Baron de Dieskau was born in Saxony and became an officer in the service of France. He advanced through the ranks until he became a major general and military governor of Brest in northwestern France. At the beginning of the French and Indian War (1754-63), he was appointed to lead the French armies in Canada but remained under the general command of the marquis de Vaudreuil, governor of New France. Arriving in North America in 1755, Vaudreuil first sent Dieskau to attack Oswego but then ordered him to the Lake Champlain region to meet the threat of invasion from Colonel William Johnson's troops.

Once he arrived on the scene, Dieskau disobeyed his orders not to divide his force and launched a major raid with 1,500 men (220 regulars, 600 Canadian militia, and 700 Native Americans) on Fort Edward to cut the supply line of the British-American forces on the southern shore of Lake George (the future site of Fort William Henry). However, after he led his men to the southern tip of Lake Champlain and then through the woods to the supply road, the Indians refused to attack Fort Edward. Instead, Dieskau headed north toward Lake George. In the Battle of Lake George (September 5, 1755), his troops ambushed a column marching to relieve Fort Edward, with his regulars blocking the road and the Canadian militia and Native Americans attacking the flanks from high ground in the woods. Although the attack began a little too early, it drove back the British Americans and their Native American allies, leaving them in disarray. Dieskau pursued them until they reached Johnson's camp on Lake George, where the entrenched British-American troops held their ground. Wounded, Dieskau was left on the battlefield and captured after his men withdrew; he remained a prisoner for the rest of the war.

Although Vaudreuil decried Dieskau's failure to follow orders, his attack prevented any further advance on Canada that year. It also showed Dieskau as a daring and adaptable commander as he recognized the strengths of the Canadian militia and Native-American allies in the North American wilderness, while remaining confident in the fighting abilities of his regular French troops.

Bibliography:

1) Fred Anderson, Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766 (New York: Vintage, 2000)

2) Ian K. Steele, Betrayals: Fort William Henry and the Massacre (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990)

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