HISTORY OF VERMONT. 587 



* of them Iiitherto are killed. Your persisting 



* in the defence of your fort, can only retard its 



* fate a few days, and must of necessity expose 



* an unfortunate garrison, who can possi- 



* bly receive no relief, considering the precau- 



* tions I have taken to prevent it. I demand a 



* decisive answer, for which purpose I have 

 ' sent the Sieur Funtbrune, one of my aides ^ 

 ' du camp. You may credit what he will in-' 



* form you of, from Montcalm." 



Colonel Monro v/as an officer of distin* 

 guished honor and fortitude. He retiime4^ a 

 very proper and spirited answer, announcing to 

 the French general, that as the fort had been en- 

 trusted to him, his honor and his duty would 

 lead him to defend it to the last extremity. A- 

 ware of his danger, he sent one express after an- 

 other to Webbj inibrming him of his own situ- 

 ation, and the strength of the enemy, with the 

 most pressing solicitations for immediate suc- 

 cour. The garrison consisted of about two 

 thousand live hundred men; the whole of which, 

 animated by the hope and expectation of recei- 

 ving relief from fort Edv/ard, made a gallant 

 defence. 



General Webb had an army at fort Ed- 

 ward of four thousand men, which had been 

 considerably augmented by the troops under 

 the command of Sir William Johnson, and by 

 the militia. It is generally supposed that he 

 had private intelligence of, Montcalm's designs 

 and motions ; and it was in his power to ha\c 

 called in a large number of provincial troops 

 from New York and New England ; and these 

 •u'ere in flict the best soldiers iu a war with the 



