco Chubb, surrendered the fort. Iberville killed three of the soldiers and sent the other 92 back to Boston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raid on Wells (1692)</span> Action of King Williams War

The Raid on Wells occurred during King William's War when French and Wabanaki Confederacy forces from New France attacked the English settlement at Wells, Maine, a frontier town on the coast below Acadia. The principal attack (1692) was led by La Brognerie, who was killed. Commander of the garrison, Captain James Converse, successfully repelled the raid despite being greatly outnumbered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Pemaquid (1689)</span> Action of King Williams War

The siege of Pemaquid was a successful attack by a large band of Abenaki Indians on the English fort at Pemaquid, Fort Charles, then the easternmost outpost of colonial Massachusetts. The French-Abenaki attack was led by Jean-Vincent d'Abbadie de Saint-Castin and Father Louis-Pierre Thury and Chief Moxus. The fall of Pemaquid was a significant setback to the English. It pushed the frontier back to Casco (Falmouth), Maine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Massachusetts (Massachusetts)</span>

Fort Massachusetts was the westernmost in a line of forts built by British colonists to protect the northern border of Massachusetts from French and Indian forces in 1745. It was constructed along the banks of the Hoosac River in what is currently North Adams, Massachusetts by a company of Massachusetts militiamen led by Captain Ephraim Williams. It consisted of a wooden stockade with a guard tower at each corner and a central blockhouse which was designed to be defensible if the walls were breached.

Fort Nichols was a fort that existed in 1775 in Amesbury, Massachusetts during the American Revolutionary War. It was also known as Fort Merrimac during its existence. Two possible locations for the fort exist. One is a location named Salisbury Point on modern topographic maps, where Interstate 95 crosses the Merrimack River; this is the location of the coordinates given. Another possibility is the mouth of the Merrimack at Salisbury Beach in Salisbury. One source (Heitman) states that the American Civil War Fort at Salisbury Point was built at the same location as Fort Nichols, which is given as "at Salisbury Point, opposite Newburyport". The Civil War fort was sometimes referred to as Fort Nichols by local civilians.

Camp Framingham is a former Massachusetts National Guard camp that existed in 1873 to 1944 in Framingham, Massachusetts, also called Camp Dalton or Fort Dalton until 1898. The camp was used by all units of the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia as their summer training ground. The camp also contained a state arsenal where weapons and equipment was stored and issued to units. Fort Dalton was a training battery from 1883 to 1898, 138 feet (42 m) long with two 10 in (254 mm) Rodman guns and four siege mortars. Camp Framingham was used as a mobilization station during the Spanish–American War, in June 1916 during the Mexican border call-up and in the summer of 1917 during World War I. Other names for the camp in the Spanish–American War were Camp McGuinness and Camp Dewey. From May 1942 to December 1943, Headquarters, 181st Infantry Regiment was stationed with its companies serving on coast patrol duty for the Eastern Defense Command in New England. In 1948, Camp Framingham was transferred from the Military Division to the Massachusetts State Police. Today, the Massachusetts State Police and the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency utilize portions of the former camp.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Fort-Louis (1793)</span> Siege of the War of the First Coalition

The siege of Fort-Louis saw a force composed of Habsburg Austrians, Hessians and Bavarians led by Franz von Lauer lay siege to Fort-Louis which was held by a Republican French garrison under Michel Durand. The French capitulated after a defense lasting exactly one month. The siege occurred during the War of the First Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars. In 1793 the fortress was sited on an island in the Rhine River, but today Fort-Louis is a village in the Bas-Rhin department in France.

References

  1. Michael D. Coe, The Line of Forts p.183
  2. Fort Massachusetts. Accessed 9 July 2022.

42°42′03″N73°06′33″W / 42.7008°N 73.1092°W / 42.7008; -73.1092