Military Events at the Head of Lake George

IT was a beautiful evening--the 7th of September, 1755--when an Indian scout came to Johnson's camp, at Lake George, with the startling news that a French army had been seen landing at the head of Lake Champlain, near the site of the village of White Hall. This messenger was followed by another at midnight, with the more alarming news that French and Indians were making a rapid march toward Fort Edward. Early in the morning a council was held, and it was proposed to send out a small party in three divisions to meet the foe. The shrewd Mohawk sachem and chief, King Hendrick, said: "If they are to fight, they are too few; if they are to be killed, they are too many." Then taking in his hands three strong sticks, he said: "Put them and you cannot break them; take them separately and you can break them easily." His logic was apparent, and it was approved by the general, who ordered twelve hundred men in one body to hasten to the relief of Fort Edward. Colonel Ephraim Williams, of Massachusetts, was the chosen commander of the expedition, and with him went Hendrick and two hundred warriors of the Six Nations. Before their departure the white-haired chief, whose snowy locks covered his shoulders, mounted a gun-carriage and harangued his braves with his powerful voice, in eloquent words, exhorting them to be strong and true to their allies. A provincial officer, Lieutenant-Colonel (afterward General) Pomeroy, who was present, declared that while he could not understand a word of the old warrior's language, such was the power of his voice, his gestures and his whole manner, that his speech affected him more deeply than any other he had ever heard.

The detachment had marched in fancied security to a defile at Rocky Brook, about four miles from camp, when they were assailed in front and flank by musketry and arrows. The French and Indians, who had been misled toward Johnson's camp, apprised by scouts of the march of the English, had formed an ambush in semi-circular shape, the centre cut by the path along which Williams' detachment was moving. The latter had fallen into the fatal trap. The attack was sharp and destructive. Williams and Hendrick were the only mounted men, and both were killed at the first volley. Williams fell dead, and Hendrick died soon afterward. The smitten detachment fled back to camp in a quick but orderly retreat conducted by Nathan Whitney, of New Haven, Connecticut. Colonel Williams was then about forty years of age. While he was passing through Albany on his way to join Johnson, he had made a will, by which he bequeathed his moderate estate to found and maintain a free school in Western Massachusetts. Such was the foundation of Williams' College, at Williamstown. When Hendrick's son heard of the death of his father, he placed his hand over his heart and said: "My father still lives here. The son is now the father, and stands here ready to fight." The travelers on the highway between Glenn's Falls and Lake George may see a monument near the road, erected to the memory of Colonel Williams, not far from the spot where he fell.

With strange apathy Johnson had made no preparations for the defence of his camp. It was not until Williams had marched on the morning of the 8th, that he began to construct some breast-works of felled trees, and placed two or three cannons upon them. The firing at the ambush had been heard at the camp, and three hundred men were sent to the relief of the first detachment. These met the flying provincials, and joining in the retreat, they all rushed pell-mell into the camp, pursued by the French and Indians, who had cast many of their slain foes into a slimy pool which is still known as "Bloody Pond."