The Battle of Lake George: England's First Triumph in the French and Indian War (Military) by William R. Griffith Iv

Author:William R. Griffith Iv [Griffith, William R. Iv]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B01KBCK1LE
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2016-09-05T04:00:00+00:00

Back in Albany, Colonel Joseph Blanchard’s First New Hampshire began to arrive on August 11 and 12 and encamped six miles above the city. Johnson himself had departed for the Great Carrying Place the day before and rode ahead of Titcomb’s column, and the First New York and First Rhode Island Regiments had begun to march already as well. Blanchard’s New Hampshire men had originally been ordered to advance directly to Crown Point across Vermont but were then ordered back and sent to Albany after the exact route to the fort became unclear. Upon his arrival in the city, Blanchard immediately made haste toward the Great Carrying Place, where he hoped to acquaint himself with Johnson and receive orders for his regiment. The colonel rode into Lyman’s encampment around nine o’clock in the morning on August 15. Johnson had just arrived the previous day. 85

The commanding general’s entrance into Lyman’s camp was met with the welcoming boom of the two field pieces attached to the division. With him came the first element of Mohawk Indians; for many of the New Englanders in the camp, these were the first “savages” they had ever seen in person. James Gilbert of the Third Massachusetts vividly remembered the “od[dness] of Their Dress. They had Juels in Their noses. Their faces painted with all Colouers. They appeared very odious To us also.” The presence of the native warriors made the men uneasy. Stories of their supposed barbarous behavior had been passed down from generation to generation and made their way from town to town in New England. Colonel Timothy Ruggles wrote to Johnson on August 16 that a “Proclamation has been made forbidding all persons to sell or give any Rum or strong Liquors to any Indian.” This was something that Johnson had stressed to his officers early on in the campaign before the army began moving out of Albany. 86

As Johnson settled in and established his headquarters on the island in the middle of the Hudson River—later dubbed “Roger’s Island” because of its use as the rangers’ training site—it was determined by the commanding general that work on the road to Wood Creek should cease immediately. The labor party had completed roughly eight miles when their work was cut short. Scouts were sent out to explore the possibility of any alternate routes, but eventually the road to Lake George was decided on. At the same council of war, Captain Eyre’s plan for Fort Lyman was approved, and construction commenced in earnest.

By the time Eyre’s proposal for the construction of what would eventually become Fort Lyman was approved, work had already been done by the Connecticut and Massachusetts men encamped along that stretch of the Hudson River. In his journal entry of August 13, Seth Pomeroy described what had been completed thus far:

we finish’d ye Timber work of our Store house which is in ye form on an [“L” shape] 70 foot one way & 40 ye other 15 foot wide at ye North End

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