The Seven Years’ War began in 1756. In North America, it was called the French and Indian War because most Native Americans sided with the French. Much of the action took place in New York where French Canada bordered on the British colonies. Lake George was an important dagger pointed at either Canada or New York, depending on your perspective. The British built Fort William Henry on the southern end of the lake. It was formidable post. It had 30 foot thick walls of sand abutting logs. There was a dry moat around it. Inside were barracks, storehouses, a hospital, a magazine, and sheds. It was defended by 2,300 men. Some were regulars and the rest were colonial militia from New York, New Jersey, and New Hampshire. In command was Lt. Col. George Munro, a tough, seasoned Scot. On August 3, 1757, a large French army under Gen. Montcalm arrived at the fort. Montcalm commanded about 8,000 regulars and Canadian militia and had 1,600 Indian allies from 33 different tribes. Earlier in the campaign, when the French captured Fort Oswego, the Indians had massacred about 100 prisoners. That was to be a portent of what was to come.
Montcalm immediately put his soldiers to work on a classic European siege of a fort. His men began digging trenches to emplace siege cannons and to dig towards the fort. The French opened fire on August 5. Cannonballs had little effect on the walls, but mortars rained death from above. Many of the defenders were wounded and killed. At one point, when the fort’s flag pole was hit, a carpenter attempting to patch it was decapitated by a cannon ball. Blood splattered the men watching from below. The fort answered with its own cannons which made the French work dangerous, but did not slow it down. Munro sent three runners to Fort Edward asking for reinforcements. One Indian named Kanectagon killed one, captured another, and the other disappeared into the forest. The dispatch was brought to Montcalm who now knew the fort was desperate and reinforcements were highly unlikely. On August 7, he sent the dispatch to Munro with the implication that there would be no relief. Munro still refused to surrender, but on August 9 he agreed to very nice terms offered by Montcalm. The British would be allowed to evacuate the fort with all firearms and personal items. They would be escorted by the French to Fort Edward. In exchange, they promised not to fight in the war for 18 months. Unfortunately, the Indians were not consulted in the negotiations.
Montcalm’s Indians had been promised scalps, plunder, and captives for ransom. They certainly were not interested in returning to their villages with nothing to increase their standing as warriors. On August 10, the column of survivors started on the 16 mile trek. The Indians broke into the fort to plunder and murder the wounded. Some Indians even dug up corpses in the cemetery to steal clothing and take scalps. Ironically, many of the corpses had died from smallpox, so the warriors brought the disease home with them resulting in decimation of their tribes. The Indians then turned to the marchers. At first, some ran up and tried to take items from the men, women, and children. But soon, it got out of control with the Indians attacking and killing and scalping. People were pulled out of line to be taken as hostages for ransom. Most of the action was at the rear of the column where the camp followers were. Montcalm and some of the officers tried to stop it, but other French officers looked the other way. It was an orgy of bloodshed and pandemonium, but it was over in a few minutes. Naturally, colonial sources exaggerated the attack into a full-blown massacre. Americans were told that 1,500 were killed and hundreds taken away. In reality the death toll was probably closer to 200. Montcalm was able to get most of the captives returned and the others were mostly returned in the future. Some decided to stay with the Indians.
This battle was featured in Fenimore Cooper’s novel “The Last of the Mohicans” and was reenacted in the magnificent movie of the same name from 1992.
https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/the-massacre-at-fort-william-henry/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Fort_William_Henry
https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/fort-william-henry-1757-a-massacre-of-misunderstanding/
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