Battle of La Belle - Famille The Battle of La Belle - Famille occurred on July 24 , 1759 , during the French and Indian War along the Niagara River portage trail . François - Marie Le Marchand de Lignery ' s French relief force for the besieged French garrison at Fort Niagara fell into Eyre Massey ' s British and Iroquois ambush . This action formed part of the larger Battle of Fort Niagara . The British knew of the French approach well in advance and constructed a breastwork across the road about two miles south of Fort Niagara . The French were ambushed , their force was routed , with many casualties . Captain Le Marchand de Lignery was mortally wounded in the battle . Background . British General Jeffrey Amherst made plans for the 1759 military campaigns of the French and Indian War that included an expedition to capture Fort Niagara , a major French military and supply point between the French province of Canada and their forts in the Ohio Country . Amherst chose Brigadier General John Prideaux to lead the expedition , which was accompanied by Sir William Johnson , the British Indian agent who led the expedition ' s Iroquois forces . Prideaux arrived at Fort Niagara on July 6 and immediately began siege operations . On July 20 , Prideaux was killed when struck by a shell fragment thrown from one of his own guns , and Sir William took over the siege operations . Fort Niagara had been largely constructed under the direction of Captain Pierre Pouchot of the French Army . In early 1759 , General Louis - Joseph de Montcalm and New France ' s Governor , the Marquis de Vaudreuil , sent him with about 2 , 500 men to fortify Niagara . About 500 men had wintered there . Pouchot , under orders from Vaudreuil , sent many of those men south to Fort Machault ( later Fort Venango ) in mid - June as part of a plan to reinforce the French forts of the Ohio Country and attack the British at Fort Pitt . When the British arrived on July 6 , he immediately dispatched messages to the south , requesting support . Captain Le Marchand de Lignery was organizing the French expedition against Fort Pitt from Fort Machault when Pouchot ' s appeal for help arrived on July 12 . On that day , Lignery was trying to convince nearly 1 , 000 Indians to join in the planned attack against Fort Pitt . Johnson had sent messages to Fort Pitt , urging Indians there to join the British in attacking the French forts , and many Indians were unsure about which side to take . Lignery was able to rally support ; when combined with forces under Charles Phillip Aubrey , a large force left Fort Machault for Niagara . Messengers he sent to Pouchot also leaked news of their advance to the besieging British , who prepared an ambush . Before the action , the British native allies told their French counterparts that they intended to remain neutral in the upcoming clash . They wished that the French native allies would do likewise . This induced many of the French - allied Indians to desert . Battle . Lignery and Aubrey , in spite of their knowledge of Indian ways , apparently advanced without taking normal precautions against ambush , and marched right into a prepared trap . Lieutenant Colonel Massey of the 46th Foot commanded 464 British regulars to defend the trail running north from Niagara Falls to Fort Niagara . On the right flank covering the portage trail , Massey deployed about 130 men of the 46th in the La Belle Famille clearing . Thrown forward from the right flank , just above the river gorge , were the grenadiers of the 46th and a small detachment of the 44th Foot . To the left of the 46th , the converged light companies of the 44th , 46th , and 4th battalion of the 60th Foot took position . On the extreme left stood a detachment from the 44th and New York Regiment . Understanding that his enemies included a significant number of regulars , Massey ordered the redcoats to lie down and fix bayonets . As the French came out of the woods into the open , they immediately opened fire and began to deploy from column into line formation . Waiting until the French were within very close range , the British commander gave his troops the command to rise and fire . The 46th fired seven volleys , then advanced , firing at will . Massey later estimated that his men each fired about 16 rounds in the action . Meanwhile , the grenadier company ' s fire caught the French left flank in enfilade . When the French flinched before the deadly fire , the British attacked with the bayonet . French morale collapsed and the British - allied Iroquois rushed the survivors . The French began a panicked retreat , in which the British gave chase , according to one report , for as much as . French casualties were significant , including Lignery , who sustained a mortal wound . Massey was wounded . Aftermath . Pouchot surrendered Fort Niagara on July 26 after it became clear the relief column had been driven off . Johnson , who was not present , wrote an account of the action which gave equal credit to the regulars and their native allies . To Massey ' s fury , this version reached the newspapers . The British officer later claimed that the tribesmen behaved " most dastardly " by slaughtering the wounded and those who were trying to surrender .