HISTORY OF VERMONT 359 



• 

 of five or six thousatid men had assembled a 

 Albany and were in danger of becoming dis- 

 orderly by their inactivity and want of employ- 

 ment. Lyman moved on with his troops to the 

 carrying place, about sixty miles from Alban , 

 and began a fort on the east side of Hudson's 

 river, which is now called fort Edward ; and 

 meant to remain at that place till Johnson should 

 arrive, with the artillery. It was not till the 10th 

 of August that Johnson could set out with his 

 artillerV from Albany ; and about the latte end 

 of that month, he proceeded iVom fort Edward, 

 fifteen miles more northerly ; and formed his 

 camp at the south end of lake George, which 

 before that time had been called lake St. Sacra- 

 ment, the name that Champlain had assigned 

 to it. 



Soon after he had formed his encampment, 

 he received information by his Indian scouts 

 tliat a large part}^ of French and Indians had ta- 

 ken possession of Ticonderoga, an isthmus 

 which commands the passage between the lakes 

 George and Champlain ; but that no works had 

 been erected. Johnson was informed of the im.- 

 portance of that post ; and wrote to Shirley, 

 September the first, that he was impatient to 

 get up his batteaux & artillery ; and proposed to 

 move on with part of his army, dispossess the 

 Frer^ch and secure the post to himself. — The 

 French however had secured the possession, 

 and soon erected works sufficiently strong, to 

 defend it against surprise, or an easy conquest. 



The court of France, aware that a war was 

 commencing in North America, had early in 

 the spring dispatched a body of troops to the 



