Battle
The main contingent of Natives were 300 Kahnawake, also referred to as Caughnawaga in contemporary accounts. (The Kahnawake were Mohawks who had earlier been converted to Christianity by Jesuit missionaries.) They were nominally commanded by Captain Dominique Ducharme of the Indian Department, with Lieutenants Isaac LeClair and J.B. de Lorimier. There were also 100 Mohawks under Captain William Johnson Kerr. They set up ambushes in a thickly wooded area 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east of Beaver Dams. FitzGibbon with 46 men of the 49th Regiment of Foot was in reserve.
Early on 24 June, the Americans climbed what locals have always called "the mountain" at St. David's, and proceeded along the Mountain Road leading to the Beaver Dams settlement. As they approached Ten Mile Creek, they became aware of Natives closing in on their flanks and rear, but Boerstler did not change his plans. When the Natives opened fire, Boerstler was wounded and placed in one of the wagons. By American accounts, they put the Mohawks to flight and fought their way out of the woods into open fields where they could use their artillery and the Natives were not at such an advantage, although this account is not supported by other witnesses.
At this point, FitzGibbon intervened. Addressing Boerstler under a flag of truce, he claimed that the Americans were outnumbered and surrounded, and that if they did not surrender he would be unable to restrain the natives from slaughtering the entire American force. The wounded Boerstler capitulated to Major de Haren of the 104th Regiment, who had just arrived on the field with another detachment of British regulars from Twelve Mile Creek.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Beaver Dams
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