[733]
These orders he accomplished. Haldimand remained to reoccupy the spot
that Montcalm had made desolate three years before; and, while preparing
to build a fort, he barricaded his camp with pork and flour barrels,
lest the enemy should make a dash upon him from their station at the
head of the St. Lawrence Rapids. Such an attack was probable; for if the
French could seize Oswego, the return of Prideaux from Niagara would be
cut off, and when his small stock of provisions had failed, he would be
reduced to extremity. Saint-Luc de la Corne left the head of the Rapids
early in July with a thousand French and Canadians and a body of
Indians, who soon made their appearance among the stumps and bushes that
surrounded the camp at Oswego. The priest Piquet was of the party; and
five deserters declared that he solemnly blessed them, and told them to
give the English no quarter.[734] Some valuable time was lost in
bestowing the benediction; yet Haldimand's men were taken by surprise.
Many of them were dispersed in the woods, cutting timber for the
intended fort; and it might have gone hard with them had not some of La
Corne's Canadians become alarmed and rushed back to their boats,
oversetting Father Piquet on the way.[735] These being rallied, the
whole party ensconced itself in a tract of felled trees so far from the
English that their fire did little harm. They continued it about two
hours, and resumed it the next morning; when, three cannon being brought
to bear on them, they took to their boats and disappeared, having lost
about thirty killed and wounded, including two officers and La Corne
himself, who was shot in the thigh.
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