Military History. 2G1 



eight thousand French, Canadians, and savages encamped there. 

 Parkman gives a wonderful picture of this army and its march 

 towards Fort William Henry. On the third of August it appeared 

 before the fort, which was commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Monro, a 

 Scotch veteran. With him were twenty-two hundred men in- 

 cluding eight hundred from Massachusetts, under Colonel Frye, 

 who arrived on the first of the month. The siege began on the 

 fourth, while General Webb at Fort Edward did nothing but send 

 to the colonies for militia which could by no possibility arrive in 

 time. They however made the attempt, even as far as from east- 

 ern Massachusetts. After a brave defence the garrison surren- 

 dered, and the next day, the tenth, occurred the frightful 

 massacre of the prisoners, which has cast the only serious stain 

 upon the character of Montcalm. 



\n the intrenched camp where they had passed the night, 

 and as they were about to march under escort for Fort Ed- 

 ward, the English army with many women and children were 

 startled by the warwhoop of the Indians. Immediately the hor- 

 rible butchery commenced. Probably towards a hundred were 

 slain, and some two hundred carried into captivity. Among the 

 latter was Zebulon Stodder, whom Colonel Lincoln writes of 

 under date of July 25, 1758, as being heard from in Canada. 

 Knight Sprague escaped after being partially stripped. In an 

 account afterwards he said that fifteen out of fifty of the company 

 to which he belonged were killed that day. His captain was 

 stripped naked, as were many soldiers and women he passed in 

 his Might towards Fort Edward. Sprague's captain was probably 

 still Major Thaxter, although we have no roll of the company at 

 this time. Major Thaxter was stripped of his clothing, bound to 

 a tree, and about to be roasted alive, when he was saved by a 

 French officer. Seth Stowers, who subsequently became a captain 

 in the Revolutionary service, at the commencement of the attack 

 upon the prisoners stuffed his coat with articles of clothing taken 

 from the military stores, and darted into the woods. He was 

 immediately pursued by a number of the Indians. As the fore- 

 most got dangerously near, he would throw some of his burden as 

 far as possible to one side. The greed of his pursuers for plun- 

 der was so great, that they would stop to recover the abandoned 

 garment, thus enabling him to gain slightly upon them. Re- 

 peating the ruse as long as the articles held out finally gave him 

 sufficient advantage to elude pursuit. Other Hingham men who 

 • ■scaped death were Thomas Gill, Thomas Burr, and Elijah Lewis; 

 there were probably many more. Thomas Burr became a lieuten- 

 ant in the company commanded by Capt. Peter Cushing in the 

 Revolution, and Elijah Lewis was also a soldier in that war, as 

 were Lot Lincoln and Thomas Hersey, both previously named as 

 on Captain Thaxter's rolls, Hersey becoming a captain in the 

 service of the patriot army. 



A list of the Hingham men not included in the surrender, be- 



