14tt HAYS — THE SIEGE OF FORT WILLIAM HENRY. [April 15, 



Montcalm was sent out to command the French forces and to 

 retrieve their fortmies. Ticonderoga at the head of Lake Cham- 

 plain was their most advanced post, while the British troops were 

 entrenched at Fort William Henry at the head of Lake George. 



Montcalm in planning his campaign for the summer of 1757 

 ■determined, with the aid of his Indian allies, to drive the English 

 back from Lake George, perhaps to capture Fort Edward, fourteen 

 miles to the south, and even to make a demonstration against 

 Albany. In the latter part of July he concentrated his forces at 

 Ticonderoga, and on the ist of August, with about 7600 men, of 

 whom more than 1600 were Indians, he started his expedition 

 against Fort William Henry, which was commanded by Lieut. -Col. 

 Monro, a brave Scotch veteran, and garrisoned by a force of little 

 more than 2000 men. Gen. Webb was in command at Fort 

 Edward with a force of about 1600 men, with half as many more 

 distributed at Albany and the intervening forts. He promised his 

 assistance, and Col. Monro had every reason to expect it, when 

 Fort William Henry was attacked, but he failed at the last moment 

 to give that support which it was his duty to have rendered. The 

 rest of the sad story is told in the accompanying Journal which was 

 recently found among the papers of Col. James Burd in the pos- 

 session of this Society. 



Col. James Burd was the third son of Edward Burd, a Scottish 

 gentleman, who lived on his estate of Ormiston, near Edinburgh, 

 by his wife, Jane Halliburton, a daughter of the Lord Provost of 

 Edinburgh. He married Sarah Shippen, daughter of Edward Ship- 

 pen, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He held a prominent position in 

 the military forces of this colony, and at the time of the French attack 

 •on Fort William Henry he commanded Fort Augusta at the fork of 

 the Susquehanna on the site of the present town of Sunbury, which 

 was one of the long chain of forts that had recently been built by 

 the Province of Pennsylvania to protect its territory in the war with 

 the French and Indians. 



Although the individual colonies maintained their independence 

 they were forced to cooperate against the common foe, and the 

 commanders of the frontier posts were kept advised of the move- 

 ments of the enemy at all points along the line. The following 

 interesting letter from Capt. Thomas Lloyd, also found among the 

 Burd papers, conveyed to Col. Burd information in reference to 

 the French attack on Fort William Henry : 



