The Lake George Battlefield Park Alliance is sponsoring a walking tour of Major General William Johnson’s Battle of Lake George battle lines. Historian Mark Silo will conduct the tour, which leaves from the Battlefield Park’s Visitor Center on Fort George Road at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 12. The tour is free and open to the public. Those wishing to join may reserve a spot by emailing the Alliance at info@lakegeorgebattlefield.org. Handouts will be furnished to all who participate in the tour.
Mark Silo is a civil engineer, author and student of history who used his expertise in civil engineering and his research skills to determine the location of Johnson’s lines. Silo identified key areas in Battlefield Park where the British successfully defended their position at the head of the lake. His report, “Sir William, Where Exactly Were Your Lines?” was published in the Winter 2023 edition of the Alliance’s newsletter, the Fort George Post.
Related: One man’s quest to find the Battle of Lake George battle lines
The Battle of Lake George was a series of three engagements between a provincial army under the command of British General Johnson and French Regulars led by Baron de Dieskau. Johnson, camped at the head of Lake George, received intelligence that the French were planning an attack on Fort Lyman (Fort Edward).
On the morning of September 8, 1755, Johnson sent 1,000 troops, led by Ephraim Williams, and 200 Mohawk allies, led by King Hendrick, to support Fort Lyman. The French ambushed the detachment approximately three miles south of the lake in the first engagement referred to as the Bloody Morning Scout.
Both Williams and Hendrick were struck down along with many others. (In the 1930s, a road crew uncovered the remains of four individuals identified as soldiers who died in this attack. They were reinterred in Battlefield Park, and their grave is marked as the Grave of the Unknowns.)
Bloody Morning Scout survivors retreated to Lake George with the French on their heels. Alerted by the sounds of battle, Johnson’s men at the lake hastily built barricades of downed trees, overturned wagons and bateaux. From these fortifications, they successfully drove back the French and captured the wounded Dieskau. This rout of the French was the second skirmish.
The fleeing French were ambushed by troops sent from Fort Lyman, and their bodies were reportedly tossed into a small pond, giving the third engagement the name Battle of Bloody Pond.
Featured image: Historian Mark Silo conducts a tour of General William Johnson’s lines in Lake George Battlefield Park in April 2023.