Tiie First Battle of Lake Champlain 



131 



he gave the latitude of "51° and some minutes," an error of at least 

 41'. The Basin of Mines, La Cadie, which he puts in latitude 

 "44° and some minutes," has a latitude of 45° 30', an error of 90 nautical 

 miles. The latitude of Bangor, Me., is 44° 46', and he made it 45° 25'. 

 Ward Island, at the mouth of the Saco, which he placed in latitude 

 43° 45', has a latitude of 43° 27'. He made the latitude of Cape Ann 

 " 43° and some minutes," and its true latitude is 42° 39' 43'. Brant's 

 Point, near Boston, he placed in latitude 42° 45', an error of 40'. Nauset 

 Harbor, Cape Cod, was placed by him in latitude 42°, an error of 12', and 

 in giving the latitude of Ten Pound Island, Gloucester Bay, he made 

 an error of 24'. The nearest approximation to exactness in all Cham- 

 plain's records is in giving the latitude of Port Sainte Helaine as 

 44° 41', "more or less," an error of only one minute, his usual variation 

 being from 10' to 30' or more. In fact, it would be remarkable if it 

 were otherwise, considering the rudeness of his appliances and the 

 probability that no allowance was made for refraction. 



Now, Crown Point being in latitude 44° 2', and Ticonderoga, which 

 has been accepted as the site of the battle, in latitude 43° 51', the error 

 in this case would be only 11', or far below Champlain's average, allow- 

 ing that the battle ground was at Crown Point, in latitude 44° 2', in- 

 stead of at Ticonderoga in latitude " 43° and some minutes." 



There is another expression in Champlain's journal, which, with 

 that just considered, evidently constitutes the foundation of the hy- 

 pothesis that the first Battle of Lake Champlain was at or near Ticon- 

 deroga. 



Champlain in the narration of this voyage, detailing occurrences of 

 several days before the battle, speaking of the mountains to the south- 

 ward, says: " The savages told me that these mountains were thickly 

 settled, and that it was there we were to find their enemies; but that 

 it was necessary to pass a fall in order to go there, (which I saw after- 

 ward) when we should enter another lake nine or ten leagues long," 

 etc. Champlain here, undoubtedly, refers to Lake George, and to the 

 fall below its outlet, which now furnishes water power for the manu- 

 facturing village of Ticonderoga, and it has been argued that he must 

 have seen this fall on the day of the battle, there being no reason for 

 believing that he ever returned to this locality, and, consequently, that 

 the battle must have been as near to this fall as the point on the shore 

 where it has been located — a distance of something over two miles. 



Now, it will be remembered that, in his narrative of events of July 

 30, he says, the Iroquois, " seeing their chiefs dead, lost courage and 

 took to flight, abandonding their camp and fort and fleeing into the 



