volume 1, pages 255-360; volume 2, pages 1-132.

CANADA: A. D. 1759 (July-August). The fall of Niagara, Ticonderoga and Crown Point.

"For the campaign of 1759 the British Parliament voted liberal supplies of men and money, and the American colonies, encouraged by the successes of the preceding year, raised large numbers of troops. Amherst superseded Abercrombie as commander-in-chief. The plan for the year embraced three expeditions: Fort Niagara was to be attacked by Prideaux, assisted by Sir William Johnson; Amherst was to march his force against Ticonderoga and Crown Point; and Quebec was to be assailed by an army under Wolfe and a fleet under Saunders. Prideaux and Amherst, after the capture of the forts, were to descend the St. Lawrence, take Montreal, and join the army before Quebec. ... Vaudreuil, the Governor, having received warning from France of the intentions of the English, sent a small force to Niagara under the engineer Pouchot, not expecting to be able to hold the post, and not wishing to sacrifice many men, or to spare the troops from the more important points. Pouchot repaired the defences, and when the alarm was given that the English were near, sent for men from Presqu' Isle, Venango, and Detroit. Prideaux, in command of two British regiments, a battalion of Royal Americans, two battalions from New York, and a train of artillery, was joined by Johnson with a detachment of Indians. They began their march from Schenectady on the 20th of May, and, after a difficult journey, reached Oswego, where a detachment under Colonel Haldimand was left to take possession and form a post, and the remainder of the forces embarked on Lake Ontario, and on the 1st of July landed without opposition about six miles east of the mouth of the Niagara. ... Prideaux began his trenches on the 10th, and on the 11th a sally was made from the fort; but the English placed themselves in line of battle, and the French were obliged to retire. Prideaux was steadily advancing the work ... when, on the 19th, he was killed by the bursting of a shell from a Coehorn mortar in one of the trenches, where he had gone to issue orders. {377} Amherst appointed General Gage to succeed him, but before the arrival of Gage the command devolved upon General Johnson, who carried on the siege according to the plans of Prideaux." On the 24th a considerable force of French and Indians, about 1,600 strong, sent to the relief of the beleaguered fort, was intercepted and routed, most of the French officers and men being slain or captured. This took from Pouchot his last hope, and he surrendered the following day. "As the stations beyond Niagara were now completely cut off from communication with the east, and had given up a large part of their men to join D'Aubry [in the attempt to relieve Niagara], they were no longer capable of resistance. Presqu' Isle, Venango, and Le Bœuf were easily taken by Colonel Bouquet, who had been sent to summon them to surrender." The detachment left at Oswego, in charge of stores, was attacked by a body of French and Indians from La Presentation (Ogdensburg), but the attack failed. "For the reduction of the forts at Ticonderoga and Crown Point, Amherst had somewhat more than 11,000 men. He began preparations early in May at Albany, preparing boats, gathering stores, and disciplining the new recruits." In June he reached Lake George with his army, but it was not until late in July that "the army moved down the lake in four columns, in a fleet of whale-boats, bateaux, and artillery rafts, very much as Abercromby's men had gone to their defeat the year before, and left the boats nearly opposite the former landing-place. The vanguard, pushing on rapidly over the road to the falls, met a detachment of French and Indians, whom they overpowered and scattered after a slight skirmish, and the main body pressed on and took a position at the saw mills. From prisoners it was learned that Bourlamaque commanded at Ticonderoga with 3,400 men. Montcalm was at Quebec." The French 'withdrew from their outer lines into the fort, and made a show of resistance for several days while they evacuated the place. An explosion, during the night of the 25th of July, "and the light of the burning works, assured the English of the retreat of the French, of which they had already heard from a deserter, and Colonel Haviland pursued them down the lake with a few troops, and took sixteen prisoners and some boats laden with powder. ... After the flames were extinguished, Amherst, who had lost about 75 men, went to work to repair the fortifications and complete the road from the lake. Some sunken French boats were raised, and a brig was built. Amherst was slowly preparing to attack Crown Point, and sent Rogers with his rangers to reconnoitre. But on the first of August they learned that the French had abandoned that fort also; and on the 16th that Bourlamaque's men were encamped on the Isle aux Noix, at the northern extremity of Lake Champlain, commanding the entrance to the Richelieu. They had been joined by some small detachments, and numbered about 3,500 men. Amherst spent his time in fortifying Crown Point, and building boats and rafts," until "it was too late to descend to Montreal and go to the help of Wolfe; the time for that had been passed in elaborate and useless preparations."

_R. Johnson, History of the French War, chapter 18._

ALSO IN: _E. Warburton, Conquest of Canada, volume 2, chapter 9._

_W. L. Stone, Life and Times of Sir W. Johnson,