1756-1758.] LAKE GEORGE. 121 



Ohio ; but nowhere was the contest so actively car- 

 ried on as in the neighborhood of Lake George, 

 the waters of which, joined with those of Lake 

 Champlain, formed the main avenue of communi- 

 cation between Canada and the British provinces. 

 Lake George is more than thirty miles long, but of 

 width so slight that it seems like some broad and 

 placid river, enclosed between ranges of lofty moun- 

 tains ; now contracting into narrows, dotted with 

 islands and shadowed by cliffs and crags, now 

 spreading into a clear and open expanse. It had 

 long been known to the French. The Jesuit Isaac 

 Jogues, bound on a fatal mission to the ferocious 

 Mohawks, had reached its banks on the eve of 

 Corpus Christi Day, and named it Lac St. Sac- 

 rement. Its solitude was now rudely invaded. 

 Armies passed and repassed upon its tranquil 

 bosom. At its northern point the French planted 

 their stronghold of Ticonderoga ; at its southern 

 stood the English fort William Henry, while the 

 mountains and waters between were a scene of 

 ceaseless ambuscades, surprises, and forest skir- 

 mishing. Through summer and winter, the crack 

 of rifles and the cries of men gave no rest to their 

 echoes ; and at this day, on the field of many a for- 

 gotten fight, are dug up rusty tomahawks, corroded 

 bullets, and human bones, to attest the struggles of 

 the past. 



The earlier years of the war were unpropitious 

 to the English, whose commanders displayed no 

 great degree of vigor or ability. In the summer of 

 1756, the French general Montcalm advanced upon 



