Note 40 — A CATALOGUE of REVOLUTIONARY ARTICLES in THE POUGHKEEPSIE MUSEUM.

Footnote 40: This was Abercrombie's fatal mistake. He sent an engineer to reconnoitre the fort and outworks. The engineer reported the latter to be so weak, in an unfinished state, as to be easily carried, without artillery, by the force of English bayonets. The difficulties in the way of heavy cannons, in that dense forest, were very formidable; and Abercrombie was willing to rely upon sword and bayonet, on the strength of his engineer's report. That functionary was mistaken; and when the English approached the French lines, they found an embankment of earth and stones, eight feet in height, strongly guarded by abatis, or felled trees, with their tops outward. The English made a furious attack, cut pathways through these prostrate trees, and mounted the parapet. They were instantly slain, and thus scores of Britons were sacrificed, by discharges of heavy cannons. When two thousand men had fallen, Abercrombie sounded a retreat, and the whole British army made its way to the landing-place at the foot of Lake George, with a loss of twenty-five hundred muskets. They went up the lake to Fort William Henry, and the wounded were sent to Fort Edward and to Albany. At his own solicitation, Colonel Bradstreet was sent to attack the French fort Frontenac, where Kingston now stands, at the foot of Lake Ontario; and General Stanwix proceeded to erect a fort toward the head-waters of the Mohawk, where the village of Rome now flourishes.(Back)