Chap. 1. 



INDIAN AND COLONIAL WARS. 



DIESKAU ADVANCES TOWARDS FOHT EDWARD. 



DEFEATED AT LAKE GEOllGE. 



dians, were not however so sanguine in 

 their expectations. Tliey by no means 

 relished tiie idea of maliing an assault 

 upon the fort, where they should be ex- 

 posed to the destructive fire of can- 

 non ; but they e.xpressed a willingness to 

 attack the English in their camp at lake 

 George, where they supposed that mus- 

 kets would be the only arms employed 

 against them. Under these circumstances 

 Dieskau found it necessary to comply 

 with the inclination of his troops and im- 

 mediately altered the direction of his 

 march and proceeded towards the Eng- 

 lish encampment. 



Johnson had no intelligence of the ap- 

 proach, or of the designs of the enemy 

 till after their departure from South bay, 

 when he learned that a large bod}- of 

 French and Indians were on their marcli 

 towards fort Edward. He immediately 

 sent off two separate messengers to ap- 

 prise the garrison of the intended attack, 

 and to bring him intelligence respecting 

 the force and designs of the enemy. One 

 of these messengers was intercepted and 

 slain ; the other returned about midnight, 

 and reported that he saw the enemy about 

 four miles to the northward of fort Ed- 

 ward, and evidently designing an attack 

 upon that place. In the morning it wa.s 

 resolved in a council of war that one 

 thousand English and a number of In- 

 dians should be detached and sent under 

 the command of Col. Williams to inter- 

 cept the enemy in their return to lake 

 Champlain, either as victors or defeated 

 in their designs upon fort Edward. 



The English encampment had lake 

 George on one side, and two other sides 

 were covered by swamps and thick woods; 

 and after the departure of the detachment 

 a slight breast-work of logs was thrown 

 up and a few cannon, which had just ar- 

 rived, were planted in front, which was 

 the only assailable side. Williams had 

 proceeded only four miles wlien he met 

 the enemy in full march towards John- 

 son's encampment. An engagement im- 

 mediately ensued, but W^illiams was obli- 

 ged to retreat before the superior force of 

 the enemy. Johnson, hearing the firintr 

 and perceiving that it a])proaclied, beat to 

 arms and dispatched Col. Cole with 'M)i) 

 men to cover the retreat, wiiile he made 

 the best preparation he could for receiv- 

 ing the enemy. About 10 o'clock some 

 small parties came running back to the 

 camp with intelligence that the detach- 

 ment was attacked on all sides and was 

 retreating; and soon after they who es- 

 caped returned in considerable bodies to 

 the encampment. 



At half after eleven o'clock, the enemy 



Pt. II. 2 



were seen to approach in regular order, 

 aiming directly towards the centre of the 

 encampment. When they arrived within 

 about 1.50 yards of the breast work, they 

 halted, and the Canadians and Indians 

 filed off upon the right and left flanks. 

 The regular troops then moved forward 

 and commenced the attack upon the cen- 

 tre by platoon firing, which, on account 

 of the distance, produced little effect. A 

 brisk fire was now opened upon the ene- 

 my by the artillery stationed at the breast- 

 work, which so terrified the Canadians 

 and Indians, that they immediately be- 

 took themselves to the swamps, where 

 from behind logs and trees they kept up 

 an irregular fire upon the encampment. 



The engagement now became general, 

 and the French regular troops, for some 

 time, maintained their ground and order; 

 but finding themselves abandoned by the 

 Canadians and Indians, and smffering se- 

 verely by the incessant fire from the 

 breast-work, they at length directed their 

 attack to the right, where they were re- 

 ceived with firnuiess by the regiments of 

 Ruggles, Williams and Titcomb. After 

 continuing an unsuccessful attack upon 

 this point for about an hour, and sustain- 

 ing a heavy loss from the fire of the Eng- 

 lish, Dieskau attempted a retreat, as the 

 only means of saving the remainder of his 

 troops. 



Observing his intention, a party of the 

 English leaped over their breast-work, 

 and falling upon the rear of the French 

 soon dispersed them. Dieskau was found 

 resting upon the stump of a tree, wound- 

 ed and unable to walk. As a provincial 

 soldier approached him, he was putting 

 his hand in his pocket for his watch to 

 present to him ; but the soldier, suppos- 

 ing thcat he was feeling for a pocket pistol, 

 discharged his musket at him and crave 

 him a mortal wound in his hip. 



The enemy on their retreat collected 

 and made a halt at the place where the 

 engagement began in the morning with 



the detachment under Col. Williams. 



Here they were attacked by a party of 200 

 men under the command of Capt. M'Gin- 

 nes, a New Hampshire officer, who had 

 been ordered from fort Edward to the aid 

 of the main army under Johnson. The 

 attack was made with impetuosity and 

 spirit, and the French, after a resistance 

 of nearly two hours, were again dispersed 

 in every direction. In this last engao-e- 

 ment the English lost 12 men, and the 

 brave M'Ginnes died a few daj-s after his 

 arrival at Johnson's encampment, of the 

 wounds he had received. 



The whole loss of the English in these 

 several engagements was 130 slain, and 



