Campaign 260 - Fort William Henry 1755–57. A Battle, Two Sieges and Bloody Massacre (2013).pdf

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FORT WILLIAM
HENRY 1755–57
A battle, two sieges and bloody massacre
IAN CASTLE
ILLUSTRATED BY GRAHAM TURNER
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
CAMPAIGN 260
FORT WILLIAM HENRY
1755–57
A battle, two sieges and bloody massacre
IAN CASTLE
ILLUSTRATED BY GRAHAM TURNER  
Series editor Marcus Cowper
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
Origins of the French and Indian War
5
CHRONOLOGY
OPPOSING COMMANDERS
British commanders
French commanders
7
9
OPPOSING ARMIES
British Army
French Army
12
OPPOSING PLANS
British plans
French plans
17
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1755
19
The battle of
Johnson prepares – Dieskau strikes A change of plan The ‘Bloody Morning Scout’
Lake George Building the new fort Fort William Henry – the waiting game
THE FIRST SIEGE OF FORT WILLIAM HENRY
Rigaud’s attack, March 1757
clouds gather
The attack begins
41
Taking stock
Storm
The weather takes a hand
THE SECOND SIEGE OF FORT WILLIAM HENRY
59
Montcalm makes his move The noose tightens The siege – Day 1 – the garrison stands alone
The siege – Day 2 – Montcalm’s trump card The siege – Day 3 – Webb waits The siege – Day 4 –
‘Relief is greatly wanted’ The siege – Day 5 – the end draws near The siege – Day 6 – surrender
Abandoning the fort The ‘massacre’ French troops regain control
AFTERMATH
Summary
88
THE BATTLEFIELD TODAY
FURTHER READING
INDEX
92
94
95
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
Québec
Île St-Jean
Trois-Rivières
Fort Gaspereau
Fort Beauséjour
Fort Lawrence
St
La
w
ren
ce
Riv
er
Cape Breton
Island
Louisbourg
Montréal
Lake Huron
Lake
Champlain
Fort St Frédéric
Lake George
MAINE
(MASS.)
Annapolis
Royal
NOVA
SCOTIA
Halifax
British planned military operations, 1755
Fort Frontenac
L a ke O n t a ri o
Fort Oswego
Fort Niagara
Moh
awk
R
iver
Fort No. 4
NEW
HAMPSHIRE
La k e
Er ie
Albany
Fort Presqu’Ile
NEW YORK
Hudson
River
MASSACHUSETTS
CONNECTICUT RHODE IS.
Boston
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
New York
Philadelphia
Fort Le Boeuf
ATLANTIC OCEAN
Fort Machault
PENNSYLVANIA
Fort Duquesne
N
Fort Cumberland
NEW JERSEY
DELAWARE
French forts
British forts
Baltimore
0
0
100km
100 miles
MARYLAND
VIRGINIA
Alexandria
INTRODUCTION
When in 1826 James Fenimore Cooper published his
classic of American literature,
The Last of the Mohicans,
just 69 years had passed since the siege of Fort William
Henry and the infamous massacre of the British garrison.
Many of his readers had direct contact with those who
lived through this traumatic period of American history.
They were as close then as we are today to soldiers who
took part in the D-Day landings of 1944. To those people
the story he told rang true. By then the British Army was
long gone from America’s shores but for the former British
colonists, now American citizens, the frontier terrors of the
mid-18th century still occupied a haunting place in the
national psyche. Sensationalist accounts of the siege and
massacre were repeated and embellished in the American
press, then travelled to London to gain credence when
reprinted in the influential city newspapers. Cooper’s story
relied on this material and reflected the beliefs and values
of the time in its portrayal of the almost demonic savagery
of the Indian attack on a column of British and colonial
soldiers after the capitulation of Fort William Henry. He
wrote, ‘Death was everywhere, and in his most terrific and
disgusting aspects. Resistance only served to inflame the murderers, who
inflicted their furious blows long after their victims were beyond the power
of their resentment. The flow of blood might be likened to the outbreaking
of a torrent.’
It is this version of mass slaughter – a massacre – that dominates
subsequent film and television adaptations of the book; it is the one that has
achieved common acceptance and forms for many the ‘real’ story of events
that day. The truth is somewhat different.
James Fenimore Cooper (1789–
1851).
The Last of the Mohicans,
published in 1826, became
Cooper’s most popular work. It
was the second novel in a five-
book series known collectively
as
The Leatherstocking Tales,
published between 1823
and 1841.
ORIGINS OF THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR
Britain and France both began establishing and strengthening colonies on the
North American continent in the 17th century. The French claimed ownership
of an immense territory known as New France which extended in a great arc
from the Atlantic seaboard at Île Royale (now Cape Breton Island) along the
St Lawrence River to the Great Lakes and southwards to New Orleans on
5
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com

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