Prideaux was killed when a shell fragment from one of his own guns hit him, and command of the British forces fell to Sir William Johnson. Johnson was a provincial officer and not in the regular army, and thus there was some question of his right to take command. But Sir William held a royal colonel's commission in his role as commander of the Iroquois auxiliaries, and so he insisted on remaining in command after a lower-ranking regular army officer, Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Haldimand, arrived on the scene.