Montcalm a sa
Femme, 20 Juillet, 1756_.]
Montcalm and he left Montreal on the twenty-first, and reached Fort
Frontenac in eight days. Rigaud, brother of the Governor, had gone
thither some time before, and crossed with seven hundred Canadians to
the south side of the lake, where Villiers was encamped at Niaoure Bay,
now Sackett's Harbor, with such of his detachment as war and disease had
spared. Rigaud relieved him, and took command of the united bands. With
their aid the engineer, Descombles, reconnoitred the English forts, and
came back with the report that success was certain.[427] It was but a
confirmation of what had already been learned from deserters and
prisoners, who declared that the main fort was but a loopholed wall held
by six or seven hundred men, ill fed, discontented, and mutinous.[428]
Others said that they had been driven to desert by the want of good
food, and that within a year twelve hundred men had died of disease at
Oswego.[429]
[Footnote 427: _Vaudreuil au Ministre, 4 Aout, 1756. Vaudreuil a
Bourlamaque, Juin, 1756_.]
[Footnote 428: Bougainville, _Journal_.]
[Footnote 429: _Vaudreuil au Ministre, 10 Juillet, 1756. Resume des
Nouvelles du Canada, Sept. 1756_.]
The battalions of La Sarre, Guienne, and Bearn, with the colony
regulars, a body of Canadians, and about two hundred and fifty Indians,
were destined for the enterprise. The whole force was a little above
three thousand, abundantly supplied with artillery.
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