The guns which De Lotbiniere mounted on the Fort were mostly from Crown Point and Montreal but some were brought from Fort William Henry in 1757 when Montcalm captured that fort from Lieut. Col. Munro. It was after Munro’s surrender that the famous massacre of Fort William Henry occurred. The British garrison was marching unarmed to Fort Edward when it was attacked by Montcalm’s Indians. The French officers did their best to protect the garrison but many were slain.
De Lotbiniere wrote to the Minister from Carillon on the 31st October, 1756:
Major Robert Rogers
“My Lord:—
“I was so much occupied last year at the departure of the last ships that it was not possible for me to render you an account of the St. Frederic campaign, which M. de Vaudreuil ordered me to begin immediately after M. de Dieskau’s affair. I left with orders to examine the Carillon Point ... where the waters of the Grande Baye and of Lake St. Sacrement meet. At this point is the head of the navigation of Lake Champlain. M. de Vaudreuil feared with reason that, the enemy gaining possession of it, it would be very difficult for us to dislodge him, and that being solidly established there, [and we] would be exposed to see him appear in the midst of our settlements at the moment we least expected, it being possible for him to make during winter all necessary preparations to operate in the spring.
“I found on my arrival at St. Frederic an intrenchment begun on wrong principles which I felt obliged to continue to be agreeable to the Commandant of the Army who feared the enemy might at any moment attack the Fort. At last, on the 12th October, on the order of M. le Marquis de Vaudreuil, these works ceased and we moved the camp from St. Frederic to Carillon to begin a Fort at the location which I should find to be most suitable for such purpose.
“I decided to establish it on the ridge of rock which runs from the point to the falls of Lake St. Sacrement. As the season did not permit of our hoping to accomplish much work before winter I was obliged to restrict my efforts more than I would have liked so as to at least place the garrison under cover until the spring.
“I contented myself with reserving sufficient ground in the front for a camp of 2,000 to 3,000 men, if need be, covered by the Fort, and although I was obliged to operate in the midst of a wood without being able to see while surveying more than thirty yards ahead of me, I think I was fortunate enough to have made the best use of the ground I was ordered to fortify. We were not prepared to build in stone, having neither the material assembled nor the workmen. We were therefore obliged to line the works in oak which fortunately was plentiful on the spot. I began the parapet of the whole work which I formed in a double row of timbers distant ten feet from one another and bound together by two cross-pieces dovetailed at their extremities, to retain the timbers. This had reached the height of seven feet by the 28th November, date of the departure of the army, which could not remain longer owing to the ice beginning to form.
