From the western ramparts of the fort a single cannon roared. The French defenders, outnumbered four to one, ran to the loopholes in the zigzag outworks, and sighted down the barrels of their muskets.
Out of the forest poured wave upon wave of British regulars in scarlet and of colonials in blue. Feathered bonnets rippled and dark kilts tossed as the Black Watch was piped into battle by the keening of the bagpipes. And then the withering hail of lead began to take its toll.
It was July 8, 1758–a critical year in the French and Indian War. Could the French hold Canada? Or would the British drive them out? Twelve regiments under General Abercrombie had pushed northward on Lake George to force the gate at Ticonderoga held by the able French commander, Montcalm. If Abercrombie could seize the fort, Lake Champlain would suddenly become an open highway for the invasion of Canada. The fate of a continent trembled in the balance on that bloody afternoon.
Bruce Lancaster, who is a meticulous military historian, revives the excitement, suspense, and heartbreak of those stirring days in his narrative of Fort Ticonderoga—the bastion against invasion from north or south in the French and Indian War and also the American Revolution.
Courageous men step from these pages—Champlain, the founder of New France, the gallant Montcalm, Sir Jeffrey Amherst, and Burgoyne, to mention only a few.
But the real hero of this unusual book is the star-shaped fort itself, high on its headland dominating Lake Champlain and the outlet of Lake George. If the old stones of that fortress could speak, this is the story they would tell.
—from the dust jacket
Any family living within motoring distance of upper New York State should share an exciting lesson in American history by visiting the imposing stone fortress at Ticonderoga, high on its headland above Lake Champlain and the outlet of Lake George.
This was the gate which controlled military invasion from the north or south during the French and Indian War and also the American Revolution. Over its star-shaped ramparts have floated three proud flags—the Lilies of France, the Union Jack, and the Stars and Stripes. Thousands fought and many died in its defense or its assault—the French in their white coats, the British in their red coats, the American colonials in blue, the Scots in their dark tartans, and the Indians in their buckskins.
Through the arched passageway into the Places d'Armes have passed such men as Lotbinière, its builder, the gallant Montcalm, its defender, Sir Jeffrey Amherst, Knox, Schuyler, and Burgoyne.
Step lightly here where Abercrombie's soldiers themselves threw themselves in reckless bravery against Montcalm's French lines, and where the Black Watch charged to almost certain death while bagpipes skirled. As the author of this book so ably proves, this Gibraltar of the North is haunted by the shades of gallant men.
Sterling North, General Editor
—from the book
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