135 NATURAL AND CIVIL 



body of tlie fortress at Ticonderoga. Mount 

 Defiance, Mount Hope, the French lines, and a 

 block house, with two hundred batteaux, an ar- 

 med sloop, and several gun boats, were almost 

 instantly taken. Four companies of foot, with 

 nearly an equal number of Canadians, and ma- 

 ny of the pfficers and. crews of the vessels, a- 

 mounting in the whole to two hundred and nine- 

 ty three, were made prisoners ; and at the same 

 time they set at liberty one hundred Americans, 

 who had been made prisoners, and were confi- 

 ned in some of those works.. Encouraged by 

 this success, they summoned general Powel, the. 

 British commander at Ticonderoga, to surrender 

 that fortress ; but after maneuveiing four days,' 

 they found they were wholly unable to attempt 

 the works either at Ticonderoga or Mount In- 

 dependence ; abandoning the design, they re- 

 turned in safety to Lincoln's camp. By this 

 well conducted enterprise, the Americans had 

 alarmed the enemy, on the lakes, beat up their 

 quarters, captured a considerable number of 

 their men and vessels, recovered the continental 

 standard which they had left when they aban-. 

 doned Ticonderoga, and brought off a number 

 of their own men ; and returned to their own 

 camp with scarcely any loss to themselves.* 



Amidst these misfortunes, the British gene- 

 ral had remained quiet in his camp. Having at 

 Ipngth procured provisions for about thirty days, 

 he took the resolution of passing Hudson's river 

 with his army. , This design he carried into ex- 

 ecution towards the middle of September, and 

 encamped on the heights and in the plain of Sara- 



* Gordon, Vol. 2, p. 248. 



