The Battle of Devil's Hole, known to the Anglo-Americans 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 expel the colonists in the region before more encroached on their lands. In Pontiac's Rebellion, beginning in 1763, several tribes in the Great Lakes and Northwest area cooperated in establishing a pan-tribal confederation to counter British control of the region. 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."
On September 14, 1763, a large Seneca band of an estimated 300–500 warriors ambushed a wagon train and its armed escort en route from Fort Schlosser to Fort Niagara as it passed through Devil's Hole, an area known for its difficult terrain. One part of the trail was in a heavily wooded area with a deep ravine on either side; there the Seneca warriors attacked the wagon train. The escort party and teamsters, led by Porter Master John Stedman, were caught completely by surprise; animals broke into a stampede or were driven into the ravine along with their wagons and drivers. The Seneca moved in to fight at close quarters, making musket fire useless, and only three of the party of 24 (including Stedman) managed to escape to Fort Schlosser for help.
Camped nearby at Lewiston was a detachment of the British British 80th Regiment of Light Armed Foot from Fort Gray. Two companies of the 80th commanded by George Campbell and William Fraser heard the news of the ambush and rushed off to rescue the wagon train.
European colonization of North America accelerated after 1600, with England, France, Spain, and the Netherlands establishing competing settlements along the Atlantic coast, the St. Lawrence River, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Mississippi Valley. The first permanent English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia (1607) struggled with starvation and conflict; the Plymouth colony (1620) and the Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630) followed. By the mid-1700s, thirteen English colonies stretched along the Atlantic seaboard, governed through a mix of royal charters, proprietary grants, and elected assemblies. The colonial economy depended on tobacco in Virginia and Maryland, rice and indigo in the Carolinas, and maritime trade in New England — all increasingly reliant on enslaved African labor after 1619. Conflict with Indigenous peoples over land was continuous, punctuated by major wars including King Philip's War (1675–1676) in New England and the Yamasee War (1715–1717) in the South. The French and Indian War (1754–1763), part of the global Seven Years' War, ended French power in North America and left Britain deeply in debt — triggering the taxation disputes that would lead to revolution.
This page covers Pontiac's War – Devil's Hole Massacre September 14 1763. A full Aubrey report for the area pulls together this battle alongside historic sites, land records, and everything else the record holds within a few miles:
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