John Bradstreet

John Bradstreet was an English military commander in America during the French and Indian War and Pontiac's Rebellion.

John Bradstreet was born in 1711. He was either born in Nova Scotia or emigrated there from England shortly after his birth. In 1735, he enlisted in the British army as an ensign and quickly moved up the ranks.

During King George's War (1744-1748), French soldiers captured and imprisoned him in Fort Louisbourg. In 1744, the French exchanged him for some of their own men whom the English held. Because of his intimate knowledge of Fort Louisbourg, he played a crucial role in England's capture of the fort in 1745. Following the war, he continued to serve in the English military and also became lieutenant governor of St. John's, Newfoundland. In 1755, he became the commander of Fort Oswego on the New York frontier. He played an active role in the French and Indian War. Most importantly, men under his command captured Fort Frontenac (modern-day Kingston, Ontario) in August 1758. By losing Fort Frontenac, the French could no longer easily communicate with their forces and Native American allies in the Ohio Country. It also became almost impossible for French merchants to continue to trade European manufactured goods for the Indians' furs, weakening the French alliance with the natives even further.

Bradstreet is most famous for his role in Pontiac's Rebellion. After facing numerous setbacks during 1763, the first year of the Pontiac's Native American uprising, English forces took the offensive in late 1764. While a British army under Henry Bouquet subdued natives in eastern Ohio, Bradstreet led a force from Fort Niagara to conquer the Indians along the Great Lakes. He failed to attain any significant victories, but Bouquet would succeed in ending the involvement of the Shawnee Indians, the Delaware Indians, and the Seneca Indians, thus bringing Pontiac's Rebellion to a close. Following the conflict, Bradstreet continued his military career, eventually attaining the rank of major general. He died of natural causes in 1774.