The three columns returned to the landing place on the 6th, and on the 7th the army again advanced, this time by way of the bridge over the small stream connecting Lake George with Lake Champlain. The French had destroyed the bridge in retreating but it was soon repaired. On the night of the 7th the whole army lay on their arms, in what is now the Village of Ticonderoga, and on the morning of the 8th advanced again in three columns to attack the Fort. In the meantime Montcalm had elected not to wait until the Fort was invested but to fight in the woods. With almost superhuman energy he threw an earthwork across the whole peninsula of Ticonderoga, about three-quarters of a mile from the Fort. It consisted of a great wall of logs, and an abatis of trees with their branches sharpened, a hundred feet or so from the trenches. He, himself, commanded the center, the Chevalier de Lévis the right, and the Colonel de Bourlamaque the left. Early in the morning the British columns attacked. All through that hot, sultry July day the fight went on. Abercromby had established his headquarters at the French sawmill but had been deceived as to the strength of Montcalm’s defenses. In this fight the 42nd Highlanders, the famous Black Watch, suffered enormously. Many of the Highlanders fought their way through the abatis and some even reached the great log wall, only to be killed by bayonet or bullet. The Royal American, a regiment still in the British army as the King’s Royal Rifle Corps, had losses second only to the Black Watch. And at the end of the day Abercromby’s army was forced to retreat, leaving the French in command of the field. The British and Colonial losses in this fight were almost as great as the whole French defending force.

Account of the Victory Won By the Royal Troops at Carillon on the 8th Day of July, 1758

(Translated from a contemporary French manuscript report in the Museum Library)

“The Marquis de Vaudreuil, uncertain of the movements of the enemy, thought necessary at the beginning of this campaign to distribute his forces. He appointed the Chevalier de Lévis to execute a secret expedition with a picked detachment, of which 400 men were chosen from the land troops. The rest of these troops were sent by order of the Marquis de Montcalm to defend the border of Lake Saint Sacrement [Lake George]. The Marquis de Montcalm arrived at Carillon the 30th of June. The report of prisoners made a few days before left him no doubt that the enemy had gathered, near the ruins of Fort William Henry, an army of 20,000 to 25,000 men and that their intention was to advance immediately upon him.

Duc de Lévis

“He imparted at once this news to the Marquis de Vaudreuil and did not hesitate to take an advanced position which would deceive the enemy, retard his movement and give time for the colonial help to arrive. In consequence, le Sieur de Bourlamaque was ordered to take possession of the portage at the head of Lake Saint Sacrement, with the battalions of La Reine, of Guyenne and of Bearn. The Marquis de Montcalm, with those of La Sarre, of the Royal Roussillon, of the Languedoc Regiment and the 1st battalion of Berry, occupied personally the two banks of the Chute River, thus named because in that spot the Lake St. Sacrement, narrowed by the mountains, pours its bubbling waters into the St. Frederic River and Lake Champlain. The 2nd Berry battalion took charge of the defense and service at the Fort of Carillon.

A PLAN of
the TOWN and FORT of
CARILLON
at
TICONDEROGA;
with
the ATTACK made by the
BRITISH ARMY
Commanded by Genl. Abercrombie.
on July 1758
Engraved by
Thos. Jefferys, Geographer to his Royal Highness the
Prince of Wales.

[High-resolution Map]