The year 1758 marked a pivotal shift in the French and Indian War. After a string of disheartening setbacks in North America, the British government, now steered by Prime Minister the Duke of Newcastle and Secretary of State William Pitt, resolved to reverse its fortunes. Pitt, a figure of considerable ambition and strategic acumen, devised a comprehensive three-pronged strategy designed to strike at the heart of French power in the region. This plan called for coordinated offensives against three key French strongholds: Fort Duquesne in Pennsylvania, Fort Carillon (later known as Fort Ticonderoga) on Lake Champlain, and the formidable fortress of Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island. This ambitious undertaking represented a significant escalation of the conflict and a renewed commitment from the British crown.
A New Approach in North America
The year 1758 brought not only a change in strategy but also a shakeup in leadership. Lord Loudoun, deemed an ineffective commander, was replaced by Major General James Abercrombie, tasked with leading the central thrust up Lake Champlain. The command of the Louisbourg expedition was entrusted to Major General Jeffery Amherst, while Brigadier General John Forbes received the critical assignment of leading the campaign against Fort Duquesne.
Recognizing the need for a substantial military presence, Pitt orchestrated the deployment of a large number of British regulars to North America, bolstering the existing forces. These seasoned troops were further augmented by locally-raised provincial soldiers, increasing the size and strength of the British fighting force. While the British position was being reinforced, the French faced mounting challenges. The Royal Navy’s increasingly effective blockade severely hampered the flow of supplies and reinforcements to New France, steadily weakening its capacity to wage war.
Adding to the French woes, the forces under Governor Marquis de Vaudreuil and Major General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, Marquis de Saint-Veran, were further weakened by a devastating smallpox epidemic that ravaged their allied Native American tribes. This outbreak not only reduced the number of warriors available to the French but also strained relations with their indigenous allies, who felt betrayed by the perceived failure of French medicine. The epidemic served as a grim reminder of the vulnerability of both sides to the unpredictable forces of disease in the harsh North American environment. The French and Indian War raged on.
The British Go On The March
Abercrombie, having amassed a substantial force of approximately 7,000 regulars and 9,000 provincials at Fort Edward, initiated his advance across Lake George on July 5th. Reaching the far end of the lake the following day, the troops disembarked and prepared to march against Fort Carillon. Montcalm, facing a significantly smaller force, constructed a formidable network of fortifications in advance of the fort, creating a strong defensive line to repel the expected British assault.
Abercrombie, relying on flawed intelligence and displaying a lack of strategic foresight, ordered a frontal assault on the French defenses on July 8th, even before his artillery had arrived. This decision proved disastrous. Wave after wave of British soldiers were mowed down by the withering fire from the French entrenchments. The Battle of Carillon became a bloody debacle for the British, resulting in over 1,900 casualties compared to fewer than 400 for the French. Humiliated and defeated, Abercrombie retreated back across Lake George, his reputation severely tarnished.
Despite the crushing defeat at Carillon, Abercrombie managed to achieve a minor success later in the summer by dispatching Colonel John Bradstreet on a daring raid against Fort Frontenac. Bradstreet’s men successfully attacked the fort on August 26-27, seizing an estimated £800,000 worth of goods and severely disrupting communications between Quebec and the western French forts. This raid, though a small victory, demonstrated the vulnerability of French supply lines and contributed to the overall weakening of their position.
While the British suffered a major setback in New York, Amherst experienced greater success at Louisbourg. On June 8th, British forces, led by Brigadier General James Wolfe, executed a successful landing at Gabarus Bay, driving the French back towards the town. Amherst landed with the remainder of the army and his artillery, initiating a systematic siege of Louisbourg.
On June 19th, the British bombardment of the town commenced, steadily reducing its defenses. The destruction and capture of French warships in the harbor further hastened the town’s demise. With little remaining hope of resistance, the Louisbourg commander, the Chevalier de Drucour, surrendered on July 26th. The fall of Louisbourg marked a significant victory for the British, opening the St. Lawrence River to a potential attack on Quebec.
Pushing Through The Pennsylvania Wilderness
In Pennsylvania, Forbes was determined to avoid the disastrous fate that had befallen Major General Edward Braddock’s 1755 campaign against Fort Duquesne. Departing from Carlisle, PA, that summer, Forbes adopted a cautious approach, ordering his men to construct a military road and a series of forts to secure their lines of communication as they advanced westward.
As Forbes approached Fort Duquesne, he dispatched a reconnaissance force under Major James Grant to scout the French position. On September 14th, Grant’s men encountered the French and were soundly defeated. Following this setback, Forbes initially decided to postpone the assault on the fort until the spring. However, he later changed his mind after learning that the Native Americans were abandoning the French and that the garrison was poorly supplied due to Bradstreet’s raid on Fort Frontenac.
On November 24th, the French, realizing the hopelessness of their situation, blew up Fort Duquesne and retreated north to Venango. The following day, Forbes’s forces took possession of the site, and Forbes ordered the construction of a new fortification named Fort Pitt. Four years after Lieutenant Colonel George Washington’s surrender at Fort Necessity, the fort that had ignited the conflict was finally in British hands. This victory was a crucial step towards securing control of the Ohio Valley.
Rebuilding An Army
The French and Indian War saw its theatre expand to Europe, the allied fortunes improved in Western Europe. Following the Duke of Cumberland’s defeat at the Battle of Hastenbeck in 1757, he signed the Convention of Klosterzeven, demobilizing his army and withdrawing Hanover from the war.
This pact was unpopular in London and was quickly repudiated following Prussian victories that fall. Cumberland was replaced by Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, who began rebuilding the Allied army in Hanover. Ferdinand trained his men and confronted a French force led by the Duc de Richelieu. Ferdinand pushed back several French garrisons in winter quarters.
He recaptured the town of Hanover in February and cleared the electorate of enemy troops by the end of March. He conducted a campaign of maneuver to prevent the French from attacking Hanover for the remainder of the year. In May, his army was renamed His Britannic Majesty’s Army in Germany, and the first of 9,000 British troops arrived to reinforce the army in August. This deployment marked London’s firm commitment to the campaign on the Continent.
With Ferdinand’s army defending Hanover, the western border of Prussia remained secure, allowing Frederick II the Great to focus his attention on Austria and Russia.
Frederick vs. Austria & Russia
To secure additional support from his allies, Frederick concluded the Anglo-Prussian Convention on April 11, 1758. Reaffirming the earlier Treaty of Westminster, it also provided a £670,000 annual subsidy for Prussia. Frederick began the campaign season against Austria, believing the Russians would not pose a threat until later in the year.
After capturing Schweidnitz in Silesia in late April, he prepared for a large-scale invasion of Moravia, hoping to knock Austria out of the war. He laid siege to Olomouc. Despite the siege progressing well, Frederick was forced to break it off when a large Prussian supply convoy was badly beaten at Domstadtl on June 30. He then departed Moravia with 11,000 men and raced east to meet the approaching Russian threat.
Joining with Lieutenant General Christophe von Dohna’s forces, Frederick confronted Count Fermor’s 43,500-man army with a force of 36,000 on August 25. The Battle of Zorndorf was a long, bloody engagement that deteriorated into hand-to-hand fighting. The two sides suffered around 30,000 casualties combined. On August 27, the Russians withdrew, leaving Frederick to hold the field.
Returning his attention to the Austrians, Frederick found Marshal Leopold von Daun invading Saxony with around 80,000 men. Outnumbered, Frederick spent five weeks maneuvering against Daun. The two armies met on October 14, with the Austrians winning a clear victory at the Battle of Hochkirch.
Daun did not immediately pursue the retreating Prussians. Despite their victory, the Austrians were blocked in an attempt to take Dresden and fell back to Pirna. Frederick still held most of Saxony. In addition, the Russian threat had been greatly reduced. These successes came at a severe cost as the Prussian army was being badly depleted by mounting casualties. The French and Indian War was a global conflict.
Around the Globe
While the fighting raged in North America and Europe, the conflict continued in India, shifting south to the Carnatic region. The reinforced French at Pondicherry advanced, capturing Cuddalore and Fort St. David in May and June.
Concentrating their forces at Madras, the British won a naval victory at Negapatam on August 3, forcing the French fleet to remain in port for the remainder of the campaign. British reinforcements arrived in August, allowing them to hold the key post of Conjeveram.
Attacking Madras, the French forced the British from the town and into Fort St. George. They laid siege in mid-December but were forced to withdraw when additional British troops arrived in February 1759.
Elsewhere, the British began moving against French positions in West Africa. Encouraged by merchant Thomas Cummings, Pitt dispatched expeditions that captured Fort Louis in Senegal, Gorée, and a trading post on the Gambia River.
The capture of these outposts proved highly profitable in terms of confiscated goods and deprived French privateers of key bases in the eastern Atlantic. In addition, the loss of the West African trading posts deprived France’s Caribbean islands of a valuable source of slaves, damaging their economies.
To Quebec
After failing at Fort Carillon in 1758, Abercrombie was replaced with Amherst that November. Preparing for the 1759 campaign season, Amherst planned a major push to capture the fort while directing Wolfe to attack Quebec.
To support these efforts, smaller-scale operations were directed against the western forts of New France. Laying siege to Fort Niagara on July 7, British forces captured the post on the 28th. The loss of Fort Niagara, coupled with the earlier loss of Fort Frontenac, led the French to abandon their remaining posts in the Ohio Country.
By July, Amherst had assembled around 11,000 men at Fort Edward and began moving across Lake George on the 21st. Montcalm, facing a severe manpower shortage, withdrew most of the garrison north during the winter. Unable to reinforce the fort in the spring, he instructed the garrison’s commander, Brigadier General François-Charles de Bourlamaque, to destroy the fort and retreat in the face of a British attack.
Bourlamaque obeyed his orders and retreated on July 26 after blowing up part of the fort. Occupying the site the next day, Amherst ordered the fort repaired and renamed it Fort Ticonderoga. Pressing up Lake Champlain, his men found that the French had retreated to the northern end at Ile aux Noix. This allowed the British to occupy Fort St. Frederic at Crown Point. Amherst halted the campaign, needing to build a fleet to transport his troops down the lake.
As Amherst was moving through the wilderness, Wolfe descended on the approaches to Quebec with a large fleet led by Admiral Sir Charles Saunders. Arriving on June 21, Wolfe was confronted by French troops under Montcalm. Landing on June 26, Wolfe’s men occupied Ile de Orleans and built fortifications along the Montmorency River opposite the French defenses. After a failed assault at Montmorency Falls on July 31, Wolfe sought alternative approaches to the city.
With the weather rapidly cooling, he located a landing place west of the city at Anse-au-Foulon. On the night of September 12/13, Wolfe’s army ascended the heights and formed on the Plains of Abraham.
Caught by surprise, Montcalm rushed troops to the plains. Under strict orders to hold their fire until the French were within 30-35 yards, the British had double-charged their muskets with two balls. After absorbing two volleys from the French, the front rank opened fire in a volley. The second British line unleashed a similar volley, shattering the French lines. Wolfe was hit several times and died on the field, while Montcalm was mortally wounded and died the next morning. With the French army defeated, the British laid siege to Quebec, which surrendered five days later. The Battle of Quebec was a pivotal moment in the French and Indian War.
Triumph at Minden and Invasion Averted
Ferdinand opened 1759 with strikes against Frankfurt and Wesel. On April 13, he clashed with a French force at Bergen led by the Duc de Broglie and was forced back.
In June, the French began moving against Hanover with a large army commanded by Marshal Louis Contades, supported by a smaller force under Broglie. The French were unable to trap Ferdinand but did capture the vital supply depot at Minden. Ferdinand concentrated his army and clashed with the combined forces of Contades and Broglie at the Battle of Minden on August 1. Ferdinand won a decisive victory, ensuring Hanover’s safety for the remainder of the year.
The French foreign minister, the Duc de Choiseul, began advocating for an invasion of Britain with the goal of knocking the country out of the war. As troops were gathered ashore, the French made efforts to concentrate their fleet to support the invasion.
Though the Toulon fleet slipped through a British blockade, it was beaten by Admiral Edward Boscawen at the Battle of Lagos in August. This came to an end in November when Admiral Sir Edward Hawke badly defeated the French fleet at the Battle of Quiberon Bay.
Hard Times For Prussia
The beginning of 1759 found the Russians forming a new army under the guidance of Count Petr Saltykov. Moving out in late June, it defeated a Prussian corps at the Battle of Kay (Paltzig) on July 23.
Responding to this setback, Frederick raced to the scene with reinforcements. Maneuvering along the Oder River with around 50,000 men, he was opposed by Saltykov’s force of around 59,000 Russians and Austrians. Saltykov assumed a strong, fortified position on a ridge near the village of Kunersdorf.
Moving to assault the Russian left and rear on August 12, the Prussians failed to scout the enemy thoroughly. Frederick had some initial success but later attacks were beaten back with heavy losses.
By evening, the Prussians were forced to begin departing the field having taken 19,000 casualties. Saltykov crossed the Oder with the goal of striking at Berlin. This move was aborted when his army was forced to shift south to aid an Austrian corps that had been cut off by the Prussians. Advancing into Saxony, Austrian forces under Daun succeeded in capturing Dresden on September 4. The situation further worsened for Frederick when an entire Prussian corps was defeated and captured at the Battle of Maxen on November 21.
Over The Oceans
In India, the two sides spent much of 1759 reinforcing and preparing for future campaigns. As Madras had been reinforced, the French withdrew towards Pondicherry. Elsewhere, British forces conducted an abortive attack on the valuable sugar island of Martinique in January 1759.
Rebuffed by the island’s defenders, they sailed north and landed on Guadeloupe late in the month. After several-month campaign, the island was secured when the governor surrendered on May 1.
As the year came to a close, British forces had cleared the Ohio Country, taken Quebec, held Madras, captured Guadeloupe, defended Hanover, and won key, invasion-thwarting naval victories at Lagos and Quiberon Bay.
1760-1763: The Closing Campaigns
Overseas, French resistance in Canada effectively ended in 1760 with the British capture of Montreal. Efforts in the war’s remaining years shifted south and saw British troops capture Martinique and Havana in 1762.
Having sustained repeated defeats, France began to sue for peace in late 1762. As most participants were suffering from financial crises due to the cost of the war, negotiations began. The resulting Treaty of Paris (1763) saw the transfer of Canada and Florida to Britain, while Spain received Louisiana and had Cuba returned.
In addition, Minorca was returned to Britain, while the French reacquired Guadeloupe and Martinique. Prussia and Austria signed the separate Treaty of Hubertusburg which led to a return to status quo ante bellum. Having nearly doubled its national debt during the war, Britain enacted a series of colonial taxes to help offset the cost. These were met with resistance and helped lead to the American Revolution.
