Cover: Montcalm Congratulating His Victorious Troops,
Battle of Carillon, Fort Ticonderoga, July 8, 1758.
[Illustration: Fort Ticonderoga: Looking South, Up Lake Champlain]
_Fort Ticonderoga_
A Short History
Compiled from Contemporary Sources
By S. H. P. Pell
Profusely Illustrated
[Illustration: Cannon]
Reprinted for the Fort Ticonderoga Museum
1966
“_The_ little bronze flint _and_ tinder box illustrated, was found in
1888 by _the_ present Museum Director, then _a_ small boy. His brother
dislodged _a_ stone while they were climbing around _the_ fort. Under
_the_ stone was this box with flint _and_ tinder in it. Bronze _and of_
French design, it must have belonged to some important officer, probably
Montcalm de Levis, Bougainville _or_ Bourlamacque. _The_ busts represent
Cupid _and_ Psyche; _the_ faces are extraordinarily beautiful _and_
expressive. _The_ box measures 2¼ _by_ 1¼ inches.
I consider this box _and the_ back plate _for the_ suit _of_ half-armor
(_found a few years ago_) _the_ most interesting _of the_ thousands _of_
articles found _at the_ Fort.
_This_ little box stimulated _the_ Director’s interest. Even as a small
boy he hoped some day to preserve _and_ perhaps restore Fort
Ticonderoga. Many _a_ year was to pass before _this_ dream could become
_a_ reality.”
[Illustration: Flint and Tinder Box Which Started the Fort
Ticonderoga Collection (Found by S. H. P. Pell, when a small boy)
(Drawing by Herbert Sherlock of North Canton, Ohio)
BUSTS _in_ CENTER _of_ TOP _and_ BOTTOM _of_ CASE
BOX OPEN SHOWING INTERIOR
DETAIL _of_ FLOWER DESIGN
_and_ BORDER
REAR _of_ HINGE]
CONTENTS
PAGE
The Aborigines, Chapter One 9
Champlain, Chapter Two 11
The Building of the Fort, Chapter Three 19
Abercromby’s Defeat, Chapter Four 27
The Amherst Campaign, Chapter Five 47
The Calm Before the Storm, Chapter Six 53
Ethan Allen, Chapter Seven 54
Montgomery, Knox, Valcour Island, Chapter Eight 67
Burgoyne Takes the Fort and Brown Fails to Retake it, Chapter Nine 83
The Military History Ends, Chapter Ten 91
The Restoration of Fort Ticonderoga, Chapter Eleven 93
The Fort Ticonderoga Museum 113
The Book Shelf 115
The Fort Ticonderoga Association 117
[Illustration: Major Robert Rogers and An Indian Chief]
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Fort Ticonderoga Inside Front Cover
Flint and Tinder Box 2
Major Robert Rogers and an Indian Chief 4
Airview of Fort Ticonderoga and Surrounding Country 6
Indian Costumes 8
Champlain and the Iroquois, Near Ticonderoga 10
Marquis de Lotbiniere 14
Marquis de Vaudreuil 18
Part of the Original Instructions to de Lotbiniere 20
Major Robert Rogers 22
Wounding of Baron Dieskau 24
Abercromby’s Expedition, Embarking at Head of Lake George 26
The Marquis de Montcalm 28
Brig. General Lord Howe 30
Duc de Levis 32
Plan of Town and Fort (Insert) 32-33
Major General Israel Putnam 34
Replica of the Cross Erected by General Montcalm 44
Montcalm Congratulating His Victorious Troops 45
Major Robert Rogers’ Battle on Snowshoes in 1757 46
Sir Jeffrey Amherst 48
General Amherst and the Burning Fort 50
Ethan Allen 54
Catamount Tavern, Where Plans Were Laid to Capture Fort 57
Ethan Allen and Captain Delaplace 59
Letter from Ethan Allen 60-61
Allen Needs You at Ti 63
Ethan Allen’s Blunderbuss 65
Benedict Arnold 66
Major General Richard Montgomery 68
General Knox 70
General Knox Moving Cannon from Ticonderoga to Cambridge 72
Rig of Fleet at Valcour Island 74
Map of the Attack and Defeat of the American Fleet 76
General Schuyler 78
Major-General Arthur St. Clair 79
Major-General Horatio Gates 80
Ticonderoga and Its Dependencies, 1776 81
The Massacre of Jane McCrea 82
General John Burgoyne 84
The Battle of Saratoga 86
Surrender of Burgoyne 88
George Washington at Halfway Brook 90
Stephen H. P. Pell 92
The Pavilion 94
Fort Ticonderoga and the Pavilion, 1827 96
The Silver Bullet 98
Restoration Model of Fort Ticonderoga 100
Thomas Cole Painting of Fort, Early 1820’s 101
Entrance to Place D’Armes 103
The Place D’Armes 105
Fort Ticonderoga in 1959 107
The Ethan Allen Door 109
George Washington in Uniform of American General 112
Powder Horn Map Made at Mount Independence 1776 114
Flag Bastion 118
Fort Ticonderoga: South Barracks Inside Back Cover
[Illustration: Airview of Fort Ticonderoga Showing Strategic
Location of Mount Defiance, Beyond Which Is Lake George]
[Illustration: Indian Costumes, From Lafitau. 1, Iroquois; 2,
Algonquin]
CHAPTER ONE
The Aborigines
When Columbus was landing in the West Indies, and discovering America,
the Champlain Valley was thickly populated. There are signs of Indian
village sites all along the shores and the thousands of stone
implements, arrow and spear points, scrapers, hatchets, pestles and
mortars that are turned up each year indicate an occupation of hundreds,
probably thousands, of years. But when the first white man arrived all
was silence and desolation. The fierce Iroquois from the south had not
long before slaughtered the peaceful Algonquin Indians and driven the
survivors back into the mountains, where they were living a hand to
mouth existence. In fact so degenerate had they become that the Iroquois
referred to them as “Adirondacks” or “Bark-eaters,” because of their
necessity of depending on the bark of trees during the winter when game
was scarce. Remains of these people are so many that for a hundred years
arrow heads and other stone implements have been found on the shore of
the lake under the walls of the Fort and yet each rain and wind storm
discloses new ones. These Indians were a partly agricultural people as
shown by the many bits of pottery and hoes that are found, but little is
definitely known of them or their habits.
[Illustration: Champlain and the Iroquois Near Ticonderoga, July 30,
1609 From “Champlain’s Life and Travels, 1613”]
CHAPTER TWO
Champlain
In May, 1609, the same year that Hendrick Hudson discovered and named
Hudson’s River, Samuel de Champlain with a contingent of eleven
Frenchmen, a small body of Montagnais Indians and between two and three
hundred Hurons left Quebec on an exploring expedition to the south.
At the rapids of the Richelieu, Champlain quarreled with his Indians,
who had assured him that there was smooth water from the St. Lawrence to
the great lake to the south. Three-quarters of them went home and with
them he sent all but two of his white companions. His force now
consisted of three Frenchmen and sixty Montagnais and Hurons.
They traveled in twenty-four canoes and soon entered Lake Champlain,
and, as they now were approaching the Iroquois country, they traveled by
night and hid in the woods by day.
Champlain’s own description of his discovery and the battle at
Ticonderoga from his “Voyages and Discoveries” published in Paris, 1613
... reads as follows:
“We left next day, continuing our route along the river as far as the
mouth of the Lake. Here are a number of beautiful, but low islands
filled with very fine woods and prairies, a quantity of game and wild
animals, such as stags, deer, fawns, roe-bucks, bears and other sorts of
animals that come from the main land to the said islands. We caught a
quantity of them. There is also quite a number of beavers, as well in
the river as in several other streams which fall into it. These parts,
though agreeable, are not inhabited by any Indians, in consequence of
their wars. They retire from the rivers as far as possible, deep into
the country, in order not to be so soon discovered.
“Next day we entered the lake, which is of considerable extent; some 50
or 60 leagues in length, where I saw 4 beautiful islands, 10, 12 and 15
leagues in length formerly inhabited, as well as the Iroquois river, by
Indians, but abandoned since they have been at war the one with the
other.
“Several rivers, also, discharge into the lake, surrounded by a number
of fine trees similar to those we have in France, with a quantity of
vines handsomer than any I ever saw; a great many chestnuts, and I have
not yet seen except the margin of the lake, where there is a large
abundance of fish of divers species. Among the rest there is one called
by the Indians of the country Chaousarou, the divers lengths. The
largest I was informed by the people, are of eight to ten feet. I saw
one of 5, as thick as a thigh, with a head as big as two fists, with
jaws two feet and a half long, and a double set of very sharp and
dangerous teeth. The form of the body resembles that of the pike, and it
is armed with scales that a thrust of a poniard cannot pierce; and is of
a silver grey colour. The point of the snout is like that of a hog. This
fish makes war on all others in the lakes and rivers and possesses, as
those people assure me, a wonderful instinct; which is, that when it
wants to catch any birds, it goes among the rushes or reeds, bordering
the lake in many places, keeping the beak out of the water without
budging, so that when the birds perch on his beak, imagining it a limb
of a tree, it is so subtle that closing the jaws which it keeps half
open, it draws the birds under water by the feet. The Indians gave me a
head of it, which they prize highly, saying, when they have a headache
they let blood with the teeth of this fish at the seat of the pain which
immediately goes away.
“Continuing our route along the west side of the lake, contemplating the
country, I saw on the east side very high mountains capped with snow. I
asked the Indians if those parts were inhabited? They answered me, Yes,
and that they were Iroquois, and that there were in those parts
beautiful valleys, and fields fertile in corn as good as I had ever
eaten in the country, with an infinitude of other fruits, and that the
lake extended close to the mountains, which were, according to my
judgment, 15 leagues from us. I saw others, to the South, not less high
than the former; only, that they were without snow. The Indians told me
it was there we were to go to meet their enemies, and that they were
thickly inhabited, and that we must pass by a waterfall which I
afterwards saw, and thence enter another lake three or four leagues,
long, and having arrived at its head, there were 4 leagues overland to
be traveled to pass to a river which flows toward the coast of the
Almouchiquois, tending towards that of the Almouchiquois, and that they
were only two days going there in their canoes, as I understood since
from some prisoners we took, who, by means of some Algonquin
interpreters, who were acquainted with the Iroquois language, conversed
freely with me about all they had noticed.
“Now, on coming within about two or three days journey of the enemy’s
quarters, we traveled only by night and rested by day. Nevertheless,
they never omitted their usual superstitions to ascertain whether their
enterprise would be successful, and often asked me whether I had dreamed
and seen their enemies. I answered no; and encouraged them and gave them
good hopes. Night fell, and we continued our journey until morning when
we withdrew into the picket fort to pass the remainder of the day there.
About ten or eleven o’clock I lay down after having walked some time
around our quarters, and falling asleep, I thought I beheld our enemies,
the Iroquois, drowning within sight of us in the Lake near a mountain;
and being desirous to save them, that our savage allies told me that I
must let them all perish as they were good for nothing. On awakening,
they did not omit, as usual to ask me, if I had any dream, I did tell
them, in fact, what I had dreamed. It gained such credit among them that
they no longer doubted but they should meet with success.
[Illustration: Marquis de Lotbiniere]
“At nightfall we embarked in our canoes to continue our journey, and as
we advanced very softly and noiselessly, we encountered a war party of
Iroquois, on the twenty-ninth of the month, about ten o’clock, at night,
at the point of a cape which juts into the lake on the west side. They
and we began to shout, each seizing his arms. We withdrew towards the
water and the Iroquois repaired on shore, and arranged all their canoes,
the one beside the other, and began to hew down trees with villainous
axes, which they sometimes got in war, and others of stone, and
fortified themselves very securely.
“Our party, likewise, kept their canoes arranged the one alongside the
other, tied to poles so as not to run adrift, in order to fight all
together should need be. We were on the water about an arrow-shot from
their barricades.
“When they were armed and in order, they sent two canoes from the fleet
to know if their enemies wished to fight, who answered they desired
nothing else; but that just then, there was not much light, and that we
must wait for day to distinguish each other, and that they would give us
battle at sun rise. This was agreed to by our party. Meanwhile the whole
night was spent in dancing and singing, as well on one side as on the
other, mingled with an infinitude of insults and other taunts, such as
the little courage we had; how powerless our resistance against their
arms, and that when day would break we should experience this to our
ruin. Ours, likewise, did not fail in repartee; telling them they should
witness the effects of arms they had never seen before; and a multitude
of other speeches, as is usual at a siege of a town. After the one and
the other had sung, danced and parliamented enough, day broke. My
companions and I were always concealed, for fear the enemy should see us
preparing our arms the best we could, being however separated, each in
one of the canoes belonging to the savage Montagnais. After being
equipped with light armour we took each an arquebus and went ashore. I
saw the enemy leave their barricade; they were about 200 men, of strong
and robust appearance, who were coming slowly towards us, with a gravity
and assurance which greatly pleased me, led on by three Chiefs. Our’s
were marching in similar order, and told me that those who bore three
lofty plumes were the Chiefs, and that there were but these three and
they were to be recognized by those plumes, and that I must do all I
could to kill them. I promised to do what I could, and that I was very
sorry they could not clearly understand me, so as to give them the order
and plan of attacking their enemies, as we should indubitably defeat
them all; but there was no help for that; that I was very glad to
encourage them and to manifest to them my good will when we should be
engaged.
“The moment we landed they began to run about two hundred paces toward
their enemies who stood firm, and had not yet perceived my companions,
who went into the bush with some savages. Our’s commenced calling me in
a loud voice, and making way for me, opened in two parts, and placed me
at their head, marching about 20 paces in advance, until I was within 30
paces of the enemy. The moment they saw me, they halted, gazing at me
and I at them. When I saw them preparing to shoot at us, I raised my
arquebus, and aiming directly at one of the three Chiefs, two of them
fell to the ground by this shot and one of their companions received a
wound of which he died afterwards. I had put 4 balls in my arquebus.
Our’s on witnessing a shot so favorable for them, set up such tremendous
shouts that thunder could not have been heard; and yet, there was no
lack of arrows on one side and the other. The Iroquois were greatly
astonished seeing two men killed so instantaneously, notwithstanding
they were provided with arrow-proof armour woven of cotton-thread and
wood; this frightened them very much. Whilst I was reloading, one of my
companions in the bush fired a shot, which so astonished them anew,
seeing their Chiefs slain, that they lost courage, took flight and
abandoned the field and their fort, hiding themselves in the depths of
the forest, whither pursuing them, I killed some others. Our savages
also killed several of them and took ten or twelve prisoners. The rest
carried off the wounded. Fifteen or sixteen of ours were wounded by
arrows; they were promptly cured.
“After having gained the victory, they amused themselves plundering
Indian corn and meal from the enemy; also their arms which they had
thrown away in order to run the better. And having feasted, danced and
sung, we returned three hours afterwards with the prisoners.
“The place where this battle was fought is in 43 degrees some minutes
latitude, and I named it Lake Champlain.”
Historians agree that this fight took place on the low ground, northeast
of the Fort at Ticonderoga. It was the Iroquois’ first introduction to
firearms and forever alienated that great fighting confederation from
the French.
[Illustration: Marquis de Vaudreuil]
CHAPTER THREE
The Building of the Fort
From 1609 to 1755 nothing of great interest happened at Ticonderoga. War
parties, explorers and traders passed up and down the lake in a steady
stream, but few left records. The English pushed north as far as the
south end of Lake George and built Fort William Henry; the French, as
far south as Crown Point and built Fort St. Frederic. All between was a
wild country, claimed by both France and Great Britain.
In 1755 Michel Chartier, afterwards Marquis de Lotbiniere, under
instruction from the Marquis de Vaudreuil, Governor-General of New
France, came down from Crown Point to select a site for a new fort. His
aide-memoire from de Vaudreuil is in the Fort Library. In October he
started cutting the great trees and leveling the ground to build the
stone fortress which he first called Fort Vaudreuil, but which was
afterwards given the name of Carillon, “A Chime of Bells,” named from
the sound of the falls where the water from Lake George runs into Lake
Champlain. He employed the garrison from Crown Point and at one time as
many as 2,000 men were at work and made extraordinary progress,
considering that he was erecting a fort in the wilderness.
Robert Rogers, the famous ranger, several times during the building of
the Fort reconnoitered and reported on the progress of the work.
September 9, 1756, he says:
“I was within a mile of Ticonderoga fort where I endeavored to
reconnoitre the enemy’s works and strength. They were engaged in raising
the walls of the fort and erecting a large blockhouse near the southeast
corner of the fort with ports in it for cannon. East from the blockhouse
was a battery which I imagined commanded the lake.”
[Illustration: Part of the Original Instructions for de Lotbiniere
to Start Construction of Fort Ticonderoga
(This manuscript is in the Fort Library)]
He also reports the French to be building a sawmill at the lower end of
the falls. On Christmas Eve, 1757, Rogers got close enough to kill about
seventeen head of cattle and set fire to the wood piles of the garrison.
To the horns of one of the cattle, he attached a note to the commander
of the fort:
“I am obliged to you, sir, for the repose you have allowed me to take. I
thank you for the fresh meat you have sent me. I will take care of my
prisoners. I request you to present my compliments to the Marquis de
Montcalm.
(Signed) “Rogers, Commander of the Independent Companies.”
In 1755, Baron de Dieskau had gone from Crown Point to attack Sir
William Johnson at Lake George. Dieskau was wounded, and his defeated
army fought their way back to Ticonderoga.
In March, 1758, Rogers’ famous battle on snowshoes was fought a few
miles from Ticonderoga when the French under Captain Durentaye,
commanding a party of Indians and Canadians, captured and destroyed most
of his force.
The guns which De Lotbiniere mounted on the Fort were mostly from Crown
Point and Montreal but some were brought from Fort William Henry in 1757
when Montcalm captured that fort from Lieut. Col. Munro. It was after
Munro’s surrender that the famous massacre of Fort William Henry
occurred. The British garrison was marching unarmed to Fort Edward when
it was attacked by Montcalm’s Indians. The French officers did their
best to protect the garrison but many were slain.
De Lotbiniere wrote to the Minister from Carillon on the 31st October,
1756:
[Illustration: Major Robert Rogers]
“My Lord:—
“I was so much occupied last year at the departure of the last ships
that it was not possible for me to render you an account of the St.
Frederic campaign, which M. de Vaudreuil ordered me to begin immediately
after M. de Dieskau’s affair. I left with orders to examine the Carillon
Point ... where the waters of the Grande Baye and of Lake St. Sacrement
meet. At this point is the head of the navigation of Lake Champlain. M.
de Vaudreuil feared with reason that, the enemy gaining possession of
it, it would be very difficult for us to dislodge him, and that being
solidly established there, [and we] would be exposed to see him appear
in the midst of our settlements at the moment we least expected, it
being possible for him to make during winter all necessary preparations
to operate in the spring.
“I found on my arrival at St. Frederic an intrenchment begun on wrong
principles which I felt obliged to continue to be agreeable to the
Commandant of the Army who feared the enemy might at any moment attack
the Fort. At last, on the 12th October, on the order of M. le Marquis de
Vaudreuil, these works ceased and we moved the camp from St. Frederic to
Carillon to begin a Fort at the location which I should find to be most
suitable for such purpose.
“I decided to establish it on the ridge of rock which runs from the
point to the falls of Lake St. Sacrement. As the season did not permit
of our hoping to accomplish much work before winter I was obliged to
restrict my efforts more than I would have liked so as to at least place
the garrison under cover until the spring.
“I contented myself with reserving sufficient ground in the front for a
camp of 2,000 to 3,000 men, if need be, covered by the Fort, and
although I was obliged to operate in the midst of a wood without being
able to see while surveying more than thirty yards ahead of me, I think
I was fortunate enough to have made the best use of the ground I was
ordered to fortify. We were not prepared to build in stone, having
neither the material assembled nor the workmen. We were therefore
obliged to line the works in oak which fortunately was plentiful on the
spot. I began the parapet of the whole work which I formed in a double
row of timbers distant ten feet from one another and bound together by
two cross-pieces dovetailed at their extremities, to retain the timbers.
This had reached the height of seven feet by the 28th November, date of
the departure of the army, which could not remain longer owing to the
ice beginning to form.
[Illustration: Wounding of Baron Dieskau. From a Painting in the
Museum]
“I remained until February hoping to be able to use the garrison to
advance the works; but finding that it was not possible to make the
garrison work, I decided to return to Montreal after the barracks had
been finished, to recuperate from the fatigues of the campaign and the
unwholesome food I had taken.
“I left [Montreal] this year [1756] at the end of April and arrived at
the Fort the first days of May, when I resumed work which dragged on for
nearly a month not having the required workmen. During this campaign we
raised all the Fort to the height of the cordon. The earth ramparts were
made,—the platforms of the bastions completed, a cover built for each
bastion bomb-proof, two stone barracks built, the ditches of the place
dug to the rock everywhere, part of the rock even removed on two fronts,
the ditches of the two demi-lunes also excavated to the rock, a
store-house established outside the Fort as well as a hospital. The
parapet was raised on the two fronts exposed to the enemy’s batteries if
he undertook to besiege this place, the exterior part of the Fort
supported by masonry resting on the solid rock. The next campaign will
be devoted to overhauling the main body of the place and building the
two demi-lunes proposed, as well as the redoubt at the extreme of the
Carillon Point. We will also work at the covered way and the glacis.
There will be two barracks to build in stone in the interior of the
Fort. As there is but one bastion exposed to attack I think it would be
well to protect it by a counter guard. This would constitute an
additional obstruction which might discourage the enemy from any attack
on that side and, should he do so, I would hope that the place, once
completed, he would not succeed. I would be flattered, My Lord, if you
gave me your orders to work with more latitude and, if you approve the
counter guard which would not be very expensive, I would beg of you to
order it by the first ships coming from France in order to embrace at
the same time the whole works. M. le Comte de la Galissoniere to whom I
communicated the information which I have acquired on this district will
not let you ignore how advantageous it is and of what consequence it is
to France. I presume to flatter myself, My Lord, that you will consider
me for the position occupied heretofore by M. de Lery. I think I have
worked in a manner to deserve it.”
It was during the summer of 1757 that De Lotbiniere started to
substitute stone for most of the timbers he had used on the outer walls
of the Fort.
[Illustration: Abercromby’s Expedition Against Fort Ticonderoga
Embarking at Head of Lake George
Courtesy Glens Falls Insurance Company]
CHAPTER FOUR
Abercromby’s Defeat
In 1758 the Fort was almost completed. General James Abercromby had
gathered at the head of Lake George the greatest army ever seen on the
American continent, almost 15,000 men, of which 6,000 were British
regulars and the rest provincials from New England, New York and New
Jersey.
In July, 1758, this great army, great for its day and place, left Fort
William Henry in hundreds of batteaux and whale boats to attack Fort
Carillon. It must have been an extraordinarily beautiful sight, that
vast fleet of little boats filled with the Red Coats and the plaids of
Highlanders. Early in the morning of July 6th the army landed on what is
now known as Howe’s Cove at the northern end of Lake George. The army
immediately advanced in three columns but was soon lost in the dense
forest which then covered the whole country. An advance party of French
under the Sieur de Trepezec had been watching the landing from what the
French called Mount Pelee, but which is now called Roger’s Rock. In
trying to return to the Fort they had also lost their way and met one of
the advancing columns, commanded by George Augustus, Viscount Howe, a
grandson of George the First of England. At the first fire Lord Howe was
killed and with his death the heart went out of the army. He was the
real leader of the expedition. Captain Monypenny, his aide, reported his
death in the following letter:
[Illustration: The Marquis de Montcalm
(From a Pastel in the Museum.)]
To Mr. Calcraft, dated Camp at Lake George, 11th July, 1758:
“Sir:
“It is with the utmost concern, I write you of the death of Lord Howe.
On the 6th the whole army landed without opposition, at the carrying
place, about seven miles from Ticonderoga. About two o’clock, they
march’d in four columns, to invest the breast work, where the enemy was
encamp’d, near the Fort. The Rangers were before the army and the light
infantry and marksmen at the heads of the columns. We expected, and met
with some opposition near a small river, which we had to cross. When the
firing began on the part of the left column, Lord Howe thinking it would
be of the greatest consequence, to beat the enemy with the light troops,
so as not to stop the march of the main body, went up with them, and had
just gained the top of the hill, where the firing was, when he was
killed. Never ball had a more deadly direction. It entered his breast on
the left side, and (as the surgeans say) pierced his lungs, and heart,
and shattered his back bone. I was about six yards from him, he fell on
his back and never moved, only his hands quivered an instant.
“The French party was about 400 men, ’tis computed 200 of them were
killed, 160, whereof five are officers, are prisoners; their commanding
officer, and the partizan who conducted them were killed, by the
prisoner’s account, in short, very few, if any, got back.
“The loss our country has sustained in His Lordship is inexpressible,
and I’m afraid irreparable. The spirit he inspired in the troops,
indefatigable pains he took in forwarding the publick service, the
pattern he show’d of every military virtue, can only be believed by
those, who were eye witnesses of it. The confidence the army, both
regular and provincial, had in his abilities as a general officer, the
readiness with which every order of his, or ev’n intimation of what
would be agreeable to him, was comply’d with, is almost incredible. When
his body was brought into camp scarce an eye was free from tears.
“As his Lordship had chose me to act as an aide de camp to him, when he
was to have commanded on the winter expedition, which did not take
place, and afterwards on his being made a brigadier general, had got me
appointed Brigade Major, and I had constantly lived with him since that
time....”
“(Signed) Al. Monypenny.”
[Illustration: Brig. General Lord Howe]
The three columns returned to the landing place on the 6th, and on the
7th the army again advanced, this time by way of the bridge over the
small stream connecting Lake George with Lake Champlain. The French had
destroyed the bridge in retreating but it was soon repaired. On the
night of the 7th the whole army lay on their arms, in what is now the
Village of Ticonderoga, and on the morning of the 8th advanced again in
three columns to attack the Fort. In the meantime Montcalm had elected
not to wait until the Fort was invested but to fight in the woods. With
almost superhuman energy he threw an earthwork across the whole
peninsula of Ticonderoga, about three-quarters of a mile from the Fort.
It consisted of a great wall of logs, and an abatis of trees with their
branches sharpened, a hundred feet or so from the trenches. He, himself,
commanded the center, the Chevalier de Lévis the right, and the Colonel
de Bourlamaque the left. Early in the morning the British columns
attacked. All through that hot, sultry July day the fight went on.
Abercromby had established his headquarters at the French sawmill but
had been deceived as to the strength of Montcalm’s defenses. In this
fight the 42nd Highlanders, the famous Black Watch, suffered enormously.
Many of the Highlanders fought their way through the abatis and some
even reached the great log wall, only to be killed by bayonet or bullet.
The Royal American, a regiment still in the British army as the King’s
Royal Rifle Corps, had losses second only to the Black Watch. And at the
end of the day Abercromby’s army was forced to retreat, leaving the
French in command of the field. The British and Colonial losses in this
fight were almost as great as the whole French defending force.
Account of the Victory Won By the Royal Troops at Carillon on the 8th
Day of July, 1758
(Translated from a contemporary French manuscript report in the Museum
Library)
“The Marquis de Vaudreuil, uncertain of the movements of the enemy,
thought necessary at the beginning of this campaign to distribute his
forces. He appointed the Chevalier de Lévis to execute a secret
expedition with a picked detachment, of which 400 men were chosen from
the land troops. The rest of these troops were sent by order of the
Marquis de Montcalm to defend the border of Lake Saint Sacrement [Lake
George]. The Marquis de Montcalm arrived at Carillon the 30th of June.
The report of prisoners made a few days before left him no doubt that
the enemy had gathered, near the ruins of Fort William Henry, an army of
20,000 to 25,000 men and that their intention was to advance immediately
upon him.
[Illustration: Duc de Lévis]
“He imparted at once this news to the Marquis de Vaudreuil and did not
hesitate to take an advanced position which would deceive the enemy,
retard his movement and give time for the colonial help to arrive. In
consequence, le Sieur de Bourlamaque was ordered to take possession of
the portage at the head of Lake Saint Sacrement, with the battalions of
La Reine, of Guyenne and of Bearn. The Marquis de Montcalm, with those
of La Sarre, of the Royal Roussillon, of the Languedoc Regiment and the
1st battalion of Berry, occupied personally the two banks of the Chute
River, thus named because in that spot the Lake St. Sacrement, narrowed
by the mountains, pours its bubbling waters into the St. Frederic River
and Lake Champlain. The 2nd Berry battalion took charge of the defense
and service at the Fort of Carillon.
[Illustration: A PLAN of
_the TOWN and FORT of_
CARILLON
at
TICONDEROGA;
with
the ATTACK made by the
_BRITISH ARMY_
Commanded by Gen^l. Abercrombie.
_on July 1758_
Engraved by
_Tho^s. Jefferys, Geographer to his Royal Highness the_
Prince of Wales.]
“The Marquis de Montcalm made the Sieurs de Pontleroy and Désandrouins,
Engineers, reconnoitre and determine a site for a fortified position
which could cover this fort; and as we had only a few Canadians and only
15 savages, he took from the French battalions two troops of volunteers,
the command of which was given to the Sieur Bernard, captain in the
Bearn Regiment, and Duprat, captain in La Sarre Regiment.
“In the evening of the 5th scouts which we had on Lake Saint Sacrement
informed us that they had seen large numbers of barges which might be
and were, in fact, the vanguard of the enemy’s army. At once the order
was given to the troops of the Portage and the Chute camps to take their
armaments, to spend the night at the bivouac, and to clear the
equipages. The volunteers of Duprat were sent to take position on a
creek called the Bernetz which, flowing between the mountains that cover
this part of the country, runs into the Chute River. The enemy could
pass around us by the back of these mountains. It was essential to be
aware of such a movement. 350 men under the command of the Sieur de
Trepezec, captain in the Bearn Regiment, were detached to take a
position between the Pelee Mountain and the left bank of Lake Saint
Sacrement and the volunteers of Bernard occupied another post
intermediary between the Pelee Mountain and the Portage camps. Measures
were taken also to throw light on a possible disembarkment which the
enemy might make on the right bank of the lake.
“The 6th. At four o’clock in the morning, the vanguard of the opponent’s
army was located in sight of the portage. At once the Marquis de
Montcalm sent orders to the Sieurs de Pontleroy and Désandrouins to lay
out, in front of Carillon on the ground already marked, trenches and
abatis and to the 2nd Battalion of Berry to work at them with its
ensigns.
[Illustration: Major General Israel Putnam]
“The enemy began to disembark at nine o’clock; the Sieur de Bourlamaque
retreated then in their presence with the 3rd battalion from the portage
and in the best of order. He joined the Marquis de Montcalm who was
waiting for him, formed for battle, on the heights at the right bank of
the Chute, with Roussillon Regiment and the first Berry Battalion; these
five battalions passed the river, destroyed the bridge and combined with
La Sarre and Languedoc Regiments occupied the heights which edge the
left bank. This retreat would have been carried out without the loss of
a single man, if the detachment of the Sieur de Trepezec had not lost
its way. Abandoned by the few savages that acted as guides, it strayed
in those wood-covered mountains and came, after walking 12 hours, upon
an English column bound for the Chute River. Of this detachment 6
officers and about 150 soldiers were killed or made prisoners. They
defended themselves a long time, but they had to retreat before a
superior force. The English made an important loss in the person of Lord
Howe, quartermaster general of their army and Colonel of one of the
Regiments of old England.
“At six o’clock in the evening, the Sieur Duprat, having announced that
the enemy was heading towards the Bernetz Creek with pioneers and that
their plan was evidently to throw a bridge over it, the Marquis de
Montcalm sent the order to retreat and started his own retreat towards
the heights of Carillon, where he arrived at sunset. That same evening a
portion of the opponents’ regular troops and Rangers occupied the two
banks of the Chute River, going towards the Bernetz Creek and
entrenching there. The rest of their army occupied the place of
disembarkment and the portage, and entrenched there also.
“The 7th. The French army was all employed working at the abatis which
had been started the day before by the 2nd Berry Battalion. The officers
were setting the example and the flags were hoisted—the plan of the
defences had been laid out on the heights, 650 fathoms from Carillon
fort.
“On the left side it was backed up by an embankment 80 fathoms away from
the Chute River, the top of which was capped by a wall. This wall was
flanked by a gap back of which 6 cannon were to be placed to fire at it
as well as to the river. On the right it was also backed by an
embankment the slope of which was not as steep as the one on the left;
the plain between this hill and Lake Saint Sacrement River was bordered
by a branch of the trenches and also by a battery of 4 cannon which were
only placed there the day after the battle. Also the guns of the Fort
were pointed toward this plain as well as at any other disembarkment
which might be effected on the left.
“The center followed the sinuosities of the ground, keeping the top of
the height, and all the parts flanked one another reciprocally. Several,
to tell the truth, were hit there, as well as on the right and on the
left by a cross fire of the enemy, but it was because we didn’t have
time to put up traverses. That kind of defence was made by tree trunks
put one on top of the other, and had in front of it fallen trees the
branches of which, cut and sharpened, gave the effect of a chevaux de
frise.
“Between 6 and 8 o’clock in the evening the piquets of our troops,
detached by order of the Chevalier de Lévis, arrived at the camp and the
Chevalier de Lévis himself went there at night.
“All day our volunteers fired against the Rangers of the enemy. General
Abercromby with the main part of the militia and the balance made up of
regular troops advanced up to the falls. He had sent there several
barges and pontoons mounted with two guns each. These troops built also
on the same day several trenches, one in front of the other, of which
the nearest one to our abatis was hardly a cannon range away. We spent
the night in bivouac along side the trenches.
“The 8th. At dawn we beat the drums so as to let all the troops know
their posts for the defense of the entrenchment, following the above
arrangement, which was about that in which they worked. The army was
composed at the right of battalions of La Reine, La Sarre, Royal
Roussillon, Languedoc and Guyenne Regiments and two Berry and the one
battalion of the Bearn Regiment and also of 450 Canadians or Marines
which brought the total to 3,000 fighting men.
“At the left of the line they posted the Sarre and the Languedoc
battalions and the two piquets that had arrived the day before. The
volunteers of Bernard and Duprat were guarding the gap on the Chute
River.
“The center was occupied by the first Berry Battalion, by one Royal
Roussillon and by the rest of the piquets of the Chevalier de Lévis.
“Battalions of La Reine, the Bearn and the Guyenne defended the right
and in the plain between the embankment of this right [flank] and the
Saint Frederic River they had posted the colonial troops and the
Canadians, defended also by abatis. On the whole front of the line each
battalion had back of itself a company of grenadiers and a piquet in
reserve to support their battalion and also to be able to move where
they might be needed. The Chevalier de Lévis took charge of the right,
the Sieur de Bourlamaque of the left, the Marquis de Montcalm kept the
center for himself.
“This arrangement, fixed and known, the troops at once fell back to
work, some of them busy improving the abatis, the rest erecting the two
batteries mentioned above and a redoubt to protect the right.
“That day in the morning, Colonel [Sir William] Johnson joined the
English army with 300 savages of the Five Nations with ‘Tchactas,’ the
Wolf, and Captain Jacob with 140 more. Soon after we saw them, as well
as some Rangers, standing on a mountain opposite Carillon on the other
side of the Chute River. They even discharged much musketry which
interrupted the work. We did not bother answering them.
“At half past twelve, the English army debouched upon us. The company of
grenadiers, the volunteers and the advanced guards retreated in good
order and joined the line again. At the same movement and at a given
signal all the troops took their posts.
“The left was attacked first by two columns, one of which was trying to
turn the trenches and found itself under the fire of La Sarre Regiment,
the other directed its efforts on a salient between the Languedoc and
the Berry battalions. The center, where the Royal Roussillon was, was
attacked almost at the same time by a third column; a fourth attacked
the right between the Bearn and La Reine battalions. All these columns
were intermingled with their Rangers and their best riflemen, covered by
the trees, kept up a murderous fire.
“At the beginning of the fight several barges and pontoons coming from
the Chute advanced in sight of Carillon. The steadiness of the
volunteers of Bernard and Duprat, supported by Sieur de Poulharies at
the head of a company of grenadiers and of a piquet of the Royal
Roussillon, with a few cannon shots fired from the fort, made them
retreat.
“These different attacks were almost all in the afternoon and almost
everywhere of the greatest intensity.
“As the Canadians and the colonial troops had not been attacked they
directed their fire upon the column which was attacking our right and
which from time to time was within their range. This column, made up of
English grenadiers and of Scotch Highlanders, charged repeatedly for
three hours without either being rebuked or broken up, and several were
killed at only fifteen feet from our lines.
“At about five o’clock the column which had attacked vigorously the
Royal Roussillon threw itself back on the salient defended by the
Regiment of Guyenne and by the left wing of the Bearn, the column which
had attacked the right wing drew back also, so that the danger became
urgent in those parts. The Chevalier de Lévis moved there with a few
troops of the right [wing] at which the enemy was shooting. The Marquis
de Montcalm hastened there also with some of the reserves and the enemy
met a resistance which slowed up, at last, their ardor.
“The left was still standing up against the firing of two columns which
were endeavoring to break through that part. The Sieur de Bourlamaque
had been dangerously wounded there at about 4 o’clock and Sieur de
Senezeraque and de Privast, Lieutenant Colonels of La Sarre and the
Languedoc Regiments were taking his place and giving the best of orders.
The Marquis de Montcalm rushed there several times and took pains to
have help sent there in all critical moments.
“At 6 o’clock the two columns on the right gave up attacking the Guyenne
battalions and made one more attempt against the Royal Roussillon and
Berry. At last, after a last effort to the left, at 7 o’clock, the enemy
retreated, protected by the shooting of the Rangers, which kept on until
night. They abandoned on the battlefield their dead and some of their
wounded.
“The darkness of the night, the exhaustion and small number of our
troops, the strength of the enemy which, in spite of its defeat, was
still in numbers superior to us, the nature of these woods in which one
could not, without assistance of the savages, start out against an army
which must have had from 400 to 500 of them, several trenches built in
echelon from the battlefield up to their camp, those are the obstacles
that prevented us following the enemy in its retreat. We even thought
that they would attempt to take their revenge and we worked all night to
escape attack from the neighboring heights by traverses, to improve the
Canadian abatis, and to finish the batteries of the left and of the
right [flanks] which had been begun in the morning.
“The 9th. Our volunteers having informed the Marquis de Montcalm that
the post of the Chute and of the portage seemed abandoned, he gave
orders to the Chevalier de Lévis to go the next day at day break with
the grenadiers, the volunteers and the Canadians to reconnoitre what had
become of the enemy.
“The Chevalier de Lévis advanced beyond the portage. He found everywhere
the vestige of a hurried flight wounded, supplies, abandoned equipage,
debris of barges and charred pontoons, unquestionable proofs of the
great loss which the enemy had made. We estimate it at about 4,000 men
killed or wounded. Were we to believe some of them, and judge by the
promptitude of their retreat, it would be still more considerable. They
have lost several officers and generals, Lord Howe, Sir Spitall, Major
General Commander in Chief of the forces of New York, and several
others.
“The savages of the Five Nations remained as spectators at the tail of
the column; they were waiting probably to declare themselves after the
result of a fight which, to the English, did not seem doubtful.
“The orders which were published in their colonies for the levying and
upkeep of this army, announces the general invasion of Canada and the
same statements are made in all the commissions of their officers and
militia. We must do them justice in saying that they attacked us with
the most ardent tenacity. It is not ordinary that trenches have stood
seven hours’ attack at a stretch and almost without respite.
“We owe this victory to good manœuvres of our generals before and during
the action and to the extraordinary, unbelievable gallantry of our
troops. All the officers of the army behaved in a way that each one of
them deserves special praise. We have had about 350 men killed and
wounded, 38 of which were officers.”
A British account of the fight from “An Historical Journal of the
Campaigns in North America,” London, 1759, is as follows:
“A schooner arrived, from Boston, this morning; by this vessel we had
the satisfaction to receive a bag of letters, some from Europe, and
others from the southward, but none from the eastward; among those which
I got was the following one, from my friend in the Commander in Chief’s
army, dated Albany, July the 29th, 1758.