Three Years of Warfare: Lord Howe and Ticonderoga

The armies intended for the execution of the plans against Ticonderoga and Fort Duquesne were to rendezvous at Albany and Philadelphia. The first was commanded by General Abercrombie, and consisted of upwards of fifteen thousand men, attended by a formidable train of artillery. On the 5th of July the general embarked his troops on Lake George, on board of one hundred and twenty-five whale-boats and nine hundred bateaux. His first operations were against Ticonderoga. After debarkation at the landing-place in a cove on the west side of the lake, the troops were formed into four columns, the British in the centre and the provincials on the flanks. In this order they marched towards the advanced guard of the French, which, consisting of one battalion only, posted in a logged camp, destroyed what was in their power and made a precipitate retreat. While Abercrombie was continuing his march in the woods, towards Ticonderoga, the columns were thrown into confusion, and in some degree entangled with each other. At this juncture, Lord Howe, at the head of the right centre column, fell in with a part of the advanced guard of the enemy which was lost in the wood in retreating from Lake George, and immediately attacked and dispersed it, killing a considerable number, and taking one hundred and forty-eight prisoners. In this skirmish, Lord Howe fell on the first fire.

The English army, without further opposition, took possession of a post within two miles of Ticonderoga. Abercrombie, having learned from the prisoners the strength of the enemy at that fortress, and from an engineer the condition of their works, resolved on an immediate storm, and made instant disposition for an assault. The troops, having received orders to march up briskly, rush upon the enemy's fire, and reserve their own till they had passed a breastwork, marched to the assault with great intrepidity. Unlooked-for impediments, however, occurred. In front of the breastwork, to a considerable distance, trees had been felled with their branches outward, many of which were sharpened to a point, by means of which the assailants were not only retarded in their advance, but, becoming entangled among the boughs, were exposed to a very galling fire. Finding it impracticable to pass the breastwork, which was eight or nine feet high, and much stronger than had been represented, General Abercrombie, after a contest of nearly four hours, ordered a retreat, and the next day resumed his former camp on the south side of Lake George. In this ill-judged assault nearly two thousand of the assailants were killed and wounded, of which number towards four hundred were provincials. Almost half of the Highland regiment, commanded by Lord John Murray, with twenty-five of its officers, were either killed or desperately wounded. The loss of the enemy, who were covered during the whole action, was inconsiderable.

This severe defeat put an end to the expedition against Crown Point. One success, however, was gained. Abercrombie detached three thousand men under Colonel Bradstreet on an expedition which the colonel had proposed against Fort Frontenac, an important post on the western shore of the outlet of Lake Ontario, at the site of the present city of Kingston. Bradstreet marched to Oswego, embarked on the lake, and landed near the fort on August 25. Two days' siege compelled a surrender, and the post with all its contents fell into his hands. Having destroyed it, and the vessels in the harbor, he withdrew his forces.

The demolition of Fort Frontenac facilitated the reduction of Fort Duquesne. General Forbes, to whom this enterprise was intrusted, had marched early in July from Philadelphia at the head of the army destined for the expedition; but such delays were experienced, it was not until September that the Virginia regulars, commanded by Colonel Washington, were ordered to join the British troops at Raystown. Before the army was put in motion, Major Grant was detached with eight hundred men, partly British and partly provincials, to reconnoitre the fort and the adjacent country. Having invited an attack from the French garrison, this detachment was surrounded by the enemy; and after a brave defence, in which three hundred men were killed and wounded, Major Grant and nineteen other officers were taken prisoners. General Forbes, with the main army, amounting to at least eight thousand men, at length moved forward from Raystown, but did not reach Fort Duquesne until late in November. On the evening preceding his arrival, the French garrison, deserted by their Indians, and unequal to the maintenance of the place against so formidable an army, had abandoned the fort, and escaped in boats down the Ohio. The English now took possession of that important fortress, and, in compliment to the popular minister, called it Pittsburg. No sooner was the British flag erected on it than the numerous tribes of the Ohio Indians came in and made their submission to the English. General Forbes, having concluded treaties with these natives, left a garrison of provincials in the fort, and built a block-house near Loyal Hannan; but, worn out with fatigue, he died before he could reach Philadelphia.

Other advantages were gained by the English, and, despite the repulse at Ticonderoga, the balance of success in the year's operations was decidedly on the side of the British forces. One remarkable personal adventure of the war we may select, in conclusion, its hero being the afterwards celebrated general Israel Putnam.