Fort Ticonderoga

Then recommenced once more the stir and noise of embarking, and with the ebb of the tide the ships sailed out of the harbor, leaving behind them the dead on the shore and the village in ruins.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow In July 1758 an army of 15,000 under General James Abercrombie and Brigadier Lord Howe attempted to take Ticonderoga, where Montcalm was stationed at the head of about 3,000 men.

Lord Howe, the very life of the army, was killed in the first skirmish, and Abercrombie handled the army so badly that it was repulsed with a loss of nearly 2,000 and fled in a panic.

The French loss was less than 400, and the victory was hailed as one of the greatest ever achieved by French arms in America.

On the defeat at Ticonderoga or Carillon, July 8, 1758.

London Magazine.

No author.

In 1757 William Pitt forced his way to the leadership of the government in England, and at once formed a comprehensive plan for a combined attack on the French forts in America.

Some of those who didn't ended up in Louisiana and became Cajuns.

But anyway, the tide began to turn for the British in 1759 when they captured French forts Duquesne, finally, Ticonderoga, and Louisbourg.

The biggest victory of all came in September, when the British trounced the French at the Plains of Abraham near Quebec.

Montreal surrendered the next year.

The Congress, the word is full of omen for the future, failed to bring about the much-needed union.

in february seventeen fifty five arrived in virginia with his army and early in may he was on his march across the mountains with regulars militia and indians to the number of nearly fifteen hundred men to attack fort duquesne and to rid the ohio valley of the french he knew little of forest warfare with its use of indian scouts its ambushes its fighting from the cover of trees on the ninth of july on the monongahela river near fort duquesne in a struggle in the forest against french and indians he was defeated and killed george washington was in the fight and had to report to dinwiddie the dismal record of what had happened the frontier was aflame and nearly all the indians of the west seeing the rising star went over to the french the power of france was for the time supreme in the heart of the continent at that moment even far away in the lone land about the saskatchewan the english traitor hendry had to admit that the french knew better than the english how to attract the support of the savage tribes meanwhile diesko had arrived at quebec in the colony of new york sir william johnson the rough and cheery irishman much loved of the iroquois was gathering forces to attack canada early in july seventeen fifty five johnson had more than three thousand provincial troops at albany a motley horde of embattled farmers most of them with no uniforms dressed in their own homespun carrying their own muskets electing their own officers and altogether from the strict soldier's point of view a rabble rather than an army To meet this force and destroy it if he could, Diasco took to the French fort at Crown Point on Lake Champlain and salvaged from there to Ticonderoga at the head of this lake some 3,500 men, including his French regulars, some Canadians and Indians.

Johnson's force lay at Fort George, later Fort William Henry, the most southerly point on Lake George.

the names given by johnson himself show how the dull hanoverian kings and their offspring were held in honor by the irish diplomat who was looking for favors at court the two armies met on the shores of lake george early in september and there was an all-day fight each side lost some two hundred men among those who perished on the french side was le jardeur de st pierre who had escaped all the perils of the western wilderness to meet his fate in this border struggle the honors of the day seemed to have been with johnson for the french were driven off and diesko himself badly wounded was taken prisoner that johnson had great difficulty in keeping his savages from burning alive and then boiling and eating diesko and smoking his flesh in their pipes in revenge for some of their chiefs killed in the fight shows what an alliance with indians meant there was small gain to the english from johnson's success he was too cautious to advance towards canada and as winter came on he broke up his camp and sent his men to their homes the colonies had no permanent military equipment each autumn their forces were dissolved to be reorganized again in the following spring a lame method of waging war for three years longer in the valley of the ohio as elsewhere the star of france remained in the ascendant It began to decline only when farther east on the Atlantic, superior forces sent out from England were able to check the French.

When the governor wrote to the minister, he, for his part, said that the success of the expedition was wholly due to his own vigilance and firmness, aided chiefly by this brother, Monfort, and the Mercier, both of whom Montcalm describes as inept.

Vaudreuil adds that only his own tact kept the Indian allies from going home because Montcalm would not let them have the plunder which they desired.

montcalm struck his next blow at the english on lake champlain in july seventeen fifty seven he had eight thousand men at ticonderoga at the northern end of lake george two thousand of these were savages drawn from more than forty different tribes a lawless horde whom the french could not control a jesuit priest saw a party of them squatting round a fire in the french camp roasting meat on the end of sticks and found that the meat was the flesh of an englishman english prisoners sick with horror were forced to watch this feast the priest's protest was dismissed with anger the savages would follow their own customs let the french follow theirs the truth is that the french had been only too successful in drawing the savages to them as allies they formed now one quarter of the whole french army they were of little use as fighters and probably in the long run the french would have been better off without them if however montcalm had caused them to go laudry would have made frantic protests so that montcalm accepted the necessity of such allies each success however brought some new horrors at the hands of the indians montcalm captured fort william henry at the southern end of lake george in august a year after the taking of oswego fort william henry was the most advanced english post in the direction of canada the place had been left weak for the earl of loudon commander-in-chief of the british forces in america was using his resources for an expedition against louisbourg which wholly failed colonel munro the brave officer in command at fort william henry made a strong defence but was forced to surrender the terms were that he should march out with his soldiers and the civilians of the place and should be escorted in safety to fort edward about eighteen miles to the south this time the savages surpassed themselves in treachery and savagery they had formally approved of the terms of surrender but they attacked the long line of defeated english as they sat out on the march butchered some of their wounded and seized hundreds of others as prisoners montcalm did what he could and even risked his life to check the savages but some fifty english lay dead and the whole savage horde decamped for montreal carrying with them two hundred prisoners montcalm burned fort william henry and withdrew to ticonderoga at the north end of the lake why asked vaudreuil had he not advanced further south into english territory taken fort edward weak because the english were in a panic menaced albany itself and advanced even to new york might not starve during the coming winter vaudreuil oppressed at the french court his charges against montcalm and without doubt produced some effect french tact was never exhibited with more grace than in the letters which montcalm received from his superiors in france urging upon him with suave courtesy the need of considering the sensitive pride of the colonial forces and of guiding with a light rein the barbaric might of the indian allies it is hard to imagine an english secretary of state administering a rebuke so gently and yet so unmistakably montcalm well understood what was meant he knew that some intrigue had been working at court but he did not suspect that the governor himself all blandness and compliments to his face was writing to paris voluminous attacks on his character and conduct in the next summer seventeen fifty eight one won another great success he lay with his forces at ticonderoga the english were determined to press into the heart of canada by way of lake champlain all through the winter after the fall of fort william henry they had been making preparations on a great scale at albany by this time amherst and wolfe were on the scene in america and they spent the summer in an attack on louisbourg which resulted in the fall of the fortress on the old fighting ground of lake champlain and lake george the english were this year making military efforts such as the canadian frontier had never before seen william pitt who now directed the war from london had demanded that the colonies should raise twenty thousand men a number well fitted to dismay the timid legislators of new york and pennsylvania at albany fifteen thousand men came marching in by detachments a few of them regulars but most of them colonial militia who as soon as winter came on were scattered to their homes the leader was general abercrombie a leader needless to say with good connections in england but with no other qualification for high command on july five seventeen fifty eight there was a sight on lake george likely to cause a flutter of anxiety in the heart of montcalm at ticonderoga in a line of boats six miles long the great english host came down the lake and early on the morning of the sixth landed before the fort which montcalm was to defend the soul of the army had been a brilliant young officer lord howe who shared the hardships of the men washed his own linen at the brook and was the real leader trusted by the inept abercrombie it was a tragic disaster for the british that at the outset of the fight howe was killed in a chance skirmish montcalm's chief defence of ticonderoga consisted in a felled forest he had cut down hundreds of trees and on high ground in front of the fort made a formidable abattis across which the english must advance abercrombie had four men to one of montcalm artillery would have knocked a passage through the trunks of the trees which formed the abbatis abercrombie however did not wait to bring up artillery he was confident that his huge force could beat down opposition by a rapid attack and he made the attack with all courage and persistence but the troops could not work through the thicket of fallen trunks and as night came on they had to withdraw baffled next day lake george saw another strange spectacle a british army of thirteen thousand men the finest ever seen hitherto in america retreating in a panic with no enemy in pursuit nearly two thousand english had fallen while montcalm's loss was less than four hundred he planted a great cross on the scene of the fight with an inscription in latin that it was god who had wrought the victory all canada had a brief period of rejoicing before the gloom of final defeat settled down upon the country chapter chapter nine of the conquest of new france chapter nine montcalm at quebec the rejoicing in canada was brief before the end of the year the british were victorious at both the eastern and western ends of the long battle-line Louisbourg had fallen in July, Fort Duquesne in November, Fort Frontenac giving command of Lake Ontario, and with it the West had surrendered to Bradstreet in August just after Montcalm's victory at Ticonderoga.

The Ohio was gone, the great fortress guarding the gateway to the Gulf was gone, the next English attack would fall on Quebec.

Well, we've seen how many times you can't, you know.

Fort Ticonderoga, Quebec, we saw Saratoga, of course, Valcour Island.

I mean, the man is an outstanding military man.

And he and General Spencer began planning to recapture Newport.