Battle of Fort Oswego (1756) - Battle

Battle

Montcalm's engineer went to survey the British defenses, accompanied by other officers and a party of Indians. One of the Indians, eager for a scalp, mistook the engineer for a British soldier at one point and shot him dead. Montcalm asked Pierre Pouchot to continue with the work of determining how to besiege the British positions.

On the night of August 11–12 the French opened siege trenches and began working toward Fort Ontario. The fort's defenders exchanged cannon and gunfire with the French colonists and Indians until late in the day on August 13, at which point, apparently under orders from Mercer, they abandoned the fort even before the siege trenches had reached their goal.

Immediately capitalizing on this, Montcalm occupied the fort and began the construction of batteries on the western edge of the height, where they could reach Fort Oswego's exposed east side. Moving with all speed, the French had nine working cannon established by the morning of August 14. When these opened fire on the exposed stonework of Fort Oswego, the walls crumbled under the onslaught. The garrison, whose cannon were all pointed away from the river (not expecting enemy fire to come from that direction), eventually turned their guns around, and the French fire was returned to some effect. However, Montcalm had ordered Rigaud to lead some men across the river upstream from the fortifications, and these men, who made an unopposed crossing under somewhat difficult conditions, appeared on the edge of the clearing outside Fort Oswego about the same time that Colonel Mercer was struck and killed by a French shell. After a short council Colonel John Littlehales, who took over command from Mercer, raised the white flag.