670 [Assembly 



leagues and a half above said river.'** These boundaries compre- 

 hend all of the present town of Essex and a large proportion of 

 Willsboro'. The tract was soon after formallv laid out and al- 

 lotted by an official surveyor. We have no evidence that any 

 permanent and actual occupation was formed under these grants. 

 Kalm, w^ho visited the region at an early period, asserts that few 

 colonies, and these only in the vicinity of the fortresses, were form- 

 ed by the French during their occupation. 



The devastation in 1745, of the settlement of Saratoga, by an 

 Indian and French force, armed and organized at Crown Point, 

 and the deeper atrocities committed a fiew^ years later at Hoosick, 

 by the same bands, while they increased the apprehensions of the 

 colonies, excited to the highest intensity the desire and purpose 

 of vengeance. This feeling could be best consummated in the 

 destruction of St. Frederic. Whilst that fortress w^as occupied 

 by a pow'trful and vigilant rival, the tenure of life and property 

 in the adjacent English colonies, was esteemed so precarious 

 and valueless, that the country north of the Mohawk, until the 

 conquest of Amherst, was nearly depopulated. 



The admonitions of the provincial governments^ and the cry of 

 alarm and agitation that arose from every section of the colonies, 

 at length aroused the English ministry to the duty of their pro- 

 tection, and the assertion of the honor of Britain. Between France 

 and England a peace, under the solemnities of treaty, still exist- 

 ed. Four distinct expeditions were organized, professedly to 

 guard the colonial possessions of England, but prepared-, at the 

 propitious moment, to be hurled upon the stronghold of French 

 power. In this combination, an army designed for the reduction 

 of Crown Point, was assembled at Albany, and confided to the 

 command of William Johnson. The zeal and solicitude of New- 

 England, for the conquest of the fortresses upon Champlain, 

 exasperated by the alarms and calamities of a quarter of a centu- 

 ry, excited all the enthusiasm of her bold and energetic yeomanry. 

 Every requisition of the government was met amply and w'ith 

 promptitude. Levies from New-York and New-England consti- 

 tuted all the forces demanded. 



• Doc. Hktory. 



