The historical associations of Lake George are of the deepest
interest, for it was the route between the colonial frontier and Lake
Champlain, and the scene of great military movements and savage
combats. For over a century this attractive region was the sojourning
place of religious devotees coming down from Canada to convert or
conquer the heathen Iroquois, or of hostile expeditions moving both
north and south--Indians, French, Dutch, English--all passing over its
lovely waters; and it was the scene of two of the most horrid
massacres of the colonial wars. Whenever there was war between France
and England this lake saw fierce conflicts, the red men taking part
with the whites on both sides. In 1755 Sir William Johnson's
expedition started northward from the Hudson to capture Crown Point on
Lake Champlain, advancing from Glen's Falls to Lake George, over the
route still taken. Colonel Ephraim Williams of Massachusetts commanded
part of this expedition, and was ambushed by the French and Hurons
near the lake, in what was called the "Bloody Morning Scout." Upon the
road still exist grim memorials of the ambush and massacre in the
"Bloody Pond" and "Williams' Rock." He had twelve hundred troops and
two hundred Mohawk Indians, and both Williams and the white-haired
Mohawk chief, Hendrick, were slain, with hundreds of their followers,
and the bodies of the dead were thrown into the pond. When the brave
Williams started on this sad expedition he had a presentiment of his
fate and made his will at Albany, giving his estate to support a free
school, and from this bequest was founded the well-known Williams
College, at Williamstown, in the Berkshire hills of western
Massachusetts. A monument on the hillside, resting upon "Williams'
Rock," was erected in 1854 by the College Alumni, to mark the place of
his death, while deep down in the glen is the sequestered pond which,
tradition says, had a bloody hue for many years.
After the surprise and massacre, Johnson's main forces, which had been
at the head of Lake George and heard the firings came up and engaged
the French, defeating them with great slaughter, wounding and
capturing Baron Dieskau, their commander, who was badly maltreated
until Johnson, learning who he was, sent for surgeons, took him into
his own tent, and, although wounded himself, had Dieskau's wounds
dressed first. The Mohawks, furious at the massacre and loss of their
old chief, Hendrick, wanted to kill Dieskau, and a number of them,
going into the tent, had a long and angry dispute in their own
language with Johnson, after which they sullenly left. Dieskau asked
what they wanted. "What do they want!" returned Johnson. "To burn you,
by God, eat you, and smoke you in their pipes, in revenge for three or
four of their chiefs that were killed. But never fear; you shall be
safe with me, or else they shall kill us both." A captain and fifty
men were detailed to guard Dieskau, but next morning a lone Indian,
who had been loitering about the tent, slipped in and, drawing a sword
concealed under a sort of cloak he wore, tried to stab the disabled
prisoner. He was seized in time, however, to prevent the murder. The
distinguished captive, as soon as his wounds permitted, was carried on
a litter over to the Hudson, and sent thence to Albany and New York.
He was profuse in his expressions of gratitude, and remarked of the
provincial soldiers that in the morning they fought like good boys,
about noon like men, and in the afternoon like devils. He returned to
Europe in 1757, but he never recovered from his wounds and died a few
years later. Johnson after the battle built a strong fort at the head
of Lake George to hold his position, while the straggling French and
Indians, who had retired to the foot of the lake, entrenched
themselves at Ticonderoga. Thus was built the famous Fort William
Henry by the English, named in honor of the Duke of Cumberland,
brother of King George II., the hero of Culloden, while the French
named their entrenched camp at Ticonderoga Fort Carillon, or the
"Chime of Bells," in allusion to the music of the waterfalls in the
outlet stream flowing beside it between the lakes.
Bitter enemies thus holding either end of Lake George, it became a
constant battleground. In 1757, after numerous skirmishes, a
considerable British and Colonial force was collected at Forts Edward
and William Henry, intended to attack Carillon and Crown Point and
drive the French down Lake Champlain. General Montcalm then commanded
the French, and learning what was going on, and that the main British
force was at Fort Edward, he swiftly traversed the lake with a large
army and cut off and besieged Fort William Henry, garrisoned by
twenty-five hundred men. The commander at Fort Edward was afraid to
send reinforcements, and after a few days the British garrison, their
guns dismounted and their works almost destroyed, were forced to
capitulate. No sooner had they laid down their arms and marched out
of the fort and an adjacent entrenched camp, than the Indian allies of
the French, the fierce Hurons, fell upon them, plundering
indiscriminately and murdering all they could reach, there being
fifteen hundred killed or carried into captivity, and over a hundred
women slain, with the worst barbarities of the savage. Montcalm did
his best to restrain them, but was powerless. The fort was an
irregular bastioned square, formed by gravel embankments, surmounted
by a rampart of heavy logs laid in tiers, the interstices filled with
earth, and it was built almost at the edge of the lake, the site being
now occupied by a hotel. The French spent several days demolishing it.
The barracks were torn down and the huge logs of the rampart thrown
into a heap. The dead bodies filling the casemates were added to the
mass, which was set fire, and the mighty funeral pyre blazed all
night. Then the French sailed away on the lake, and Parkman says "no
living thing was left but the wolves that gathered from the mountains
to feast upon the dead." When the English on the subsequent day sent a
scouting party from Fort Edward they found a horrible scene; the fires
were still burning, and the smoke and stench were suffocating, the
half-consumed corpses broiling upon the embers. The fort had mounted
nineteen cannon and a few mortars, a train of artillery which Johnson
had highly prized. The French carried these guns off with them to
Carillon, and they afterwards had a chequered history. The English
subsequently retook them at Carillon, and changed the name of that
fort to Ticonderoga. At the dawn of the Revolution, Ethan Allen and
his Vermonters surprised Ticonderoga and got them. Then the guns were
drawn on sledges to Boston, and did notable service in the American
siege and capture of that city, afterwards going into many engagements
with Washington's army.