John Bradstreet
Major General John Bradstreet, born Jean-Baptiste Bradstreet (21 December 1714 – 25 September 1774) was a
Life
Jean-Baptiste Bradstreet was the son of Agathe de Saint Etienne de La Tour and her first husband, Edward Bradstreet. It is unknown whether he was related to Puritan Simon Bradstreet.[1] Bradstreet died in New York City on 25 September 1774. He had married (to the widow of a cousin who shared his name), and had two children.
Military service
Through his Acadian mother's influence he was accepted into the regular British army in 1735. Bradstreet's early military service consisted of garrison duty in Nova Scotia with the
French and Indian War
In 1755, Bradstreet, then a captain, was appointed as Governor
Pontiac's War
Shortly after the French and Indian War, Bradstreet was appointed colonel in 1764 and was ordered to lead a force of 1,400 men to reinforce Fort Detroit in response to the outbreak of Pontiac's War. His superiors considered Bradstreet to have mismanaged his final campaign; exceeding his orders by attempting to negotiate independent peace treaties and failing to act aggressively enough against Pontiac's forces. This left his military reputation badly tarnished in later years, although he was still promoted to the rank of Major General in the British Army on 25 May 1772.
Bateau and Transport Service
Bradstreet is often remembered today for his work organizing and leading a corps of armed boatmen and teamsters in the British service, tasked with moving supplies and troops along the inland waterways of upstate New York and the Great Lakes. A substantial logistical feat, the force was developed from 1756 and grew to the strength of several thousand men, organized into dozens of companies, using hundreds of bateaux and whaleboats to transport the thousands of tons of supplies and equipment necessary for Britain to wage war in the colonial Northwest by supplying the army's far-flung outposts. Also a combat force, the 'Battoe Men', as they were sometimes called, took part in combat operations, most famously Bradstreet's assault on Fort Frontenac/Carillon in 1758.[citation needed]
See also
References
- ^ Agathe de Saint Etienne de La Tour, Canadian National Biography, Retrieved 25 June 2016
- William G. Godfrey. Pursuit of Profit and Preferment in Colonial North America: John Bradstreet's Quest. Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press, 1982
- Godfrey, W. G. (1979). "Bradstreet, John". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. IV (1771–1800) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
- John Bradstreet. Louisbourg Journal, 1745