The
Battle of Fort William Henry or
Siege of Fort William Henry was General
MontcalmLouis-Joseph de Montcalm-Gozon, Marquis de Saint-Veran was the commander of the French forces in North America during the Seven Years' War .Montcalm was born near Nîmes in France to a noble family, and entered military service early in life...
's siege and capture of the
BritishThe Kingdom of Great Britain, also known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain, was a sovereign state in northwest Europe, in existence from 1707 to 1801...
–held
Fort William HenryFort William Henry was a British fort on the shores of Lake George, New York. It was built during the French and Indian War by Sir William Johnson as a staging ground for attacks against the French Fort Carillon . It was part of a chain of British and French forts along the important inland...
in August 1757.
Some of Montcalm's
Native AmericanThe indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those peoples...
allies violated his surrender terms and killed a column of British survivors (women and children as well as men), making it one of the notorious battles in the
North American theaterThe French and Indian War, also known as the War of the Conquest or referred as part of the larger conflict known as the Seven Years' War, was a war fought in North America between 1754 and 1763...
of the
Seven Years' WarThe Seven Years' War lasted between 1754 and 1763 and involved all of the major European powers of the period. The war pitted Prussia and Britain and a coalition of smaller German states against an alliance consisting of Austria, France, Russia, Sweden, and Saxony...
.
Lieutenant-Colonel George Monro's British 35th Regiment of Foot, elements of the
60th FootThe King's Royal Rifle Corps was a British Army infantry formation, originally raised in colonial North America as the Royal Americans, and recruited from American colonists. Later known as the 60th Rifles, the regiment served for more than 200 years throughout the British Empire...
and militia troops resisted a long siege and bombardment by the French, but surrendered after parlaying with Montcalm.
The
Battle of Fort William Henry or
Siege of Fort William Henry was General
MontcalmLouis-Joseph de Montcalm-Gozon, Marquis de Saint-Veran was the commander of the French forces in North America during the Seven Years' War .Montcalm was born near Nîmes in France to a noble family, and entered military service early in life...
's siege and capture of the
BritishThe Kingdom of Great Britain, also known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain, was a sovereign state in northwest Europe, in existence from 1707 to 1801...
–held
Fort William HenryFort William Henry was a British fort on the shores of Lake George, New York. It was built during the French and Indian War by Sir William Johnson as a staging ground for attacks against the French Fort Carillon . It was part of a chain of British and French forts along the important inland...
in August 1757.
Some of Montcalm's
Native AmericanThe indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those peoples...
allies violated his surrender terms and killed a column of British survivors (women and children as well as men), making it one of the notorious battles in the
North American theaterThe French and Indian War, also known as the War of the Conquest or referred as part of the larger conflict known as the Seven Years' War, was a war fought in North America between 1754 and 1763...
of the
Seven Years' WarThe Seven Years' War lasted between 1754 and 1763 and involved all of the major European powers of the period. The war pitted Prussia and Britain and a coalition of smaller German states against an alliance consisting of Austria, France, Russia, Sweden, and Saxony...
.
Siege
Lieutenant-Colonel George Monro's British 35th Regiment of Foot, elements of the
60th FootThe King's Royal Rifle Corps was a British Army infantry formation, originally raised in colonial North America as the Royal Americans, and recruited from American colonists. Later known as the 60th Rifles, the regiment served for more than 200 years throughout the British Empire...
and militia troops resisted a long siege and bombardment by the French, but surrendered after parlaying with Montcalm. Though stubborn and reluctant to surrender, Monro eventually gave in after being shown an intercepted message from general
Daniel WebbLieutenant General Daniel Webb was a British Army general made famous for his actions during the French and Indian War.He purchased a commission as ensign on March 20, 1720. He was promoted to the majority of the Eight Horse, in 1742, and served at the Battle of Dettingen in 1743...
, the commander of British forces in the
New York colonyThe Province of New York resulted from the capture of the Dutch Republic colony of Provincie Nieuw-Nederland in 1664 by the Kingdom of England, and included all of the present U.S. state of New York. The province was renamed for James, Duke of York, brother to Charles II of England immediately...
, which said that he would be unable to send reinforcements to relieve the beleaguered garrison. Thus, with little hope of relief, Monro agreed to Montcalm's terms, which allowed the British to leave with their weapons and be allowed to retreat without being attacked. After the British withdrawal, Native Americans allied to the French attacked and killed a few hundred of the 3,000 troops and civilians in the column leaving the fort. Historians note that it is likely that Montcalm tried to prevent the attack.
General Webb did, in fact, send reinforcements to Fort William Henry, but they arrived one day too late; Webb was recalled to England for his failure. The loss of Fort William Henry was a severe blow to British war strategy and precluded any attempt toward
MontrealMontreal is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie , the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the...
for the remainder of the year.
After the battle, the Indians deserted the French, and Montcalm was not able to follow up from his victory.
A note on the massacre
Montcalm attempted to negotiate an honorable
surrenderSurrender is when soldiers, nations or other combatants stop fighting and eventually become prisoners of war, either as individuals or when ordered to by their officers. A white flag is a common symbol of surrender, as is the gesture of raising one's hands empty and open above one's head.When the...
for the British troops. From a
Native AmericanThe indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those peoples...
perspective, the only way to surrender honorably was, to die quietly without a fight, or when in captivity, to sing a death song to please their captors. In fact, the concept of surrender was considered out of the question to most Algonquin and Iroquoian tribes because prisoners were often tortured to death; and it was therefore more honorable -- and less painful -- to die fighting even against impossible odds. The
chiefA traditional tribal chief is the leader of a tribe, or the head of a tribal form of self-government.The notion of a "tribal chief" is rather vague and arbitrary; neither chief nor tribe is clearly defined, so in many cases other designations are used for the same institution, such as petty ruler...
s of the native tribes had a rough understanding of the European military peace terms, but did not successfully communicate them to their more than 1000 men speaking multiple languages. Knowing of the anger and confusion over their peace terms, Montcalm and his men elected to quietly march the British to
Fort EdwardFort Edward is a town in and the county seat of Washington County, New York, United States. It is part of the Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town population was 5,892 at the 2000 census....
, the closest British fort early one morning. When some natives saw the troops marching out they let out a war cry, alerting the rest. A few natives ran in to the men looking for a war prize.
Many of the natives were expected to bring home captives to work as slaves, replace dead family members, or sell to the French as servants.
ScalpingScalping is the act of removing another person's scalp or a portion of their scalp. It can be done to someone after death, or on someone alive, in which case it may or may not be deadly....
was also a popular way of acquiring war prize. Scalping took time and was most often done on the dead, but because of the panic for prizes during this event, some scalped men alive. Of the 2,308 soldiers, 2,000 ran, escaped or were returned. Many of them were returned through negotiations with the French. In some cases, the government in
New FranceNew France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period extending from the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River, by Jacques Cartier in 1534, to the cession of New France to Spain and Britain in 1763...
freed
AmericansBritish North America consisted of the colonies and territories of the British Empire in continental North America after the end of the American Revolutionary War and the recognition of American independence in 1783....
and British by purchasing them from the natives.
Legacy
The British did not try to build over the site of Fort William Henry. The fort lay in ruins for many years. In the 1950s, excavation of the site eventually led to the reconstruction of Fort William Henry as a tourist destination for the Town of Lake George.
The events of the battle and subsequent killings were depicted in the 1826 novel
The Last of the MohicansThe Last of the Mohicans is a historical novel by James Fenimore Cooper, first published in January 1826.It was one of the most popular English-language novels of its time. Its narrative flaws were criticized from the start, and its length and elaborately formal prose style have reduced its appeal...
by
James Fenimore CooperJames Fenimore Cooper was a prolific and popular American writer of the early 19th century. He is best remembered as a novelist who wrote numerous sea-stories and the historical novels known as the Leatherstocking Tales, featuring frontiersman Natty Bumppo...
and in its various film adaptations.
Further reading
- Steele, Ian K. (1990) Betrayals: Fort William Henry & the 'Massacre. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-505893-3
- Bellico, Russel P. (1995) Chronicles of Lake George: Journeys in War and Peace. Purple Mountain Press. ISBN 0-935796-62-2
External links