CHAPTER XII.

WILLIAM HENRY.-PREPARATIONS FOR ITS SIEGE.— THE SURRENDER.

THE efforts of New France during the campaign of 1757

were directed against William Henry or Fort George. This fort was built near the shore of lake George, called by the French St-Sacrement. It 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 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 several mortars were mounted upon it." Fort William Henry was regarded as a permanent danger to Canada. From it detachments were sent against the borders of lake Champlain, and under its walls were prepared expeditions against Carillon, Fort St-Frédéric and the southern frontier of the colony. There, if possible, should be struck a blow as destructive as that which had shattered Oswego a year before.

Early in the spring preparations were begun. The

(1) Parkman, Montcalm and Wolfe, I, p. 495.

reinforcements expected from France had not arrived but Vaudreuil and Montcalm did their best with such resources as they had at their disposal. A camp was formed at Carillon during the month of May under the command of Bourlamaque. On the 4th of July M. de Lévis left St-John, with four battalions, for that fort where he arrived on the 7th. On the 9th M. de Montcalm went to pay a visit to the Indians at the Lake of Two-Mountains, and, the day after, at Sault St-Louis; he chanted the war song a "long and tedious ceremony " and on the 12th he left Montreal for Carillon where he made in conjunction with MM. de Lévis and Bourlamaque, the final dispositions for the opening of the campaign. The whole force intended to lay siege to William Henry did not assemble until the last days of July. It consisted of the six battalions of regulars, La Reine, Languedoc, La Sarre, Guyenne, Royal-Roussillon, and Béarn, divided into three brigades, with a detachment of marines, amounting to three thousand and eighty-one The militia, composed of seven brigades, numbered two thousand nine hundred and forty six; the artillery, one hundred and eighty eight, and the Indians one thousand eight hundred and six, forming a total of eight thousand and twenty-one men. (1)

men.

On the 30th of July all the preparations were complete. Montcalm divided his forces into two bodies, placing one division under the command of Lévis which was to proceed by way of land on the north west shore of the lake, and

(1) Bougainville à M. de Paulmy, 19 août 1756.-Paris Documents, X, p. 607.

the other was to embark on bateaux. The Lévis detachment composed of nearly 3,000 men, regulars, marine, militia and Indians, began its march on the 30th at day break. On the 1st of August, the main division, commanded by Montcalm himself, embarked on 250 bateaux. On the 2nd the two divisions met at the bay of Ganaouské, at two o'clock in the morning. At noon the army moved again, one division on land, the other on water. The landing place was reached at night, one league from Fort George. On the 3rd all the troops landed. M. de Lévis marched towards the Lydius or Fort Edward road, in order to stop possible reinforcements coming from General Webb's army stationed at that fort, which was only fourteen miles distant from the lake. The main body followed in three divisions, M. de Montcalm in the centre, M. de Rigaud on the right and M. de Bourlamaque on the left. The siege was begun on the 4th. M. de Bourlamaque was put in charge of the works, with MM. Desandrouins and de Lotbinière as engineers. The trench was opened during the night and pushed with great vigor. M. de Montcalm had made his dispositions so well that with a comparatively small army for such an undertaking, he had virtually invested the place and was ready to meet any force coming to its rescue. On the sixth, the first battery began to play on the walls of William Henry. The day before, Indian scouts had brought to Montcalm a letter taken from the body of an English courier killed by them on his way from Lydius to William Henry. This letter was addressed by General Webb's aide-de-camp to the commander of the fort, intimating that the general did not deem it advisable

in his present position, to try to join him, or to send reinforcements before having been reinforced himself by the provincial troops. He advised the general to make the best conditions possible in the event of his not receiving aid in due time.

When the battery began to fire on the morning of the 6th, Montcalm thought it a favourable opportunity to send this letter to the commander of fort William Henry.

The commanding officer was the valiant LieutenantColonel Monro, a Scotch veteran. The force under his orders numbered two thousand two hundred men. General Webb was at Fort Edward, with three thousand six hundred soldiers and could muster "by stripping all the forts below" four thousand five hundred. But he did not move. On the 7th Montcalm received a list of favours bestowed on the French troops; he was honoured with the red ribbon. This news created great enthusiasm in the French army and the General was complimented on every side, even by his savage allies, who stated that they were delighted at the distinction bestowed on their Father by the grand Ononthio.

The second battery of eleven guns had opened fire on the morning of this day. The havoc wrought by the French artillery was dreadful. The walls were partly breached, and the English guns were disabled. LieutenantColonel Munro had lost three hundred men, killed or wounded, since the beginning of the siege. And, worst of a 1, small pox broke out in the fort. In such a desperate

(1) Knight commander of the order of St. Louis.