Williams College has something peculiar and romantic in its history, as
well as in its site amid the beautiful hills of Berkshire. It had its
birth upon the very frontiers of civilization, and amid the throes of
that struggle which was to decide finally whether the control of this
continent, and the permanent shaping of its institutions and its destiny
were to be French or English. The nascent colleges of Colorado, Dakota,
and Oregon are relatively to-day in the position held by Williams when
it was founded.
Col. Ephraim Williams, from whom the college takes its name, had been an
active participant in the struggle to which we have alluded. He had been
commissioned by the General Court of Massachusetts to construct and
command a line of forts along the northern border of settlements from
the Connecticut River on the east to the valley of the Hoosac on the
west. This line coincided nearly with the northern boundary of
Massachusetts; all above, to the borders of Canada, being then a
wilderness, through which the roaming savages often burst with sudden
violence upon the settlements of the English colonists. The westernmost
of the line of forts was not far from what is now the site of the
college, and this, being the most exposed and most important, Williams
commanded in person.
After acting in this capacity for a time, and in a manner which gained
him much distinction in the colony, he was placed in charge of a
regiment of troops, designed to participate with other forces in an
expedition against the French; the special object being the capture of
Crown Point, a fortress on Lake Champlain. While on the way to Crown
Point a French force was met, near the head of Lake George. Williams,
with a detachment of troops, was sent against it. The movement was
successful. The French were repulsed, but in the encounter Williams lost
his life. A monument, erected in recent years by the alumni of the
college, marks the spot where he fell.
[Illustration: From HARPER'S MAGAZINE. Copyright, 1881, by HARPER &
BROTHERS.