<P> In 1755 , six colonial governors in North America met with General Edward Braddock , the newly arrived British Army commander , and planned a four - way attack on the French . None succeeded , and the main effort by Braddock proved a disaster ; he lost the Battle of the Monongahela on July 9 , 1755 and died a few days later . British operations failed in the frontier areas of Pennsylvania and New York during 1755 - 57 due to a combination of poor management , internal divisions , effective Canadian scouts , French regular forces , and Indian warrior allies . In 1755 , the British captured Fort Beauséjour on the border separating Nova Scotia from Acadia , and they ordered the expulsion of the Acadians ( 1755 -- 64 ) soon afterwards . Orders for the deportation were given by William Shirley , Commander - in - Chief , North America , without direction from Great Britain . The Acadians were expelled , both those captured in arms and those who had sworn the loyalty oath to His Britannic Majesty . Indians likewise were driven off the land to make way for settlers from New England . </P>
who was the military leader in the first battle of what became the french and indian war
Edward Braddock