CHAPTER 1 “
Mine 0
ear is open , and
my 0
heart prepared : The worst is wordly loss
thou 193
canst unfold : -- Say , is
my 0
kingdom 1
lost ? ”
--
Shakespeare 2
It was a feature peculiar to the colonial wars of
North America 3
, that the toils and dangers of
the wilderness 4
were to be encountered before
the adverse hosts 5
could meet .
A wide and apparently an impervious boundary of forests 6
severed the possessions of
the hostile provinces of
France 8
and
England 9
7
.
The hardy colonist 10
, and
the trained European who fought at
his 10
side 11
, frequently expended months in struggling against
the rapids of
the streams 13
12
, or in effecting
the rugged passes 15
of the mountains 14
, in quest of an opportunity to exhibit
their 16
courage in a more martial conflict .
But , emulating the patience and self-denial of
the practiced native warriors 17
,
they 16
learned to overcome every difficulty ; and it would seem that , in time , there was
no recess of
the woods 19
18
so dark , nor any secret place so lovely , that it might claim exemption from the inroads of
those who had pledged
their 20
blood to satiate
their 20
vengeance , or to uphold the cold and selfish policy of
the distant monarchs of
Europe 22
21
20
.
Perhaps
no district throughout
the wide extent of
the intermediate frontiers 25
24
23
can furnish a livelier picture of the cruelty and fierceness of the savage warfare of those periods than
the country which lies between
the head waters of
the Hudson 28
27
and
the adjacent lakes 29
26
.
The facilities which
nature 30
had
there 26
offered to the march of
the combatants 31
were too obvious to be neglected .
The lengthened sheet of
the Champlain 33
32
stretched from the frontiers of
Canada 34
, deep within
the borders of
the neighboring province of
New York 37
36
35
, forming
a natural passage across
half the distance that
the French 40
were compelled to master in order to strike
their 40
enemies 41
39
38
.
Near
its 32
southern termination 42
,
it 32
received the contributions of
another lake , whose waters were so limpid as to have been exclusively selected by
the Jesuit missionaries 44
to perform the typical purification of baptism , and to obtain for
it 43
the title of
lake “ du Saint Sacrement . ” 43
43

The less zealous English 45
thought
they 45
conferred a sufficient honor on
its 43
unsullied fountains 46
, when
they 45
bestowed the name of
their 45
reigning prince 47
,
the second of
the house of
Hanover 50
49
48
.
The two 51
united to rob
the untutored possessors of
its 43
wooded scenery 53
52
of
their 52
native right to perpetuate
its 43
original appellation of “
Horican 43
. ”
* * As
each nation of
the Indians 55
54
had
its 54
language or
its 54
dialect ,
they 54
usually gave different names to
the same places 56
, though nearly all of
their 54
appellations were descriptive of the object .
Thus a literal translation of the name of
this beautiful sheet of water 43
, used by
the tribe that dwelt on
its 43
banks 58
57
, would be “
The Tail of
the Lake 59
43
. ”
Lake George 43
, as
it 43
is vulgarly , and now , indeed , legally , called , forms
a sort of tail to
Lake Champlain 33
60
, when viewed on the map .
Hence , the name .
Winding
its 43
way among
countless islands 61
, and imbedded in
mountains 62
,
the “ holy lake 43
” extended a dozen leagues still further to the south .
With
the high plain that there interposed itself to the further passage of
the water 64
63
, commenced a portage of as many miles , which conducted
the adventurer 65
to
the banks of
the Hudson 28
66
, at
a point where , with the usual obstructions of
the rapids 68
, or
rifts , as
they 69
were then termed in the language of
the country 70
69
,
the river 28
became navigable to the tide 67
.
While , in the pursuit of
their 40
daring plans of annoyance , the restless enterprise of
the French 40
even attempted
the distant and difficult gorges of
the Alleghany 72
71
, it may easily be imagined that
their 40
proverbial acuteness would not overlook the natural advantages of
the district
we 74
have just described 73
.
It 194
became , emphatically ,
the bloody arena , in which most of the battles for the mastery of
the colonies 75
were contested 195
.
Forts 76
were erected at
the different points that commanded the facilities of the route 77
, and were taken and retaken , razed and rebuilt , as victory alighted on the hostile banners .
While
the husbandman 78
shrank back from
the dangerous passes 79
, within
the safer boundaries of
the more ancient settlements 81
80
,
armies larger than those that had often disposed of the scepters of
the mother countries 83
82
, were seen to bury
themselves 82
in
these forests , whence
they 82
rarely returned but in
skeleton bands , that were haggard with care or dejected by defeat 85
84
.
Though the arts of peace were unknown to
this fatal region 86
,
its 86
forests 88
were alive with
men 87
;
its 86
shades and glens rang with the sounds of martial music , and the echoes of
its 86
mountains 89
threw back the laugh , or repeated the wanton cry , of
many a gallant and reckless youth 90
, as
he 90
hurried by
them 91
, in the noontide of
his 90
spirits , to slumber in a long night of forgetfulness .
It was in this scene of strife and bloodshed that the incidents
we 74
shall attempt to relate occurred , during the third year of the war which
England 9
and
France 8
last waged for the possession of
a country that neither was destined to retain 92
.
The imbecility of
her 9
military leaders abroad 93
, and the fatal want of energy in
her 9
councils at
home 95
94
, had lowered the character of
Great Britain 9
from the proud elevation on which it had been placed by the talents and enterprise of
her 9
former warriors 96
and
statesmen 97
.
No longer dreaded by
her 9
enemies 98
,
her 9
servants 99
were fast losing the confidence of self-respect .
In this mortifying abasement ,
the colonists 100
, though innocent of
her 9
imbecility , and too humble to be the agents of
her 9
blunders , were but
the natural participators 196
.
They 100
had recently seen
a chosen army from
that country 9
, which , reverencing as
a mother 102
,
they 100
had blindly believed invincible 101
--
an army led by
a chief who had been selected from
a crowd of
trained warriors 105
104
, for
his 103
rare military endowments , disgracefully routed by
a handful of
French 107
and
Indians 108
106
, and only saved from annihilation by the coolness and spirit of
a Virginian boy , whose riper fame has since diffused itself , with the steady influence of moral truth , to the uttermost confines of Christendom 109
103
101
.
*
A wide frontier 110
had been laid naked by this unexpected disaster , and more substantial evils were preceded by a thousand fanciful and imaginary dangers .
The alarmed colonists 100
believed that the yells of
the savages 111
mingled with every fitful gust of wind that issued from
the interminable forests of the west 112
.
The terrific character of
their 100
merciless enemies 111
increased immeasurably the natural horrors of warfare .
Numberless recent massacres were still vivid in
their 100
recollections ; nor was there any ear in the provinces so deaf as not to have drunk in with avidity the narrative of some fearful tale of midnight murder , in which
the natives of
the forests 113
111
were
the principal and barbarous actors 114
.
As
the credulous and excited traveler 115
related the hazardous chances of
the wilderness 116
, the blood of
the timid 117
curdled with terror , and
mothers 118
cast anxious glances even at
those children which slumbered within the security of
the largest towns 120
119
.
In short , the magnifying influence of fear began to set at naught the calculations of reason , and to render
those who should have remembered
their 121
manhood ,
the slaves of the basest passions 122
121
.
Even the most confident and the stoutest hearts began to think the issue of the contest was becoming doubtful ; and
that abject class 123
was hourly increasing in numbers , who thought
they 123
foresaw all the possessions of
the English crown 124
in
America 125
subdued by
their 123
Christian foes 126
, or laid waste by the inroads of
their 123
relentless allies 127
.
*
Washington 109
, who , after uselessly admonishing
the European general 103
of the danger into which
he 103
was heedlessly running , saved
the remnants of
the British army 129
128
, on this occasion , by
his 109
decision and courage .
The reputation earned by
Washington 109
in this battle was the principal cause of
his 109
being selected to command
the American armies 130
at a later day .
It is a circumstance worthy of observation , that while
all America 131
rang with
his 109
well-merited reputation ,
his 109
name does not occur in any
European 132
account of the battle ; at least
the author 74
has searched for it without success .
In this manner does
the mother country 133
absorb even the fame , under that system of rule .
When , therefore , intelligence was received at
the fort which covered
the southern termination of the portage between
the Hudson 28
and
the lakes 29
135
134
, that
Montcalm 136
had been seen moving up
the Champlain 33
, with
an army “ numerous as the leaves on the trees , ” 137
its truth was admitted with more of the craven reluctance of fear than with the stern joy that
a warrior 138
should feel , in finding
an enemy within reach of
his 138
blow 139
.
The news had been brought , toward the decline of a day in midsummer , by
an Indian runner , who also bore an urgent request from
Munro 141
,
the commander of a work on
the shore of
the “ holy lake , ” 43
142
198
for a speedy and powerful reinforcement 140
.
It has already been mentioned that the distance between
these two posts 143
was less than five leagues .
The rude path 144
, which originally formed
their 143
line of communication , had been widened for the passage of wagons ; so that the distance which had been traveled by
the son of
the forest 146
145
in two hours , might easily be effected by
a detachment of troops , with
their 147
necessary baggage 147
, between the rising and setting of a summer sun .
The loyal servants of
the British crown 124
148
had given to one of
these forest-fastnesses 149
the name of
William Henry 150
, and to the other that of
Fort Edward 151
, calling each after
a favorite prince of
the reigning family 153
152
.
The veteran Scotchman just named 141
held the first , with
a regiment of
regulars 155
154
and
a few provincials 156
;
a force really by far too small to make head against
the formidable power that
Montcalm 136
was leading to
the foot of
his 136
earthen mounds 160
159
158
157
.
At the latter , however , lay
General Webb , who commanded the armies of
the king 162
in the northern provinces 161
, with
a body of
more than five thousand men 164
163
.
By uniting
the several detachments of
his 161
command 165
,
this officer 161
might have arrayed nearly double that number of
combatants 166
against
the enterprising Frenchman , who had ventured so far from
his 161
reinforcements 168
, with
an army but little superior in numbers 169
167
.
But under the influence of
their 170
degraded fortunes ,
both officers 171
and
men 172
appeared better disposed to await the approach of
their 170
formidable antagonists 173
, within
their 170
works , than to resist the progress of
their 173
march , by emulating the successful example of
the French 174
at
Fort du Quesne 175
, and striking a blow on
their 173
advance .
After the first surprise of the intelligence had a little abated , a rumor was spread through
the entrenched camp , which stretched along
the margin of
the Hudson 28
176
, forming a chain of outworks to
the body of
the fort 151
itself 177
151
, that
a chosen detachment of
fifteen hundred men 179
was to depart , with the dawn , for
William Henry 150
,
the post at
the northern extremity of
the portage 181
180
197
178
.
That which at first was only rumor , soon became certainty , as orders passed from
the quarters of
the commander-in-chief 161
182
to
the several corps
he 161
had selected for this service 183
, to prepare for
their 183
speedy departure .
All doubts as to the intention of
Webb 161
now vanished , and an hour or two of hurried footsteps and anxious faces succeeded .
The novice in the military art 184
flew from point to point , retarding
his 184
own preparations by the excess of
his 184
violent and somewhat distempered zeal ; while
the more practiced veteran 185
made
his 185
arrangements with a deliberation that scorned every appearance of haste ; though
his 185
sober lineaments and anxious eye sufficiently betrayed that
he 185
had no very strong professional relish for the , as yet , untried and dreaded warfare of
the wilderness 186
.
At length the sun set in a flood of glory , behind
the distant western hills 187
, and as darkness drew its veil around
the secluded spot 188
the sounds of preparation diminished ; the last light finally disappeared from
the log cabin of
some officer 190
189
; the trees cast
their 191
deeper shadows over the mounds and the rippling stream , and a silence soon pervaded
the camp 150
, as deep as that which reigned in
the vast forest 192
by which
it 150
was environed .