Battle of Lake George
Encyclopedia
The Battle of Lake George
was fought on 8 September 1755, in the north of the Province of New York
. The battle was part of a campaign by the British
to expel the French
from North America
in the French and Indian War
.
On one side were 1,500 French and Indian
troops under the command of the Baron de Dieskau
and on the other side 1,500 colonial
troops under William Johnson
and 200 Mohawks led by a noted war chief, Hendrick Theyanoguin.
, arrived at the southern end of Lac Saint Sacrement on 28 August 1755 and renamed it Lake George in honor of his sovereign, George II
. His intention was to advance via Lakes George and Champlain
to attack French-held Fort St. Frédéric
at Crown Point
, which was a keystone in the defense of Canada
.
With a view to stopping Johnson's advance, Dieskau had already left Crown Point for an encampment at Carillon
, situated between the two lakes. On 4 September Dieskau decided to launch a raid on Johnson's base, the recently-constructed Fort Edward (at the time called Fort Lyman) on the Hudson River
. His aim was to destroy the boats, supplies and artillery that Johnson needed for his campaign. Leaving half his force at Carillon, he led the rest on an alternate route to the Hudson, landing his men at South Bay and marching them along Wood Creek . With 222 French regular grenadiers from the Régiment de la Reine
and the Régiment de Languedoc
, 600 Canadian militia and 700 Abenaki and Caughnawaga Mohawk
allies, Dieskau arrived near Fort Edward on the evening of 7 September 1755.
Johnson, camped 14 miles (22.5 km) north of Fort Edward at the southern end of Lake George, was alerted by scouts to the presence of the enemy forces to his south, and he dispatched a messenger to warn the 500-man garrison at Fort Edward. But the messenger was intercepted, and soon afterward a supply train was captured, with the result that the disposition of all of Johnson's forces became known to Dieskau. The Indians in the French party, after holding council, declined to assault the fort because they believed it to be defended with cannons; so in the morning Dieskau gave the order to march for the lake.
At 9 am on 8 September, Johnson sent Colonel Ephraim Williams
with 1,000 troops from Williams' Massachusetts
Regiment and Colonel Nathan Whiting
's Connecticut
Regiment and 200 Mohawk allies to reinforce Fort Edward. Warned by a deserter of Williams' approach, Dieskau blocked the portage road with his French grenadiers and sent his Canadians and Indians to ambush the Americans from both sides of the road. They lay in wait in a ravine three miles south of the present-day village of Lake George
.
and most of the surviving Mohawks covered their withdrawal with a fighting retreat. The American rearguard were able to inflict substantial casualties on their over-confident pursuers. Pomeroy noted that his men "killed great numbers of them; they were seen to drop like pigeons". One of those killed in this phase of the battle was Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre
, the highly-respected commander of Dieskau's Canadian and Indian forces. His fall caused great dismay, particularly to the French Indians.
and cut "lanes, streets and alleys" through the French ranks. When Johnson was wounded and forced to retire to his tent for treatment, Gen. Phineas Lyman
took over command. When Dieskau went down with a serious wound, the French attack was abandoned.
, commander of Fort Edward, saw the smoke from the battle in the distance and sent out Nathaniel Folsom
's 80-strong company of the New Hampshire Provincial Regiment
and 40 New York
Provincials under Capt. McGennis to investigate.
After the French withdrawal, the Americans found about 20 severely wounded Frenchmen who were lying too close to the field of fire of Johnson's artillery for their comrades to retrieve them. They included Baron Dieskau, who had paid the price of leading from the front with a shot through the bladder. (Benjamin West
painted a portrait of Johnson saving a French Officer—allegedly Baron Dieskau.)
James P. Millard says: "Peter Palmer states in his history that “the loss of the English this day was about two hundred and sixteen killed and ninety-six wounded; of the French the loss was much greater.” He claims Johnson estimated the French loss at five to six hundred, while stating that another source noted it as “a little short of eight hundred”.
W. Max Reid says, “The English loss in killed, wounded, and missing at the battle of Lake George was 262, and that of the French, by their own account, was 228”.
Ian K. Steele says of the American losses, "The official returns, corrected, read 154 dead, 103 wounded, and 67 missing. Most of those listed as missing had not deserted into woods full of Canadians and Indians; most of the missing were later found dead. Pomeroy was preoccupied with the losses, but overlooked the Iroquois casualties, which brought the totals to 223 dead and about 108 wounded".
Of the French losses, Steele says, "The official French journal of the operation probably minimized Indian casualties in a total count of 149 dead, 163 wounded, and 27 taken prisoner. The reported number of those killed, wounded, and captured was remarkably close on both sides, with those fighting for the English losing 331 and the French, 339." Steele does not give a reason for his suspicion that the Indian casualties were under-reported.
In his 2009 book, Combattre pour la France en Amérique, Marcel Fournier diverges considerably from the other sources in reporting the casualties for the Battle of Lac St-Sacrement (as the French called it) at 800 killed or wounded for the British and 200 killed or wounded for the French.
A letter of 20 October 1755, from Monsieur Doreil to the Comte d'Argenson, a senior French commander in North America, confirms that the French grenadiers paid for their assault on Johnson's entrenchments with the loss of more than a third of their total strength: the Regiment de la Reine had 21 killed or missing and 30 wounded, while the Regiment de Languedoc had 5 killed and 21 wounded.
at its southern end. Historian Fred Anderson writes that had Dieskau succeeded in halting Johnson at Fort Edward, it would have not only ended the threat to Fort St. Frédéric but would also "roll back New York's and New England's defenses to Albany itself".
The death of Ephraim Williams
was commemorated in early versions of the satirical song Yankee Doodle
.
Lake George (New York)
Lake George, nicknamed the Queen of American Lakes, is a long, narrow oligotrophic lake draining northwards into Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence River Drainage basin located at the southeast base of the Adirondack Mountains in northern New York, U.S.A.. It lies within the upper region of the...
was fought on 8 September 1755, in the north of the Province of New York
Province of New York
The Province of New York was an English and later British crown territory that originally included all of the present U.S. states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Vermont, along with inland portions of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maine, as well as eastern Pennsylvania...
. The battle was part of a campaign by the British
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
to expel the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
from North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
in the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
.
On one side were 1,500 French and Indian
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
troops under the command of the Baron de Dieskau
Jean Erdman, Baron Dieskau
Jean Erdman, Baron Dieskau or Jean-Armand Dieskau, Baron de Dieskau or Ludwig August von Dieskau was a German-born soldier remembered mostly as a French general and commander in America for a part of the French and Indian War.-Biography:He was aide-de-camp of Marshal Maurice de Saxe, and visited St...
and on the other side 1,500 colonial
Thirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies were English and later British colonies established on the Atlantic coast of North America between 1607 and 1733. They declared their independence in the American Revolution and formed the United States of America...
troops under William Johnson
Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet
Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet was an Anglo-Irish official of the British Empire. As a young man, Johnson came to the Province of New York to manage an estate purchased by his uncle, Admiral Peter Warren, which was located amidst the Mohawk, one of the Six Nations of the Iroquois League...
and 200 Mohawks led by a noted war chief, Hendrick Theyanoguin.
Campaign
William Johnson, who had recently been named the British agent to the IroquoisIroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
, arrived at the southern end of Lac Saint Sacrement on 28 August 1755 and renamed it Lake George in honor of his sovereign, George II
George II of Great Britain
George II was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Archtreasurer and Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death.George was the last British monarch born outside Great Britain. He was born and brought up in Northern Germany...
. His intention was to advance via Lakes George and Champlain
Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain is a natural, freshwater lake in North America, located mainly within the borders of the United States but partially situated across the Canada—United States border in the Canadian province of Quebec.The New York portion of the Champlain Valley includes the eastern portions of...
to attack French-held Fort St. Frédéric
Fort St. Frédéric
Fort St. Frédéric was a French fort built on Lake Champlain at Crown Point to secure the region against British colonization and to allow the French to control the use of Lake Champlain....
at Crown Point
Crown Point, New York
Crown Point is a town in Essex County, New York, USA. The population was 2,119 at the 2000 census. The name of the town is a direct translation of the original French name, "Point au Chevalure."...
, which was a keystone in the defense of Canada
Canada, New France
Canada was the name of the French colony that once stretched along the St. Lawrence River; the other colonies of New France were Acadia, Louisiana and Newfoundland. Canada, the most developed colony of New France, was divided into three districts, each with its own government: Quebec,...
.
With a view to stopping Johnson's advance, Dieskau had already left Crown Point for an encampment at Carillon
Fort Ticonderoga
Fort Ticonderoga, formerly Fort Carillon, is a large 18th-century fort built by the Canadians and the French at a narrows near the south end of Lake Champlain in upstate New York in the United States...
, situated between the two lakes. On 4 September Dieskau decided to launch a raid on Johnson's base, the recently-constructed Fort Edward (at the time called Fort Lyman) on the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
. His aim was to destroy the boats, supplies and artillery that Johnson needed for his campaign. Leaving half his force at Carillon, he led the rest on an alternate route to the Hudson, landing his men at South Bay and marching them along Wood Creek . With 222 French regular grenadiers from the Régiment de la Reine
Régiment de la Reine
The Régiment de la Reine was a French Army regiment active in the 18th century. It is principally known for its role in the Seven Years' War, when it served in the North American theatre.-History:...
and the Régiment de Languedoc
Régiment de Languedoc
The Régiment de Languedoc was a French Army regiment active in the 18th century. It is principally known for its role in the Seven Years' War, when it served in the North American theatre.-History:...
, 600 Canadian militia and 700 Abenaki and Caughnawaga Mohawk
Mohawk nation
Mohawk are the most easterly tribe of the Iroquois confederation. They call themselves Kanien'gehaga, people of the place of the flint...
allies, Dieskau arrived near Fort Edward on the evening of 7 September 1755.
Johnson, camped 14 miles (22.5 km) north of Fort Edward at the southern end of Lake George, was alerted by scouts to the presence of the enemy forces to his south, and he dispatched a messenger to warn the 500-man garrison at Fort Edward. But the messenger was intercepted, and soon afterward a supply train was captured, with the result that the disposition of all of Johnson's forces became known to Dieskau. The Indians in the French party, after holding council, declined to assault the fort because they believed it to be defended with cannons; so in the morning Dieskau gave the order to march for the lake.
At 9 am on 8 September, Johnson sent Colonel Ephraim Williams
Ephraim Williams
Ephraim Williams Jr. was a soldier from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was killed in the French and Indian War. He was the benefactor of Williams College, located in northwestern Massachusetts.-Early life:...
with 1,000 troops from Williams' Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
Regiment and Colonel Nathan Whiting
Nathan Whiting
Nathan Whiting was a soldier and merchant in Colonial America.-Biography:Whiting's parents died while he was a child, and he was raised by father's sister Mary and her husband, Reverend Thomas Clap...
's Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
Regiment and 200 Mohawk allies to reinforce Fort Edward. Warned by a deserter of Williams' approach, Dieskau blocked the portage road with his French grenadiers and sent his Canadians and Indians to ambush the Americans from both sides of the road. They lay in wait in a ravine three miles south of the present-day village of Lake George
Lake George (village), New York
The Village of Lake George is a village within the town of Lake George in Warren County, New York, United States. The population was 985 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area...
.
"The Bloody Morning Scout"
Williams' column marched straight into the trap and were engulfed in a blaze of enemy musketry. In an engagement known as "The Bloody Morning Scout", Williams and Hendrick were killed along with many of their troops. At this point, the French regulars, brought forward by Dieskau, poured volleys into the beleaguered colonial troops. Most of the New Englanders fled toward Johnson's camp, while about 100 of their comrades under Whiting and Lt. Col. Seth PomeroySeth Pomeroy
Seth Pomeroy was an American gunsmith and soldier from Northampton, Massachusetts. His military service included the French and Indian War and the early stages of the American Revolutionary War...
and most of the surviving Mohawks covered their withdrawal with a fighting retreat. The American rearguard were able to inflict substantial casualties on their over-confident pursuers. Pomeroy noted that his men "killed great numbers of them; they were seen to drop like pigeons". One of those killed in this phase of the battle was Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre
Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre
Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre was a Canadien colonial military commander and explorer. who held posts throughout North America in the 18th century.-Life:...
, the highly-respected commander of Dieskau's Canadian and Indian forces. His fall caused great dismay, particularly to the French Indians.
The assault on Johnson's camp
Dieskau ordered his Canadians and Indians to follow up their success with an attack on Johnson's camp. However, with their morale already shaken by the loss of their leader, the Caughnawagas "did not wish to attack an entrenched camp, the defenders of which included hundreds of their Mohawk kinsmen. The Abenakis would not go forward without the Caughnawagas, and neither would the Canadians". Hoping to shame the Indians into attacking, Dieskau formed his 222 French grenadiers into a column, six abreast, and led them in person along the Lake Road into the clearing where Johnson's camp was, around which Sir William had hurriedly constructed defensive barricades of "wagons, overturned boats and hewn-down trees". Once the grenadiers were out in the open ground, the American gunners, crewing Johnson's three cannons, loaded up with grapeshotGrapeshot
In artillery, a grapeshot is a type of shot that is not a one solid element, but a mass of small metal balls or slugs packed tightly into a canvas bag. It was used both in land and naval warfare. When assembled, the balls resembled a cluster of grapes, hence the name...
and cut "lanes, streets and alleys" through the French ranks. When Johnson was wounded and forced to retire to his tent for treatment, Gen. Phineas Lyman
Phineas Lyman
Phineas Lyman was a colonial American soldier known for his service in the provincial British army of the French and Indian War. He later led a group of New England veterans of the war to settle in the new colony of West Florida where he died shortly before the outbreak of the American...
took over command. When Dieskau went down with a serious wound, the French attack was abandoned.
Bloody Pond
Meanwhile, Col. Joseph BlanchardJoseph Blanchard
Joseph Blanchard was born in Dunstable, New Hampshire on February 11, 1704 to Capt. Joseph Blanchard and his wife Abiah Hassell. In 1724 he joined the New Hampshire Militia as a lieutenant and served in Capt. Eleazer Tyng's Company. On September 26, 1728 he married Rebecca Hubbard of Groton,...
, commander of Fort Edward, saw the smoke from the battle in the distance and sent out Nathaniel Folsom
Nathaniel Folsom
Nathaniel Folsom was an American merchant and statesman.He was a delegate for New Hampshire in the Continental Congress in 1774 and 1777 to 1780, as well as the Major General of the New Hampshire Militia.-Private life:Folsom was born into a large family in Exeter, New Hampshire...
's 80-strong company of the New Hampshire Provincial Regiment
New Hampshire Provincial Regiment
The New Hampshire Provincial Regiment was a composite regiment made up of units of the New Hampshire Militia during the French and Indian War for service with the British Army in North America. It was first formed in 1754 with the start of hostilities with France.-1755:In 1755 Col...
and 40 New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
Provincials under Capt. McGennis to investigate.
- "Hearing the report of guns in the direction of the Lake, they pressed forward, and when within about two miles of it, fell in with the baggage of the French army protected by a guard, which they immediately attacked and dispersed. About four o'clock in the afternoon, some 300 of the French army appeared in sight. They had rallied, and retreating in tolerable order. Capt. Folsom posted his men among the trees, and as the enemy approached, they poured in upon them a well directed and galling fire. He continued the attack in this manner till prevented by darkness, killing many of the enemy, taking some of them prisoners, and finally driving them from the field. He then collected his own wounded, and securing them with many of the enemy's packs, he brought his prisoners and booty safe into camp. The next day the rest of the baggage was brought in, thus securing the entire baggage and ammunition of the French army. In this brilliant affair, Folsom lost only six men, but McGennis was mortally wounded, and died soon after. The loss of the French was very considerable". The bodies of the French troops who were killed in this engagement (actually Canadians and Indians, not French regulars) were thrown into the pool "which bears to this day the name of Bloody Pond”.
After the French withdrawal, the Americans found about 20 severely wounded Frenchmen who were lying too close to the field of fire of Johnson's artillery for their comrades to retrieve them. They included Baron Dieskau, who had paid the price of leading from the front with a shot through the bladder. (Benjamin West
Benjamin West
Benjamin West, RA was an Anglo-American painter of historical scenes around and after the time of the American War of Independence...
painted a portrait of Johnson saving a French Officer—allegedly Baron Dieskau.)
Losses
There seem to be as many different versions of the casualties suffered at Lake George as there are accounts of the battle.James P. Millard says: "Peter Palmer states in his history that “the loss of the English this day was about two hundred and sixteen killed and ninety-six wounded; of the French the loss was much greater.” He claims Johnson estimated the French loss at five to six hundred, while stating that another source noted it as “a little short of eight hundred”.
W. Max Reid says, “The English loss in killed, wounded, and missing at the battle of Lake George was 262, and that of the French, by their own account, was 228”.
Ian K. Steele says of the American losses, "The official returns, corrected, read 154 dead, 103 wounded, and 67 missing. Most of those listed as missing had not deserted into woods full of Canadians and Indians; most of the missing were later found dead. Pomeroy was preoccupied with the losses, but overlooked the Iroquois casualties, which brought the totals to 223 dead and about 108 wounded".
Of the French losses, Steele says, "The official French journal of the operation probably minimized Indian casualties in a total count of 149 dead, 163 wounded, and 27 taken prisoner. The reported number of those killed, wounded, and captured was remarkably close on both sides, with those fighting for the English losing 331 and the French, 339." Steele does not give a reason for his suspicion that the Indian casualties were under-reported.
In his 2009 book, Combattre pour la France en Amérique, Marcel Fournier diverges considerably from the other sources in reporting the casualties for the Battle of Lac St-Sacrement (as the French called it) at 800 killed or wounded for the British and 200 killed or wounded for the French.
A letter of 20 October 1755, from Monsieur Doreil to the Comte d'Argenson, a senior French commander in North America, confirms that the French grenadiers paid for their assault on Johnson's entrenchments with the loss of more than a third of their total strength: the Regiment de la Reine had 21 killed or missing and 30 wounded, while the Regiment de Languedoc had 5 killed and 21 wounded.
Consequences
Although the battle itself was inconclusive, and Johnson's expedition eventually stopped short of Fort St. Frédéric, the strategic result at Lake George was significant. Johnson was able to advance a considerable distance down the lake and consolidated his gains by building Fort William HenryFort William Henry
Fort William Henry was a British fort at the southern end of Lake George in the province of New York. It is best known as the site of notorious atrocities committed by Indians against the surrendered British and provincial troops following a successful French siege in 1757, an event which is the...
at its southern end. Historian Fred Anderson writes that had Dieskau succeeded in halting Johnson at Fort Edward, it would have not only ended the threat to Fort St. Frédéric but would also "roll back New York's and New England's defenses to Albany itself".
The death of Ephraim Williams
Ephraim Williams
Ephraim Williams Jr. was a soldier from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was killed in the French and Indian War. He was the benefactor of Williams College, located in northwestern Massachusetts.-Early life:...
was commemorated in early versions of the satirical song Yankee Doodle
Yankee Doodle
"Yankee Doodle" is a well-known Anglo-American song, the origin of which dates back to the Seven Years' War. It is often sung patriotically in the United States today and is the state anthem of Connecticut...
.