John Deseronto (alt. Deserontyon, "Odeserundiye" in Mohawk, meaning "The Lightning has Struck") was born in the 1740s, most likely in the Mohawk Valley. Educated in a colonial school, he had become acculturated to white customs. In 1759, during the French and Indian War, the North American front of the Seven Years' War between Britain and France, he took part allied with the British in the Battle of Fort Niagara, and the following year he was at the Battle of Quebec, and participated in the capture of Montreal with Amherst. In the summer of 1764, he accompanied John Bradstreet in the attack on Fort Detroit at the end of Pontiac's Rebellion.