THE SIEGE OF FORT WILLIAM HENRY
The failure of Rigaud's expedition against Fort William Henry was
followed by a period of peace, during which Seth was occupied for the
most part in leading scouting parties northward to spy upon the doings
of the French at Ticonderoga and Crown Point.
He had many an adventure in this service, and more than once escaped
capture by what was almost a miracle, yet his ardor was not in the
least damped by any of these thrilling experiences, and he had no
sooner got safely back from one outing than he began to plan for
another.
Major Rogers meanwhile had been despatched to Nova Scotia on a special
mission, and consequently was far away when the French resolved to wipe
out the disgrace of the defeats of Dieskau and Rigaud by sending such
a force against the obstinate defenders of the English fort as would
render complete victory an absolute certainty.
To this undertaking Montcalm himself gave his personal attention, and
got together at Montreal an army of regulars, Canadians, and Indians
that, so far as numbers went, certainly seemed to assure success.
By the end of July he had all transported to Ticonderoga, where
Bourlamaque, with the battalion of Bearn and Royal Rousillon had been
since May, finishing the fort and sending out scouting parties to
discover the strength and designs of the English at Fort William Henry.
Ticonderoga, which by being made the base of the projected attack upon
the English stronghold had become a point of great importance, is a
high rocky promontory between Lake Champlain on the north and the mouth
of the outlet of Lake George on the south. Near its extremity and close
to the fort were encamped the battalions of Bourlamaque.
Two miles farther south a wide space had been cleared which was covered
by the tents of the regiments of La Reine, Languedoc, and Guienne, all
commanded by Levis.
From this camp a road a mile and a half long had been cut through the
forest to the navigable waters, and at the end of this road was another
fortified camp formed of colony regulars, Canadians, and Indians, under
command of Rigaud.
Beyond this at the edge of Lake George, and at Rogers' Rock, were
stationed advance parties whose business it was to watch the movements
of the English.
There were thus gathered within a range of four miles fully eight
thousand fighting men, representing the brightest civilization and
the darkest barbarism of the day, from the scholarly Montcalm and the
accomplished Levis with their suite of courtly young officers, to the
foulest man-eating savages of the uttermost northwest.
The Indian allies numbered nearly two thousand. They were exceedingly
difficult to manage and cost their employers infinite trouble, besides
being a tremendous expense. There was no keeping them fed. Rations
would be served to them for a week, and they would consume them in a
couple of days and demand more. Once when refused they took the matter
into their own hands, and butchered and devoured a drove of cattle
intended for the troops.
Their supreme delight was to get drunk; and sometimes when crazed with
brandy they fought like wolves, grappling and tearing each other with
their teeth.
Some of them were cannibals, and actually dared to indulge in their
abominable appetite while in camp, the unfortunate victim being an
English prisoner taken by one of their war parties.
Such were the fiends in human form whose aid the French had enlisted,
and who subsequently were to cast so dark a stain upon the record of
this enterprise.
It was the 1st of August when, having got everything arranged to
his satisfaction, Montcalm set his whole force in motion toward the
object of his undertaking. The spectacle presented was a brilliant and
imposing one, and well calculated to strike terror into the hearts of
those against whom it was prepared.
Seth and a little band of his Rangers, who had ventured out from Fort
William Henry on a scouting expedition, beheld it from the summit of a
lofty hill, and their spirits sank at the sight.
"Heaven help us! There's no counting them!" exclaimed Seth in a tone of
consternation. "We can't possibly hold the fort against them. They've
five times as many men as we have, at least."
"Let us hurry back to the fort then and tell Colonel Monro," Reuben
Thayer made haste to suggest. "Perhaps he'll think it best not to
attempt to defend our fort, but to retreat to Fort Edward."
"We can't tell him too soon what we've seen," returned Seth. "But I'm
sure he won't give up the fort without a fight. He's too brave to do
that."
In this opinion of Lieutenant-Colonel Monro, who then was in command
at Fort William, Seth showed how well he knew the man, for the sturdy
Scotch veteran certainly was not of the kind to beat a retreat or to
surrender at discretion. On the contrary, he could be relied upon to
fight to the very last; and, if need be, to die rather than give up his
sword.
What the Rangers saw was the French flotilla moving up the lake in the
full blaze of the afternoon sun.
First a great swarm of birch canoes crowded with naked savages in war
paint and feathers, and gliding swiftly over the smooth water in no
particular order. Next came two hundred and fifty bateaux, moved by
sail and oar, some bearing the Canadian militia and some the battalion
of old France in handsome uniform. Then followed the cannon and
mortars, each one placed on a platform, sustained by two bateaux lashed
side by side, and rowed by the militia of Saint Ours. The battalions
of Bearn and Rousillon, the Canadians of Gaspe with the provision
boats and the field hospital continued the procession, and lastly a
rear-guard of regulars closed the long line.
No wonder that while the watching scouts could not help being filled
with admiration at the spectacle, they also were depressed by the
conviction that to repel the attack of such a force was hopeless, and
that the fate of their beloved fort was sealed.
With utmost speed they made their way back through the woods, and told
Commander Monro what they had seen.
As Seth rightly judged, the brave old man, while fully realizing the
seriousness of the situation, did not for a moment contemplate the
evacuation of the fort, or the anticipating of the attack by sending a
message of surrender to Montcalm.
What he did do was at once to despatch a note to General Webb, who
was at Fort Edward, fourteen miles distant, with nearly two thousand
men, informing him of the advance of the French and asking for
reinforcements, a request which he repeated again and again during the
siege, without evoking any response from Webb, who seemed to have been
too timid to do as he should have done, namely, hasten forward with his
troops to the support of his imperilled brethren in arms.
All told, including sailors and mechanics, Monro had a bare two
thousand men wherewith to oppose the eight thousand of the French
commander. Yet when Montcalm, having arrived within striking distance
of the fort, and completed his preparations for the siege, sent an
aide-de-camp to him with the following letter:
"I owe it to humanity to summon you to surrender. At present I can
restrain the savages, as I might not have power to do under other
circumstances, and an obstinate defence on your part can only retard
the capture of the place a few days, and endanger an unfortunate
garrison which cannot be relieved. I demand a decisive answer in an
hour;" the doughty Scotchman gave his answer at once, and it was that
he and his soldiers would defend themselves to the last, emphasizing
his refusal by a broadside from his cannon so soon as the truce was
ended.
While the white flags were flying the Indians swarmed over the fields
before the fort; and when they learned the result of the parley, an
Abenakis chief shouted exultantly in broken French:
"You won't surrender, eh! Fire away then, and fight your best, for if
I catch you, you shall get no quarter"--a threat that was only too
awfully fulfilled in the sequel.
At this time Fort William Henry was an irregular bastioned square,
formed by embankments of gravel, surmounted by a rampart of heavy logs
laid in tiers crossed one upon another, the interstices being filled
with earth. The lake protected it on the north, the marsh on the east,
and ditches with chevaux-de-frise on the south and west. Seventeen
cannons, great and small, besides mortars and swivels were mounted upon
the ramparts.
Montcalm's first proceeding was to open trenches for the protection of
his soldiers--a task of extreme difficulty, as the ground was covered
with half burned stumps, roots, and fallen trunks. All night of the 4th
of August eight hundred men toiled with pick and spade and axe, while
the cannon from the fort flashed through the darkness, and grape and
round shot whistled and screamed over their heads.
Before daybreak the first parallel was completed, and a battery nearly
finished on the left, while another was well started on the right. The
men now worked under cover, safe in their burrows, one gang relieving
another, as the operations went steadily on all day.
So soon as these forts were in readiness, Montcalm mounted his cannon
upon them, eight at the left and eleven at the right, and proceeded to
bombard Fort William Henry vigorously. The fort replied with spirit,
and for several days ensuing the heavy guns thundered from dawn until
dark, while from a hundred peaks and crags the astonished wilderness
roared back the sound.
The Indians enjoyed this artillery performance greatly. They had
been of no use whatever thus far, as instead of devoting themselves
to scouting, they loitered about the camp and trenches, or amused
themselves by firing at the fort from behind stumps and logs.
Some, in imitation of the French, dug little trenches for themselves
in which they wormed their way toward the ramparts, and now and then
picked off an artilleryman, although not without loss on their own side.
Seth, whose heart was hot against the redskins, not only because they
were of the enemy, but because of what he had himself suffered at
their merciless hands, made a point of watching for them; and not a day
passed without his having the satisfaction of putting an end to the
career of one or more of them.
By the end of the week the French had pushed their trenches so far
forward that a battery was begun not two hundred and fifty yards
from the fort, and the Indians lay so thick among the beans, maize,
and cabbages that none of the garrison dared show themselves for an
instant, as that meant certain death.
The position of the besieged had now become deplorable. More than three
hundred of them had been either killed or wounded; the dread disease of
smallpox was raging in their midst and the casemates were crowded with
the sick. All the large cannon were burst or dismounted, the ramparts
were already breached in several places, and a general assault might be
looked for at any time, while there was evidently no hope of assistance
from Fort Edward where General Webb still stayed inert.
After consultation with his officers Monro determined upon attempting
a sortie in force, and among those selected to share in it were the
Rangers, the majority of whom had so far escaped both shot and sickness.
"We have about reached the end of our tether," the sturdy old Scotchman
said sadly to the council. "A sortie seems to be the only thing left
for us to try. I confess I am not at all sanguine myself of it doing
us any good, but there's no telling. It may gain us some respite even
though it does not effect our deliverance."
There was no dissenting voice, but on the contrary a hearty support of
the veteran's project; and when volunteers for the forlorn hope were
invited by him, not one of the officers held back.
Seth felt highly gratified when to the Rangers was assigned the
perilous honor of taking the lead.
"There is only one chance in ten of our getting back alive, Reuben," he
said to his friend, as, with countenance whose gravity showed how fully
they realized what was before them, they talked together after the
council of officers had dispersed, "but we can only do our best. If we
have to surrender, I pray God we may not fall into the hands of those
red devils the French have with them. I'd rather be shot at once than
be taken prisoner by them and tortured to death."
"And so would I," answered Reuben. "They're perfect fiends, not human
beings, and the French ought to be ashamed of themselves for having
such allies."
It was at the dead of night when the majority of the effective men in
the garrison silently moved out of the fort and across the fields in
the direction of Montcalm's encampment.
They were favored in their enterprise by the intense darkness of the
night, and by the fact that the bombardment had been so heavy all
day that the French were persuaded they had practically cannonaded
their antagonists into helplessness, and consequently took no special
precautions against a night attack.
Led by the Rangers, who seemed to possess the faculty of seeing in
the dark, the gallant band made its way resolutely toward the enemy's
position, and had got so near that they could hear the sentries
exchanging the watchword on their rounds, when the challenge "_Qui
va la?_" rang sharply out on the still night air, and they came to a
sudden halt.