122 COLLISION OF THE RIVAL COLONIES. [1756-1758 



Oswego, took it, and levelled it to the ground. In 

 August of the following year, he struck a heavier 

 blow. Passing Lake George with a force of eight 

 thousand men, including about two thousand In- 

 dians, gathered from the farthest parts of Canada, 

 he laid siege to Fort WilUam Henry, close to the 

 spot where Dieskau had been defeated two years 

 before. Planting his batteries against it, he beat 

 down its ramparts and dismounted its guns, until 

 the garrison, after a brave defence, were forced to 

 capitulate. They marched out with the honors of 

 war ; but scarcely had they done so, when Mont- 

 calm's Indians assailed them, cutting down and 

 scalping them without mercy. Those who escaped 

 came in to Fort Edward with exaggerated accounts 

 of the horrors from which they had fled, and a 

 general terror was spread through the country. 

 The inhabitants were mustered from all parts to 

 repel the advance of Montcalm ; but the French 

 general, satisfied with what he had done, repassed 

 Lake George, and retired behind the walls of 

 Ticonderoga. 



In the year 1758, the war began to assume a dif- 

 ferent aspect,! for Pitt was at the head of the gov- 

 ernment. Sir Jeffrey Amherst laid siege to the 

 strong fortress of Louisburg, and at length reduced 

 it ; while in the south, General Forbes marched 

 against Fort du Quesne, and, more fortunate than 

 his predecessor, Braddock, drove the French from 

 that important point. Another successful stroke 

 was the destruction of Fort Frontenac, which was 

 taken by a provincial army under Colonel Brad- 



