French and Indian War Reenactors meet for Vaudreuil’s Raid

Musket fire and cries of “Vive la France” echoed off the Lake George ice this Saturday, March 25, as French and Indian War reenactors recreated Vaudreuil’s Raid at Fort William Henry. The reenactors came from across the Northeast and Canada to replay the unsuccessful, but not insignificant, French attempt to seize the fort from the British.

In 1757, the Lake George region and Adirondack Mountains separated the British Colonies of New England from New France (now Canada.) Both empires claimed the rugged territory as their own. New France Governor Vaudreuil hoped to gain control of the British Northern forts as they threatened France’s claims in North America. To achieve this end, he enlisted his brother Rigaud to lead an attack on the British fort on the Southern shore of Lake George.

March 1757, Sieur de Rigaud de Vaudreuil led a force of 1,600, French Regulars, Canadians and Native Americans up the lake to seize Fort William Henry.

*The French march on Fort William Henry.*

Holding the fort against this assault were 346 men (this number does not include approximately 150 who were laid up with smallpox), including a detachment of Roger’s Rangers under the command of Lt. John Stark of New Hampshire (John Stark’s military career continued in the American Revolution, and he became heralded as the Hero of Bennington. He is credited with the quote Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils, giving New Hampshire its state motto.)

In his retelling of the raid, Stark’s son Caleb credits his father with keeping the troops sober and able to defend the fort. On the evening of March 16, 1757, Stark got wind of a planned St. Patrick’s Day celebration by rangers who were of Scottish-Irish descent. While Stark had no knowledge of the enemy forces that, at that very moment, were advancing up the lake, he did not approve of rum-soaked revelry and instructed his sutler to withhold rations of grog.

In the early morning hours of March 19, a ranger sentinel (clear-headed from having not celebrated St. Patrick’s Day) spied on light to the North and realized a large force was advancing across the frozen lake. The Rangers mustered on the fort walls as several hundred of the enemy approached.

Caleb Stark describes the initial attack here:

“They planted their ladders and mounted; but as the foremost men were about placing their feet upon the ramparts, a deep, stern voice gave the word ‘fire.’ A volley of musketry was instantly poured, with fatal effect, upon the assailants, while the guns of the fortress opened with grape and canister upon the columns in the rear. The enemy were repulsed, and feel back, confused and mortified.” – Caleb Stark, Memoir and Official Correspondence of Gen. John Stark

In the light of morning, the French sent a messenger to the fort requesting the British surrender. While the British forces were greatly outnumbered, they had the advantage of big guns and healthy men. Vaudreuil’s army had been tramping through the snow for weeks, often hindered by spring thaws that left them and their supplies soaking wet. Although they had set out well-provisioned, their food supply was dwindling. The British officers refused the conditions of surrender and sent the messenger away.

Over the next few days, the French continued to shoot ineffective shots at the fort and worked to destroy the storehouses and vessels outside the fort walls by setting them ablaze. By March 23, they had destroyed the British fleet and stores of clothing, firewood and other supplies. They retreated up the lake to Fort Carillon, claiming victory.

While Fort William Henry survived this attack, the loss of the fleet hindered intelligence-gathering missions down the lake, and another assault later that year reduced the fort to ashes. The siege of Fort William Henry, led by the Marquis de Montcalm in August 1757, ends with the surrender of the fort and the infamous massacre that stands out as one of the best-known incidents of the French and Indian War.