In 1755 Michel Chartier, afterwards Marquis de Lotbiniere, under instruction from the Marquis de Vaudreuil, Governor-General of New France, came down from Crown Point to select a site for a new fort. His aide-memoire from de Vaudreuil is in the Fort Library. In October he started cutting the great trees and leveling the ground to build the stone fortress which he first called Fort Vaudreuil, but which was afterwards given the name of Carillon, “A Chime of Bells,” named from the sound of the falls where the water from Lake George runs into Lake Champlain. He employed the garrison from Crown Point and at one time as many as 2,000 men were at work and made extraordinary progress, considering that he was erecting a fort in the wilderness.
Robert Rogers, the famous ranger, several times during the building of the Fort reconnoitered and reported on the progress of the work. September 9, 1756, he says:
“I was within a mile of Ticonderoga fort where I endeavored to reconnoitre the enemy’s works and strength. They were engaged in raising the walls of the fort and erecting a large blockhouse near the southeast corner of the fort with ports in it for cannon. East from the blockhouse was a battery which I imagined commanded the lake.”
Part of the Original Instructions for de Lotbiniere to Start Construction of Fort Ticonderoga
(This manuscript is in the Fort Library)
He also reports the French to be building a sawmill at the lower end of the falls. On Christmas Eve, 1757, Rogers got close enough to kill about seventeen head of cattle and set fire to the wood piles of the garrison. To the horns of one of the cattle, he attached a note to the commander of the fort:
“I am obliged to you, sir, for the repose you have allowed me to take. I thank you for the fresh meat you have sent me. I will take care of my prisoners. I request you to present my compliments to the Marquis de Montcalm.
(Signed) “Rogers, Commander of the Independent Companies.”
In 1755, Baron de Dieskau had gone from Crown Point to attack Sir William Johnson at Lake George. Dieskau was wounded, and his defeated army fought their way back to Ticonderoga.
In March, 1758, Rogers’ famous battle on snowshoes was fought a few miles from Ticonderoga when the French under Captain Durentaye, commanding a party of Indians and Canadians, captured and destroyed most of his force.