The Rev. Samuel Chandler, who joined the camp at Lake George in October as chaplain of a Massachusetts regiment, kept a diary, in which he records some details of the previous fights, as he picked them up in camp, giving a little diagram of the ambush into which Williams was led.[1370] In it are enumerated (p. 354) the various reasons, as he understood them, on account of which the further pursuit of the campaign was abandoned. Johnson’s chief of ordnance, William Eyre, advised him that his cannon were not sufficient to attack Ticonderoga.[1371] Parkman speaks of the text accompanying Blodget’s print[1372] and the Second Letter to a Friend as “excellent for information as to the condition of the ground and the position of the combatants.” Some months later, and making use of Blodget, Timothy Clement also published in Boston another print, which likewise shows the positions of the regiments after the battle and during the building of Fort William Henry.[1373]
There are three contemporary printed comments on the campaign. The first is a sequel to the letter written by Charles Chauncy on Braddock’s defeat, which was printed at Boston, signed T. W., dated Sept. 29, 1755, and called A second Letter to a Friend; giving a more particular narrative of the defeat of the French army at Lake George by the New England troops, than has yet been published, ... to which is added an account of what the New England governments have done to carry into effect the design against Crown Point, as will show the necessity of their being helped by Great Britain, in point of money.[1374] This and the previous letter were also published together under the title Two letters to a friend on the present critical conjuncture of affairs in North America; with an account of the action at Lake George, Boston, 1755.[1375]
NOTE.
The sketch on the other side of this leaf follows an engraving, unique so far as the editor knows, which is preserved in the library of the American Antiquarian Society. It is too defective to give good photographic results. The print was “engraved and printed by Thomas Johnston, Boston, New England, April, 1756.”
The key at the top reads thus: “(1.) The place where the brave Coll. Williams was ambush’d & killed, his men fighting in a retreat to the main body of our army. Also where Capt. McGennes of York, and Capt. Fulsom of New Hampshire bravely attack’d ye enemy, killing many. The rest fled, leaving their packs and prisoners, and also (2.) shews the place where the valiant Col. Titcomb was killed, it being the westerly corner of the land defended in ye general engagement, which is circumscribed with a double line, westerly and southerly; (3.) with the sd double line, in ye form of our army’s entrenchments, which shows the Gen. and each Col. apartment. (4.) A Hill from which the enemy did us much harm and during the engagement the enemy had great advantage, they laying behind trees we had fell within gun-shot of our front. (W.) The place where the waggoners were killed.”
On the lower map is: “The prick’d line from South bay shews where Gen. Dieskau landed & ye way he march’d to attack our forces.”
The two forts are described: “Fort Edward was built, 1755, of timber and earth, 16 feet high and 22 feet thick & has six cannon on its rampart.”
“This fort [William Henry] is built of timber and earth, 22 feet high and 25 feet thick and part of it 32. Mounts 14 cannon, 33 & 18 pounders.”
The dedication in the upper left-hand corner reads: “To his Excellency William Shirley, esq., Captain general and Govr-in-chief in and over his Majesty’s Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, Major General and Commander-in-chief of all his Majesty’s land forces in North America; and to the legislators of the several provinces concerned in the expeditions to Crown Point,—this plan of Hudson River from Albany to Fort Edward (and the road from thence to Lake George as surveyed), Lake George, the Narrows, Crown Point, part of Lake Champlain, with its South bay and Wood Creek, according to the best accounts from the French general’s plan and other observations (by scale No. 1) & an exact plan of Fort Edward & William Henry (by scale No. 2) and the west end of Lake George and of the land defended on the 8th of Sept. last, and of the Army’s Intrenchments afterward (by scale 3) and sundry particulars respecting ye late Engagement with the distance and bearing of Crown Point and Wood Creek from No. 4, by your most devoted, humble servant, Timo. Clement, Survr. Havel. Feb. 10, 1756.”