Battle Of Sideling Hill

The Battle of Sideling Hill was an engagement between British colonial militia and a band of Native Americans that had recently attacked Fort McCord and taken a number of colonial settlers captive.

On April 4, 1756, a band of Delawares, probably under the command of either Captain Jacobs or Shingas, stormed Fort McCord in western Pennsylvania, where they captured or killed 27 settlers. In response to the raid, three bands of militia were sent in pursuit. Culbertson's company, numbering about 50, caught up with the Delawares three days later. In a two-hour engagement, both sides suffered heavy casualties, but the colonists were driven off by the arrival of reinforcements.

Following the death of Braddock, William Shirley assumed command of British forces in North America. At a meeting in Albany in December 1755 he laid out his plans for 1756. In addition to renewing the efforts to capture Niagara, Crown Point and Duquesne, he proposed attacks on Fort Frontenac on the north shore of Lake Ontario and an expedition through the wilderness of the Maine district and down the Chaudière River to attack the city of Quebec. Bogged down by disagreements and disputes with others, including William Johnson and New York's Governor Sir Charles Hardy, Shirley's plan had little support, and Newcastle replaced him in January 1756 with Lord Loudoun, with Major General James Abercrombie as his second in command. Neither of these men had as much campaign experience as the trio of officers France sent to North America. French regular army reinforcements arrived in New France in May 1756, led by Major General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm and seconded by the Chevalier de Lévis and Colonel François-Charles de Bourlamaque, all experienced veterans from the War of the Austrian Succession.