A few years later, in 1715, acting Governor Claude de Ramezay placed him in command of a major expedition against the Foxes. He was ordered to assemble a force of "coureurs de bois". and northern Indians and lead them to the Chicago portage. This force would join a second force, recruited among the Indians of the southern Great Lakes, and move together against the Foxes. However, due to a series of mishaps — the supply convoy from Montreal did not arrive on time and the French volunteers were unruly and hard to discipline — the southern contingent never assembled; neither did Lignery and his army reach the assembly point. On December 1, 1715, a Fox war party led by Pemoussa (He Who Walks) attacked the French expedition along the Chicago lakefront, driving the French and their Indian allies back toward Michigan.