on shipboard and distributed among the English colonies. The work was done cruelly. Families were separated, their homes were burned to keep them from coming back, and their fertile farms laid waste. Many of the exiles found new homes in the French settlements of Louisiana.

But their

love for their old fields was never lost, and in the end many returned and took the oath of allegiance. Their love for Acadia proved stronger than their fidelity to France. This act of expulsion has been defended as a military necessity, but it is not easy to believe that so cruel a deed could not have been avoided.

The Battle of Lake George. In the same year with the Duquesne and Acadian expeditions (1755) another was undertaken against Crown Point, a strong work which the

French had built on the west side of Lake Champlain. It was led by Sir William Johnson, a New York landholder who had great influence with the Iroquois Indians, many of whom followed him to the field.

The French advanced to meet their foes, and the two armies met on the southern shore of Lake George. A severe battle followed, in which the French were at first successful, but afterward met with a severe defeat from the provincial troops under General Lyman.' Johnson, though victorious, did not proceed against Crown Point, so that the purpose of the expedition failed. He contented himself with building Fort William Henry, at the head of the lake. The French built the afterward famous Fort Ticonderoga, near the opposite extremity of Lake George.

War Declared.-It was not until 1756 that war was formally declared, though it had existed in America for two years. It now spread to the European continent and to the colonies of France and England in India. America had thus lighted a brand of war whose destructive effects spread round the world.

Montcalm's Victories.-In 1756 the Marquis de Montcalm, an able French officer, was made commander-in-chief in America, and signalized his ability by the capture of the English post at Oswego, which gave him fourteen hundred prisoners, a large amount of stores, and full command of Lake Ontario. It was a serious loss to the English cause. In the following year he descended Lakes Champlain and

1 Baron Dieskau, the commander of the French army, was found by the pursuers, wounded and alone, supported against a tree. As a provincial soldier approached, the wounded general felt for his watch, hoping to gain safety by the present. But the soldier thought that he was feeling for his pistol, and shot him. The wound was incurable, though he suffered from its effects for ten years before dying.

George with a strong force, attacked Fort William Henry, and forced its surrender.

The Fort William Henry Massacre.-A terrible affair followed. The English garrison marched out of the fort

without their arms, having been promised a safe escort to Fort Edward, on the Hudson River. But the escort did not appear in time, and Montcalm's Indian allies fell on the defenceless English and massacred great numbers of them, despite all the French officers could do to restrain their fury. Many others were carried off by the Indians as prisoners. Montcalm has been severely blamed for inertness in this scene of savage butchery, though perhaps without just cause.

The Attack on Ticonderoga.-During the next summer (1758) a vigorous effort was made to take Fort Ticonderoga, General Abercrombie marching against it at the head of fifteen thousand troops. Montcalm held the fort with less

than one-third this force. Yet despite the strength of the British army it was driven back in complete defeat and with heavy loss.

The Results of Four Years.-Up to this time success had remained with the French. They had been victorious at Fort Duquesne and Lake Champlain, and England, though it had made vigorous exertions and raised large bodies of troops, had only the pitiful success in Acadia of which to boast.

The victories of France had been due to strenuous efforts of the home government. If the war had been left to the colonists there could have been but one result. The French area in America, though vast, was but a shell, its population being not more than one hundred and twenty-five thousand. The English colonies, on the contrary, were compactly settled, their population being one million two hundred and fifty thousand. This great discrepancy in numbers might not have made itself manifest in the first years of the war, with so difficult a country intervening, yet in the end it could not have failed to give success to the English colonists.

William Pitt's Method.-As it was, the reinforcements sent from abroad aided to equalize the strength of the combatants, and served to protract the struggle. But the success of the French ceased. William Pitt, the new minister of England, took steps for a vigorous prosecution of the war, and managed to keep the armies of France occupied in Europe, while English fleets and armies strenuously attacked her colonies abroad. The outcome of this policy in America remains to be told.

The Work of 1758.-The defeat at Ticonderoga was the only failure in the new policy. A strong expedition was sent during the same year against Louisburg, and that stronghold was a second time captured. Another army

was sent against Fort Duquesne. This fort had, since Braddock's defeat, been the centre of destructive Indian raids on the frontier, in dealing with which Washington had been kept busy. As the army slowly made its way toward the fort, General Forbes, its commander, diligently making a road as he advanced, winter came on, the troops complained, and it was decided to abandon the enterprise. But learning that the garrison was weak, Washington asked the privilege to advance with his Virginians. Permission was given, and he moved rapidly forward. On his approach the garrison set fire to the fort and fled. The flames were extinguished and the name of the fortress was changed to Fort Pitt, in honor of the great statesman.

The Siege of Quebec.-In July, 1759, Forts Niagara and Ticonderoga were taken by the English, and an expedition sailed against Quebec, led by General Wolfe, an officer who had distinguished himself in the taking of Louisburg. The struggle

had narrowed itself to a single point, the forces were nearly equal, and the commanders both of high military renown. Montcalm had, by active

efforts, collected an army

Landing, Jul

Falls

GEN. WOLFE'S

CAN

AMP

TRENCHMENTS

CITAD

IWRE

Channe

ORLEANS ISLAND

ENGLISH CAMP

South Chann

MONCKTON'S CAMP
Point Levi
ENGLISH BATTERIES

RIVER

of seven thousand men

SCALE OF MILES

1 +2 3 4 5

THE SIEGE OF QUEBEC.

for the defence of Quebec. Wolfe had a large fleet and eight thousand soldiers for the siege.

Fruitless Assault.-For months Wolfe continued the assault, cannonading the city and seeking some promising point of attack. He was almost in despair as autumn came