Capture of Fort William Henry by the French
During the previous winter, the Rangers commanded by Major Rogers, at Fort William Henry, had not been idle. The active and intrepid Lieutenant Stark (afterward the hero of Bennington), who commanded the Rangers when Rogers was absent, was frequently out, at the head of scouts, watching the foe and striking them a blow now and then near Fort Carillon--a name suggested to the French by the rushing waters of the outlet of Lake George, and which also suggested to the Indians their name of Che-on-de-ro-ga--"Sounding Waters"--the origin of Ticonderoga. These Rangers glided over the frozen waters on skates, or traversed the pathless forests on snow-shoes. On one occasion a party of Frenchmen were traveling merrily on the lake between Ticonderoga and Crown Point, on rude sledges drawn by Canadian ponies, when Stark and his followers rushed from the woods, and made some of them prisoners. Others were borne beyond danger by the frightened ponies, which fled over the ice with the fleetness of the wind. As Stark touched the shore with his prisoners, he was assailed by a large body of Indians in the edge of the woods. An unequal fight was kept up until dark, when Stark, leaving twenty of his men behind--killed, wounded, and missing--made his way back to the fort.
Meanwhile, fifteen hundred French regulars and Canadians followed the younger Vaudreuil from the St. Lawrence to Lake George, to capture Fort William Henry by surprise. They traveled on snow-shoes; their provisions were carried on small sledges drawn by dogs, and their beds were bear-skins spread upon the snow. Stealthily they went over the frozen lake, and appeared before the fort at midnight. The garrison were on the alert. The invaders set on fire the vessels there frozen in the ice, the store-houses and some huts, and escaped by the light of the conflagration. That was the night succeeding St. Patrick's day, in March, 1757. From that time until early in August, the garrison suffered very little molestation.
At the close of July, the garrison at Fort William Henry was composed of less than five hundred men under the brave Colonel Monro. A short distance from the fort, on a gentle rocky eminence, where may now be seen the ruins of the citadel of Fort George, seventeen hundred men lay intrenched.
A little more than a dozen miles distant was Fort Edward, where lay the timid General Webb, with about four thousand troops. At the same time Montcalm was at the foot of Lake George with six thousand French and Canadians, and about seventeen hundred Indians. There he held a grand council, and then he moved over the waters and along the western shore of Lake George. In a skirmish on the Lake, a great Indian warrior had been killed, and his body borne away by his comrades. Funeral honors were paid to it. It was dressed in full war-costume, and painted as if for the war-path. Brilliant ribbons, and glittering belts in which were his tomahawk and scalping-knife, and earrings and nose-jewels, adorned the dead body, which was placed upright on the green sward. In his hand was a lance; at his lips was a pipe, and by his side a filled bowl. In this presence there was an oration; then followed the death-dance and the death-song, accompanied by the low music of a softly-beaten drum and the tinkling of little bells. Then the body was placed in a grave, in a sitting posture, with plenty of food, and covered with earth; and the spirit of the warrior was dismissed to the happy hunting-grounds beyond the setting sun.
On the 2d of August, Montcalm, who had passed up the Lake with the main army, on bateaux, landed, with a heavy train of artillery, not far from the site of the village of Caldwell, and at once constructed siege batteries. La Corne, with Canadians, had landed on the east side of the Lake, and taken position across the road leading to Fort Edward; and De Levi, with French and Canadians, formed a camp northwest of La Corne.
This sudden appearance of so large a force was a surprise to the commander of the garrison. General Webb had come up from Fort Edward a day or two before, under an escort of Rangers led by Major Israel Putnam. He examined the fort and the intrenched camp, and sent Putnam on a scout down the Lake, who discovered a large force of French and Indians. This fact Webb concealed from Colonel Monro, and immediately returned to Fort Edward, with the same scout. Not doubting the intention of his superior to give him all the aid in his power, the veteran, when, on the 4th of August, Montcalm demanded an instant surrender of the fort, refused compliance in a defiant tone. The siege was then prosecuted with vigor, but Monro held out, in continual expectation of aid from General Webb. Express after express was sent through by-ways to Fort Edward, imploring aid; but Webb, fearing an attack upon that post, would not spare a man. Finally, when Sir William Johnson was allowed to march with Putnam and his Rangers and some provincials to the relief of Monro, the whole force was recalled when within three miles of Fort William Henry. Instead of forwarding relief to the beleaguered garrison, Webb sent a letter to their commander, in which he gave an exaggerated estimate of the numbers of the French and Indians, and advised him to surrender to prevent the massacre of his whole force.