Siege of Fort William Henry

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Siege of Fort William Henry Part of the French and Indian War Plan of Fort William Henry and Camp at Lake George Date 3–9 August 1757 Location present-day Lake George, New York Coordinates: 43°25′13″N 73°42′40″W / 43.42028°N 73.71111°W / 43.42028; -73.71111 Result French victory Belligerents France Great Britain Commanders Louis-Joseph de Montcalm George Monro Strength 6,000 regulars and militia 1,600 natives 2,500 regulars and militia Casualties and losses Unknown 297 dead or wounded 2,308 captured

v • d • e Seven Years' War in North America: The French and Indian War Jumonville Glen – Fort Necessity – Fort Beauséjour – Monongahela – Petitcodiac – Lake George – Fort Bull – Sideling Hill – Great Cacapon – Fort Oswego – Kittanning – 1st Snowshoes – Sabbath Day Point – Fort William Henry – Louisbourg (1757) – Bloody Creek – German Flatts – 2nd Snowshoes – Louisbourg (1758) – Fort Carillon – Fort Frontenac – Fort Duquesne – Fort Ligonier – La Belle-Famille – Fort Niagara – Fort Ticonderoga – Beauport – Quebec – St. Francis – Sainte-Foy – Restigouche – Thousand Islands – Signal Hill

The Siege of Fort William Henry was General Montcalm's siege and capture of the British–held Fort William Henry in August 1757.

Some of Montcalm's Native American 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 theater of the Seven Years' War.

[edit] Siege

Lieutenant-Colonel George Monro's British 35th Regiment of Foot, elements of the 60th Foot 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 Webb, the commander of British forces in the New York colony, 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.

The fort today

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 Montreal 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.

[edit] A note on the massacre

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Montcalm attempted to negotiate an honorable surrender for the British troops. From a Native American perspective, the only way to surrender honorably was, to die quietly without a fight,^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]} The chiefs 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 Edward, 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.

Louis-Joseph de Montcalm trying to stop Native Americans from attacking British soldiers and civilians as they leave the fort.

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. Scalping 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 France freed Americans and British by purchasing them from the natives.

[edit] 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.

Reenactment of the massacre on the 250th anniversary

The events of the battle and subsequent killings were depicted in the 1826 novel The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper and in its various film adaptations.

[edit] 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

[edit] External links

• An Account of the Two Attacks on Fort William Henry
• History of the 35th Foot in the French and Indian War
• The French Army 1600-1900