Clerk goes out once again to the…

July 1758 CE

Clerk goes out once again to the base of Rattlesnake Hill to observe the French defenses; his report indicates that he still feels the French lines can be taken by assault.

The battle begins on the morning of July 8 with Rogers' Rangers and light infantry from Colonel Thomas Gage's 80th Regiment of Light-Armed Foot pushing the few remaining French scouts behind the entrenchments.

They are followed by provincials from New York and Massachusetts, then three columns of regulars, who makes their way through the provincial formations to begin the attack.

The 27th and 60th make up the right column, under the command of the 27th's Lt. Col. William Haviland, the 44th and 55th under Lt. Col. John Donaldson make the center, and the 42nd and 46th under the 42nd's Lt. Col. Francis Grant form the left column.

Each column is preceded by the regimental light infantry companies.

Held in reserve are provincial regiments from Connecticut and New Jersey.

Montcalm had organized the French forces into three brigades and a reserve.

He commands the Royal Roussillon and Berry battalions in the center of the entrenchments, while Lévis commands the Béarn, Guyenne, and la Reine battalions on the right, and Bourlamaque leads the La Sarre and Languedoc battalions on the left.

Each battalion is given roughly one hundred yards (ninety-one meters) of the entrenchment to defend.

Redoubts with cannon protect the flanks of the entrenchments, although the one on the right has not been completed.

The low ground between the left flank and the La Chute River is guarded by militia and marines, who have also constructed abatis to help protect their position.

Reserve forces are either in the fort itself, or on the grounds between the fort and the entrenchments on Mount Hope.

Portions of each battalion are also held in reserve, to assist in areas where they might be needed.

While Abercrombie had expected the battle to begin at 1 pm, by 12:30 elements of the New York regiments on the left begins engaging the French defenders.

The sounds of battle lead Haviland to believe that the French line might have been penetrated, so he orders his men forward, even though not all of the regulars were in place, and Abercrombie had not given an order to advance.

The result, rather than an orderly, coordinated advance on the French position, is a piecemeal entry of the regulars into the battle.

As companies of the regulars come forward, they arrange themselves into lines as instructed, and then begin to advance.

The right column, with a shorter distance to travel, attacks first, followed by the center, then the left.

The 42nd had initially been held in reserve, but after insisting on being allowed to participate, they join the action.

The French position is such that they are able to lay down withering fire on the British forces as they advance, and the abatis (a word that shares derivation with abattoir, or slaughterhouse) rapidly become a killing field.

By about 2 pm, it is clear that the first wave of attack had failed.

Montcalm is active on the battlefield, having removed his coat, and is moving among his men, giving encouragement and making sure all of their needs were being met.

Abercrombie, who will be reported by early historians like Francis Parkman and Thomas Mante to be at the sawmill (and thus well away from the action), will be reported by his aide, James Abercrombie, to be near the rear of the lines by the La Chute River during much of the battle, and to have approached the front of the French lines at one point early in the battle.

It is uncertain why, after the first wave of attack failed, Abercrombie persisted in ordering further attacks. Writing in his own defense, he will later claim that he was relying on Clerk's assessment that the works could be easily taken; this is clearly refuted by the failure of the first charge.

Around 2 pm, the British barges carrying artillery float down the La Chute River, and, contrary to plan, come down a channel between an island in the La Chute and the shore.

This brings them within range of the French left and some of the fort's guns.

Fire from cannons on the fort's southwest bastion's sink two of the barges, spurring the remaining vessels to retreat.

Abercrombie orders his reserves, the Connecticut and New Jersey provincials, into the battle around 2 PM, but by 2:30 it is clear their attack had also failed.

Abercrombie now tries to recall the troops, but a significant number, notably the 42nd and 46th regiments on the British left, persist in the attack.

Around 5 pm the 42nd makes a desperate advance that actually succeeds in reaching the base of the French wall; those that actually manage to scale the breastwork are bayoneted.

The slaughter went on until nightfall, with a great many men retreating behind a breastwork that had been erected at the back of the battlefield.

Abercrombie, finally realizing the scope of the disaster, orders the troops to muster and march down to the landing on Lake George.

The retreat in the dark woods becomes somewhat panicked and disorganized, as rumors of French attacks swirl among the troops.

By dawn the next morning, the army is rowing back up Lake George, reaching its base at the southern end around sunset.

The humiliating nature of the retreat is immediately apparent to some of its participants.

Montcalm, wary of a British counterattack, and concerned about the fatigue of his troops after a long day of battle, has barrels of beer and wine brought forward to the lines.

The troops will spend the night alternating between sleeping and working on the defenses in anticipation of a renewed attack.

The fact that natives allied to the British have witnessed the debacle first hand will complicate future relations with them.

News of the defeat will circulate widely in their communities, which will have a significant effect on the ability of British agents to recruit natives to their side for future operations.

The battle is the bloodiest of the war, with over three thousand casualties suffered.

French casualties are normally considered to be comparatively light: one hundred and four killed and two hundred and seventy-three wounded in the main battle.

Combined with the effective elimination of Trépezet's force on July 6, there are about five hundred and fifty casualties, about thirteen percent of the French force, a percentage similar to the losses of the British (who Chartrand calculates as having lost eleven and a half to fifteen percent).

General Abercrombie will report five hundred and forty-seven killed, thirteen hundred and fifty-six wounded, and seventy-seven missing.

Lévis in one report will claim that the French recovered eight hundred British bodies, implying that Abercrombie may have under-reported the actual death toll.

Chartrand estimates the number of British killed (or died of their wounds) at about one thousand for the main battle, with about fifteen hundred wounded.

The skirmish on July 6 cost the British about one hundred killed and wounded, and the loss of General Howe.

The 42nd Regiment, known as the Black Watch, has paid dearly with the loss of many lives and many severely wounded.

More than three hundred men (including eight officers) have been killed, and a similar number are wounded, representing a significant fraction of the total casualties suffered by the British.

King George III, later in July 1758, will designate the 42nd a "Royal" regiment, due to its gallantry in earlier battles, and issue letters of service for adding a second battalion "as a testimony of his Majesty's satisfaction and approbation of the extraordinary courage, loyalty, and exemplary conduct of the Highland regiment."

However, the king will not learn of the regiment's loss of almost half its strength in this battle until August.