The ground was strewn with broken casks and bread sodden with rain. The
remains of burnt bateaux and whaleboats were scattered along the shore.
The great stone trading-house in the old fort was a smoking ruin; Fort
Rascal was still burning on the neighboring hill; Fort Ontario was a
mass of ashes and charred logs, and by it stood two poles on which were
written words which the visitors did not understand. They went back to
Fort Johnson with their story; and Oswego reverted for a time to the
bears, foxes, and wolves.[434]
[Footnote 434: On the capture of Oswego, the authorities examined have
been very numerous, and only the best need be named. _Livre d'Ordres,
Campagne de 1756_, contains all orders from headquarters. _Memoires pour
servir d'Instruction a M. le Marquis de Montcalm, 21 Juillet; 1756,
signe Vaudreuil_. Bougainville, _Journal. Vaudreuil au Ministre, 15
Juin, 1756_ (designs against Oswego). _Ibid., 13 Aout, 1755. Ibid., 30
Aout_. Pouchot, I. 67-81. _Relation de la Prise des Forts de Chouaguen.
Bigot au Ministre, 3 Sept. 1756 Journal du Siege de Chouaguen. Precis
des Evenements, 1756. Montcalm au Ministre, 20 Juillet, 1756. Ibid., 28
Aout, 1756. Desandrouins a----, meme date. Montcalm a sa Femme, 30
Aout_. Translations of several of the above papers, along with others
less important, will be found in _N.Y. Col. Docs._, X., and _Doc. Hist.
N.Y._, I.
_State of Facts relating to the Loss of Oswego_, in _London Magazine_
for 1757, p.
Pages:
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453