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Updated: July 13, 2025
Dieskau judged, from the report of the prisoners, that the colonists considerably outnumbered him, although in fact there was no great difference in numerical strength, the French column numbering 1500 and the colonial force 2200, besides 300 Mohawk Indians.
Again the canoes were launched and the wild flotilla glided on its way, now in the shadow of the heights, now on the broad expanse, now among the devious channels of the Narrows, beset with woody islets where the hot air was redolent of the pine, the spruce, and the cedar, till they neared that tragic shore where, in the following century, New England rustics battled the soldiers of Dieskau, where Montcalm planted his batteries, where the red cross waved so long amid the smoke, and where, at length, the summer night was hideous with carnage, and an honored name was stained with a memory of blood.
At length Dieskau, exposing himself within short range of the English lines, was hit in the leg. While his adjutant Montreuil was dressing the wound, the general was again hit in the knee and thigh. He had himself placed behind a tree, and ordered Montreuil to lead the regulars in a last effort against the camp. But it was too late.
As Willet put it tersely: "It's not enough for us to know what Dieskau means to do, but to keep him from doing it. It's muscle and lungs now that count." So they deserved to the full the name of forest runners, speeding on their great curve, using the long, running walk with which both Indians and frontiersmen devoured space, and apparently never grew weary.
"I know the wisdom of what you say," replied the Englishman, "but it's hard to refrain from looking when you know a French army and a mass of howling savages are about to rush down upon you." "But one must, if he intends to live and fight." Clear and full sang the trumpets of Dieskau once more. Despite his advice to Grosvenor, Robert peeped over the log and saw the enemy gathering in the forest.
We'll not wait for Dieskau. We'll go to meet him. What say you, Williams, and you, Whiting?". "Forward, sir! The troops would welcome the order!" replied Colonel Williams, and Whiting nodded assent. Johnson was now all activity and energy and so were his officers. He seemed not at all daunted by the news of Dieskau's rapid advance.
Dieskau resolved on a rapid movement to seize the place. At noon of the same day, leaving a part of his force at Ticonderoga, he embarked the rest in canoes and advanced along the narrow prolongation of Lake Champlain that stretched southward through the wilderness to where the town of Whitehall now stands.
That Johnson had great difficulty in keeping his savages from burning alive and then boiling and eating Dieskau and smoking his flesh in their pipes, in revenge for some of their chiefs killed in the fight, shows what an alliance with Indians meant. There was small gain to the English from Johnson's success.
General Braddock arrives.... Convention of governors and plan of the campaign.... French expelled from Nova Scotia, and inhabitants transplanted.... Expedition against fort Du Quêsne.... Battle of Monongahela.... Defeat and death of general Braddock.... Expedition against Crown Point.... Dieskau defeated.... Expedition against Niagara.... Frontiers distressed by the Indians.... Meeting of the governors at New York.... Plan for the campaign of 1756.... Lord Loudoun arrives.... Montcalm takes Oswego.... Lord Loudoun abandons offensive operations.... Small-pox breaks out in Albany.... Campaign of 1757 opened.... Admiral Holbourne arrives at Halifax.... Is joined by the earl of Loudoun.... Expedition against Louisbourg relinquished.... Lord Loudoun returns to New York.... Fort William Henry taken.... Controversy between lord Loudoun and the assembly of Massachusetts.
Lord Loudon was appointed Commander in Chief of the English forces in America, and General the Marquis de Montcalm was appointed Generalissimo in Canada, in room of Dieskau, who was disabled at Lake George.
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