tllSTORY OF VERMONT. 16^ 



sicle, on the second of July, the Americans at 

 bandoned and btt fire to thtir works, block 

 houses, and Sdtv mills, towards lake George ^ 

 and wiihoiit making nny opposition, permitted 

 general Phillips to take possession of Mount 

 Hope. Tliis post commanded the Americait 

 lines in a gre.it degree, and cut off their com- 

 municatiDn with Icike George. The Americans 

 on this (jccasioii were charged with supineness, 

 andvvait ol vigor. Their inactivity arose not 

 from want of cour;;ge or incapacity, but from 

 imbecility ; they hid not men enough to make 

 any elftctual opposition to the powerful force< 

 widi wliieh the}' were surrounded.- 



In the mean time, the royal army proceeded 

 "Vvirh such expedition in the construction of their 

 vvorks, the bringing up of artillery, stores, and 

 provisions, and the establishment of posts and 

 communications, that by the fifth, matters Were 

 so far advanced as to require but one or two 

 d.H'^s more completely to invest the posts on 

 both sides of the lake. Sugar Hill had also 

 been examined, and the advantages which it 

 presented were so important that it had been re-» 

 solved to take possession, and erect a batteiy 

 there. This work, though attended with ex- 

 treme labor and difficulty, had been carried on 

 by general Phillips, with much expedition and 

 success. A road had been made through a very 

 rough ground, to the top of the mount ; and 

 the British v/ere at work in constructing a level 

 for a b^Utery, and transporting their artillery. 

 As soon as this battery should be ready to play, 

 the American works would have been com- 

 pletely invested on every side. 



