Devil's Hole Massacre

Battle of Devil's Hole
Part of Pontiac's Rebellion
Chief Pontiac
Date September 14, 1763 Location present as near Niagara Gorge Result Seneca victory
Belligerents
Iroquois Seneca	Great Britain
Commanders and leaders
Cornplanter Honayewus	George Campbell † William Fraser † John Stedman
Strength
309	134
Casualties and losses
1 wounded	81 soldiers and 21 teamsters and escort killed, 1 teamster and 8 soldiers wounded

Iroquois

The Battle of Devil's Hole, also known as the Devil's Hole Massacre, was fought near Niagara Gorge in present-day New York state on September 14, 1763, between a detachment of the British 80th Regiment of Light Armed Foot and about 300 Seneca warriors during Pontiac's Rebellion (1763–1766). The Seneca warriors killed 81 British soldiers and wounded 8 before the British managed to retreat.

As early as 1757, Seneca in the Niagara Falls area had complained to the French about losing control of the long portage along an area of the Niagara River, which French traders were trying to improve for wagons. They resented the Europeans trying to take over their traditional territory and displace them from their work.

After the Seven Years' War, the British took over this area near the Great Lakes. John Stedman improved the former portage trail so that it could accommodate oxen and wagons, and hired teams and escorts to carry goods through. Formerly up to 300 Seneca men had worked as porters on what they thought of as their portage.

Discontent rose among many Native American tribes in the Great Lakes area, who wanted to get rid of the British colonists before more encroached on their lands. In Pontiac's Rebellion, beginning in 1763, several tribes in the Great Lakes and Northwest area cooperated in rising up against the British. In the New York colony, Sir William Johnson, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, had long advocated fair treatment of Native Americans but was only partially successful. He wrote, "Our people in general are ill calculated to maintain friendship with the Indians. They despise those in peace whom they fear to meet in war."

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