Capture of York Factory 1694
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 14 September 1694 – 14 October 1694 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1694 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | Canada | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | North America | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | King William's War | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 57.0027, -92.3048 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The capture of York Factory was a 1694 Anglo-French conflict on Hudson Bay. In 1686. Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville marched overland from Quebec City and captured all the trading posts of the English Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) on James Bay. This left York Factory, which was too far away and could only be reached by sea. In 1688 King William's War started and the needed ships were hard to get. In 1690 Iberville tried to take York Factory but was driven away by a larger English ship. In 1694, Governor Louis de Buade de Frontenac gave him the ships Salamandre and Poli. Iberville reached the Nelson River on 14 September. The fort was invested and on 14 October it surrendered. (The fort's residents consisted mainly of HBC traders, clerks and laborers and they had not brought in enough firewood to withstand a long siege).
Among the 53 men who surrendered was Henry Kelsey. The post was renamed Fort Bourbon. Since it was late in the season both the Canadiens and their captives had to spend the winter there. By the time the ice broke up many on both sides had died of scurvy. Iberville waited, hoping to capture the annual English supply ships. By September they had not arrived, so he left 70 men at the fort and sailed for La Rochelle with a valuable load of furs.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Capture of York Factory (revision 1366221362), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Hudson's Bay 1697 · 13 km
- Hudson Bay expedition 1782 · 229 km
Other battles of the King William's War
- Raid on Salmon Falls 1690
- Naval battle off St. John (1691) 1691
- Raid on Wells (1692) 1692
- Battle of Fort Albany (1693) 1693
- Battle of Wilton (New York) 1693
- Raid on Oyster River 1694
- Naval battle off St. John (1696) 1696
- Raid on Chignecto (1696) 1696
- Siege of Fort Nashwaak 1696
- Siege of Pemaquid (1696) 1696
All 18 battles of the King William's War →
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