USA > New York > Warren County > History of Warren County [N.Y.] with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 11
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86
97
CONTINUATION OF FRENCH AND ENGLISH WAR.
thousand regulars. These troops were "suffering and impoverished," while for- tunes awaited the corrupt high officials; frauds were perpetrated upon the king of such a flagrant character that they demanded investigation at the close of the war, and numerous other embarrassments crippled the energies and chafed the gallant spirit of Montcalm.
On the other hand, although the recent campaign had been one of disaster to the English, that fact seemed to infuse a little spirit into the English ministry which found public expression chiefly from the gifted statesman, William Pitt. A million and a half of people inhabited the British colonies and an army of some fifty thousand men was subject to the commands of Abercrombie. Com- mercial intercourse with the mother country was almost untrammeled, and there seems no sufficient reason why the French power should not have been extinguished by one grand movement.
But this predominance of the English was considerably modified by the facts that France had gained far stronger influence over the Indians than had the English ; the Canadian population was more concentrated, and above all, the French cause was kept under command and direction of far the most bril- liant and able men. Britain sent to her colonies effete generals, bankrupt no- bles, and debauched parasites of the court. France selected her functionaries from the wisest, noblest and best of her people, and therefore her colonial in- . terests were usually directed with wisdom and sagacity.
English hostilities began in December, 1757 with brilliant deeds by the rangers under Rogers and Putnam, which could not, however, seriously influ- ence the general campaign. On the 17th of that month, Rogers, in pursuance of orders issued by Lieutenant-Colonel Haviland, who was in command of the English forces at Fort Edward, marched thence with one hundred and fifty men to reconnoitre Ticonderoga, or Carillon. The following account of the expedition we take from Rogers's Journal, and serves to illustrate the character of this feature of the war, and of the men engaged in it : -
On the 17th "we marched six miles and encamped, the snow being then three inches deep, and before morning it was fifteen ; we however pursued our route.
" On the 18th in the morning, eight of my party being tired, returned to the fort; with the remainder I marched nine miles further, and encamped on the east side of Lake George, near the place where Mons. Montcalm landed his troops when he besieged and took Fort William Henry, where I found some cannon balls and shells, which had been hid by the French, and made a mark by which I might find them again.
" The 19th we continued our march on the west side of the lake nine miles further, near the head of the northwest bay.
"The 21st so many of my party tired and returned as reduced our number to 123, officers included, with whom I proceeded ten miles further, and en- 7
98
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
camped at night, ordering each man to leave a day's provisions there till our return.
"The next day we marched ten miles further, and encamped near the great brook that runs into Lake George, eight miles from the French advanced guard.
" The 23d we marched eight miles, and the 24th six more, and halted within six hundred yards of Carillon fort. Near the mill's we discovered five Indians' tracks, that had marched that way the day before, as we supposed, on a hunt- ing party. On my march this day between the advanced guard and the fort, I appointed three places of rendezvous to repair to, in case of being broke in an action, and acquainted every officer and soldier that I should rally the party at the nearest post to the fort, and if broke then to retreat to the second, and at the third to make a stand till the darkness of the night would give us an op- portunity to get off. Soon after I halted I formed an ambush on a road leading from the fort to the woods, with an advanced party of twenty men and a rear guard of fifteen. About eleven o'clock a sergeant of marines came from the fort up the road to my advanced party, who let him pass to the main body, where I made him prisoner. Upon examination he reported 'that there were in the garrison 350 regulars, about fifty workmen, and but five Indians; that they had plenty of provisions, &c., and that twelve masons were constantly em- ployed in blowing up rocks in the entrenchment, and a number of soldiers to assist them ; that at Crown Point there were 150 soldiers and fourteen Indians ; that Mons. Montcalm was at Montreal; that 500 Ottowawas Indians wintered in Canada, and that 500 Rangers were lately raised in Canada, each man hav- ing a double-barrelled fuzee, and put under an experienced officer, well ac- quainted with the country ; that he did not know whether the French intended to attack any of the English forts this winter or not; but that they expected a great number of Indians as soon as the ice would bear them, in order to go down to the English forts; and that all the bakers in Carillon were employed in making biscuit for the scouts above mentioned.'
" About noon a Frenchman, who had been hunting, came near my party in his return, when I ordered a party to pursue him to the edge of the cleared ground, and take him prisoner, with this caution, to shoot off a gun or two, and then retreat to the main body, in order to intice the enemy from their fort ; which orders were punctually obeyed, but not one of them ventured out.
" The last prisoner, on examination, gave much the same account, but with this addition, 'that he had heard the English intended to attack Ticonderoga as soon as the lake was froze so as to bear them.'
" When I found the French would not come out of the Fort, we went about killing their cattle, and destroyed seventeen head, and set fire to the wood which they had collected for the use of the garrison, and consumed five large piles ; the French shot off some cannon at the fires, but did us no harm. At
99
CONTINUATION OF FRENCH AND ENGLISH WAR.
eight o'clock at night I began my march homewards, and arrived at Fort Ed- ward with my prisoners on the 27th."
In a document entitled Journal of Occurrences in Canada, 1757-58, print- ed with the Paris Documents, under date of January 2d, 1758, occurs the fol- lowing entry : " A courier from Carillon reports that the English showed themselves there on Christmas eve to the number of 150, with the design of setting fire to the houses under the curtain of the fort ; that the cannon pre- vented them from doing so ; that they killed some fifteen beeves, to the horns of one of which the commander had affixed a letter couched in these words :
"'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 pris- oners. I request you to present my compliments to the Marquis de Mont- calm.
"'(Signed) ""'Commander of the Independent Companies.'"
ROGERS,
It seems strange that the English did not immediately, even if in midwin- ter, precipitate an attack upon these two important French strongholds, when it was shown that the forces that occupied them were so small.
Again in March Rogers left Fort Edward with one hundred and eighty men to reconnoitre the vicinity of Ticonderoga; when near the foot of the lake they encountered a body of about a hundred Canadians and Indians. These were dispersed and the march continued until the English were sudden- ly confronted with a large force in ambush. A desperate conflict followed, the rangers fighting with a valor born of their knowledge that it was a ques- tion of life or death. Nearly the entire detachment was slain and one hun- dred and forty-four scalps were carried to Montcalm. Rogers, with a few of his men escaped. This bloody affray was fought near the rock bearing Rogers's name, in the northeast corner of Warren county. The battle was probably fought on snow-shoes, amid the rugged rocks and defiles of the mountains.
Another heroic incident may be related here. Major Putnam was employed early in the campaign in protecting the English communications and was sta- tioned in a commanding position at a point near Whitehall, where he lake makes a sharp angle, now known as Fiddler's Elbow. He was in command of thirty-five rangers, and on the eastern cliffs he built a stone breastwork, which he disguised with green boughs. Here he patiently waited four days until, on the evening of the fourth day, his scout announced the approach of a flotilla. Clear moonlight revealed every movement on the water. When the foremost boats had passed the barricade the rangers poured destructive volleys upon them in rapid succession. An attempt by part of the French to land was re- pulsed by twelve of the little band. As dawn appeared Putnam found his ammunition expended and was forced to retire. His only loss was two men wounded. The location is still known as Put's Rock.
100
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
In March Rogers was ordered to Albany for recruiting purposes, and met with a friendly reception from Lord Howe, who was then at Albany, organiz- ing an army with which to begin operations as soon as practicable. Howe granted Rogers permission to visit New York, where he waited upon General Abercrombie, who had succeeded Lord Loudoun as commander-in-chief. Ab- ercrombie commissioned Rogers major, his commission placing him at the head of all the scouts and rangers in that vicinity. On his return to Albany he reported to Lord Howe, who gave him his instructions, when he hurried on to Fort Edward, and resumed command of his celebrated corps.
Three formidable expeditions were planned for this year: The first against Louisburg ; the second against Fort Du Quesne; the third contemplated the clearing of the Champlain valley of French occupation.
Admiral Boscowan, with twenty ships of the line and fifteen frigates, to- gether with twelve thousand men under General Amherst arrived before Lou- isburg on the 3d of June. A vigorous siege was begun, which lasted until the 26th of July, when the French surrendered the position.
The expedition against Du Quesne was commanded by General John Forbes, through whose dilatory action it came very near being disastrous and abandoned. After months of wasted time, Washington was sent forward and when within a day's march of the fort they were discovered by some Indians, who carried the news of their approach to the garrison. There were then but five hundred men in the fortification, and they on the 24th of November set it on fire and fled down the Ohio River.
The capture of Ticonderoga and a descent upon Montreal was the more important, indeed it was the vital, point in the plans of the campaign. A force of about seven thousand regulars, nearly nine thousand provincials and a heavy train of artillery was assembled at the head of Lake George by the beginning of July. This was the finest army yet organized on the western continent ; but unfortunately its command was given to General James Abercrombie. Judg- ing well of his incapacity, Pitt sought to avert the probability of failure by the selection of Lord Howe, who was given the rank of brigadier-general and made the controlling spirit of the undertaking.
At dawn on the morning of the 5th of July this splendid army embarked on Lake George in nine hundred bateaux and one hundred and thirty-five whale boats, the artillery being transported on rafts. It was an imposing fleet, such as had not before been seen on American waters. A halt was made at Sab- bath-day Point for rest and refreshment just before evening, and at ten o'clock the army was again under headway. Early on the morning of the 6th a land- ing was made on the west side of the lake at a point which still bears the name of General Howe. Howe and Stark lay upon the same bear skin the previous night and discussed the situation at Carillon ; a feeling of mutual regard sprang up between them.
IOI
CONTINUATION OF FRENCH AND ENGLISH WAR.
De Boulamarque had been stationed at the foot of the lake with three reg- iments, to oppose the landing of the English; but on their approach in such overwhelming numbers, he retreated to the fort, burning both the bridges across the outlet of Lake George, compelling Abercrombie to pursue his march through the pathless forest on the west side of the stream. He left his bag- gage and stores at the deserted camp of De Boulamarque and took up the march directly for the French works; but the intricacy of the forest and the roughness of the ground soon broke up the columns. While in this state of confusion they encountered a body of three hundred and fifty French and In- dians, who had been detached under De Trèpesée, and had been for twelve hours endeavoring to tread their way through the almost impenetrable woods. A skirmish ensued in which the French soldiers displayed great heroism, de- spite their exhausted condition, but were nearly all slain. It proved a dis- astrous event to the English, for the gallant Lord Howe,1 upon whom, as it developed, the success of the expedition depended, fell at the first fire. The British regulars were appalled at the death of Howe and, unused to forest fighting, faltered and broke, but were gallantly sustained by the provincials. The French general was also mortally wounded and almost the entire detach- ment slain or captured, with insignificant loss to the English.2
With the death of Howe fled the hope of a successful campaign. The chronic imbecility and apathy of the English returned and the army of sixteen thousand men, their only immediate enemy being four thousand under Mont- calm, was withdrawn to Lake George on the morning of the 7th. Bradstreet took possession of the saw-mill at the Falls about noon, rebuilt the bridges, and in the evening the army took up its position at that point, about two miles from the fort. During this valuable period the French were strengthening their defenses. The French position is thus described by Mr. Watson : "The promontory held by Montcalm was a narrow and elevated peninsula, washed on three sides by deep waters (see engraving), with its base on the western and only accessible side. On the north of this base access was obstructed by a wet meadow, and on the southern extremity it was rendered impracticable to the advance of an army by a deep slope, extending from the hill to the outlet. The summit between these two points was rounded and sinuous with ledges and elevations at intervals. Here and about half a mile in advance of the fort Montcalm traced the line of his projected entrenchment. It followed the sinu- osities of the land, the sections of the works reciprocally flanking each other."
1 This noble and brave officer being universally beloved by both officers and soldiers of the army, his fall was not only sincerely lamented, but seemed to produce an almost general consternation and languor through the whole. - HOUGH in Rogers's Journal.
2 If the British army narrowly escaped by this panic a renewal of the bloody scenes on the Monon- gahela, it is equally probable, if Howe had lived, and a rapid and vigorous advance been made after the annihilation of Trepesee's party, that the imperfect entrenchments of the French might have been entered and captured in the disorder and alarm of the moment. But the bugle of Abercrombie sounded the retreat, and the opportunity was lost. - WATSON.
102
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
The entrenchment, which was about an eighth of a league in length, was con- structed by Dupont Le Roy, an accomplished engineer. "It was formed by falling trunks of trees, one upon the other, and others felled in front, their branches cut and sharpened produced the effect of a chevaux de frise."1 The abatis was about one hundred yards in width. The entire day of the 7th was spent by the French in energetic labor on this effective entrenchment, their flags flying along the line and music playing, until the line arose to a height of from eight to ten feet its entire length.
HIGH LAND
ES REPAIRED.
FRENCH LINE
RIGADE
LOWLAND.
INTENDED REDOURTS
OLD FORT
CHAMPLAIN.
OUT OF REPAIR
LOW LAND.
DOCK.
LAKE
LANDING.
OF
BATTERY!
PART
PROPOSED AS A DOCK
LIST BRIGADE
PROPOSED WYORK,
ARTILERY
PARK
BRIGADE
BRIGADE
=LOW LAND.
LANDING FROM
KENESBOROUGH.
TICONDEROGA AND ITS DEPENDENCIES, AUGUST, 1776, FROM A PLAN DRAWN BY COL. JOHN TRUMBULL.
De Levis, who had organized an expedition against the Mohawk Valley, was recalled to reinforce Ticonderoga, which was reached on the night of the 7th, by his four hundred veterans, he following at five o'clock the next morn- ing, accompanied by the gallant De Senezergues. At about the same hour Johnson joined the English camp with three or four hundred Mohawks.
DFEP MORASS AND CREEK
MOUNT INDEPENDENCE
MORASS.
RISING GROUND.
Mount Deflance, a very high hill, supposed inaccessible for carriages.
ANO REDOUBTS
OUTLET OF LAKE GEORGE
TO BEREPAIRED.
It is well settled that at this time it was Montcalm's intention to evacuate Ticonderoga ; to the experienced military eye it must have seemed untenable, and it is claimed that he did not decide upon a vigorous defense until the
1 MONTCALM'S Report. Rogers says : "We toiled with repeated attacks for four hours, being greatly embarrassed by trees that were felled by the enemy without their breastwork."
.
TROUT
LAKE
BROOK
ST
SACRAMENT
PRISONERS 19
CHUTE
RIVER
REGULARS
REAR GUARD
PROVINCIALS
CREEK
ID
WOOD
LAKE
CHAMPLAIN
MAP OF THE OUTLET OF LAKE ST. SACRAMENT, TO ILLUSTRATE ABERCROMBIE'S ATTACK ON CARILLON. From Butler's Lake George and Lake Champlain.
104
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
morning of the attack. His force on that day amounted to three thousand and six hundred men, four hundred and fifty of whom were irregular troops. The number of fighting men was two thousand nine hundred and ninety-two. The troops were called to the lines at daybreak and assigned their positions for the day and then returned to improve the precious hours on the entrench- ments. The meadow on the right, in front of which was a slight abatis, was occupied by the irregular troops. The fort guns commanded this opening as well as the slope on the extreme left. De Levis was placed on the right with three regiments. De Boulamarque held the left with an equal force, while Montcalm occupied the center with two battalions and pickets. The declivity towards the outlet was guarded by two companies. Behind each battalion was stationed in reserve a company of grenadiers. At the preconcerted signal (an alarm gun) the troops left their labors on the lines and were at their re- spective stations under arms just as the advance of the British appeared.
Abercrombie was misled to the belief that reinforcements were on their way to Montcalm. This fact, with the added opinion of his engineer, Clarke, that the French lines were vulnerable to infantry (although the practiced eye of Stark saw otherwise and so reported), prompted Abercrombie to an im- mediate attack before the arrival of his powerful artillery.
The imposing advance was made in three columns : First, rangers, bateau men and light infantry ; next the provincials marched with wide openings be- tween the regiments; behind these openings were the regulars in columns; the New Jersey and Connecticut levies formed the rear. Johnson was posted with his force of Indians on Mount Defiance, then known as Sugar Loaf Hill. He took little part in the battle.
The regulars rapidly advanced between the provincial regiments and hurled themseleves with intrepid bravery and great determination upon the abatis in front of the French. Two columns attacked the right, another the center, and a fourth was thrown upon the left. But when the almost insurmountable barrier was reached, its impenetrable thicket broke up all military order, while from be- hind the works came terrible volleys with murderous effectiveness. More he- roic valor or greater individual bravery has seldom been shown in battle than was exhibited by the British veterans, and seldom has the great advantage of even temporary entrenchments been more clearly established. The deadly fire of the French soldiers, protected by their abatis, and the cannonade from the howitzers posted at intervals along the line, told with fearful effect upon the assaulting army ; but they heard no command to retreat; they had re- ceived their orders to advance, and although they could not surmount the works of the enemy, they could die in front of them. The fire of the provin- cials and their marksmen was perhaps more effective than the volleys of the regulars ;1 as Montcalm referred to " their murderous fire."
1 " Their fire greatly incommoded those in the entrenchments." - POUCHOT.
105
CONTINUATION OF FRENCH AND ENGLISH WAR.
The details of this sanguinary battle need not be further pursued ; they are emblazoned on the pages of many a history. The assault was hopeless from the beginning, and while its bloody scenes were being enacted under the watchful eye of the brilliant French general, Abercrombie looked after the wel- fare of his noble person amid the security of the saw-mills, two miles from the battle-field. All day long the battle raged, and between the hours of six and seven the heroic columns still continued to charge upon the French lines. But the time for retreat had arrived ; it should have arrived earlier, and regiment after regiment, weary and decimated and without any general order, retired to the camp, their retreat covered by the provincials. Then followed one of those strange panics to which armies, made up of the bravest material, have of- ten been subject. From some influence that is difficult to comprehend, a feel- ing of terror spead through the ranks, and a wild flight ensued. Nothing but the prompt firmness of Bradstreet prevented further sacrifice. That imme- diate pursuit did not follow was due only to the comparative feebleness of the enemy and the impracticability of traversing the forest without Indian guides. De Levis went over the track of Abercrombie's army on the morning of the Ioth and found only the vestiges of a routed host; and before that hour the English general had dishonorably placed the length of Lake George between him and his conquerors.
Abercrombie admitted the loss of about two thousand men, but the French placed it much heavier, claiming their own to be less than five hundred. Boulamarque was severly and Bougainville slightly wounded.
This terrible and probably unnecessary catastrophe was partially offset by the successful siege of Frontenac, which capitulated to Bradstreet on the 26th of August, but the while Abercrombie dallied in helpless indecision, Montcalm, reinforced on the 12th of July by the younger Vaudreuil with three thousand Canadians, and by six hundred Indians on the 18th, 1 was vigilant and persist- ent, striking wherever and whenever he could detect a vulnerable point.
" On Friday, the 20th of July, succeeding this event," says Holden, in his History of Queensbury, " a detachment of four hundred men, consisting of Ca- nadians and Indians, under the command of M. de Luc la Corne, a colonial of- ficer, attacked an English force of one hundred and fifty men, consisting of teamsters and an escort of soldiers, while on their way from the station at the Half-way Brook, to the camp at the head of the lake. The account here given is as nearly as can be remembered in the language of a Mr. Jones, of Connec- ticut, who was a member of Putnam's company which arrived on the ground soon after the affray took place. In the year 1822 he related the circum- stances as here recorded to the late Herman Peck, esq., of this place, while on a visit to Connecticut. It is from Mr. Peck that I obtained the narrative,
1 Abercrombie uses the fact of the arrival of these reinforcements to justify himself for attacking the French before the arrival of his artillery.
106
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
which corresponds so completely with the French version of the affair that there can be no question whatever as to its general accuracy and reliability.
" A baggage train of sixty carts, each cart drawn by two or three yoke of oxen, accompanied by an unusually large escort of troops, was dispatched from Fort Edward to the head of Lake George with supplies for the troops of General Abercrombie, who lay encamped at that point with a force of twelve thousand men. This party halted for the night at the stockade post at the Half-way Brook. As they resumed their march in the morning, and before the escort had fairly cleared the picketed enclosure, they were suddenly at- tacked by a large party of French and Indians which lay concealed in the thick bushes and reeds that bordered the stream, and lined the road on both sides along the low lands between the block-house and the Blind Rock.
"The night previous to this ambuscade and slaughter, Putnam's company of rangers, having been to the lake to procure supplies, encamped at the flats near the southern spur of the French Mountain. In the early morning they were aroused from their slumbers by the sound of heavy firing in a southerly direction, and rolling up their blankets they sprang to their arms and hastened rapidly forward to the scene of action, a distance of about four miles. They arrived only in time to find the slaughtered carcasses of some two hundred and fifty oxen, the mangled remains of the soldiers, women and teamsters, and the broken fragments of the two-wheeled carts, which constituted in that prim- itive age the sole mode of inland transportation.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.