{"product_id":"the-siege-of-fort-william-henry-a-year-on-the-northeastern-frontier","title":"The Siege of Fort William Henry: A Year on the Northeastern Frontier","description":"\u003cp\u003eImmortalized in The Last of the Mohicans  the True Story of a Pivotal Battle in the British and French War for the North American Continent The opening years of the French and Indian War were disastrous for the British. In 1755 General Braddocks troops were routed at the Battle of Monongahela and by the middle of 1756 Fort Oswego on Lake Ontario had fallen. Hindered by quarrelsome provincial councils  incompetent generals  and the redcoats inability to adapt to wilderness warfare  Britain was losing the war. In 1757 the 35th Regiment of Foot stepped into the breach. A poorly trained assortment of conscripts  old soldiers  and convicted criminals led by Lieutenant Colonel George Monro  the regiment was destined to take center stage in the most controversial event of the war. Fort William Henry on the southern shore of New Yorks Lake George was a key fortification supporting British interests along the frontier with French America. Monro and his regiment occupied the fort in the spring of 1757 while Britain planned its attack on the key French fortress at Louisbourg  Nova Scotia. Learning that most of Britains military resources were allocated to Louisbourg  the French launched a campaign along the weakened frontier. French Commander Louis-Joseph de Montcalm and his American Indian allies laid siege to Fort William Henry; Monro could not hold out and was forced to surrender. As part of the terms  the British regiment  colonial militia  and their camp followers would be allowed safe passage to nearby Fort Edward. The French watched in horror  however  as their Indian allies attacked the British column after it left the fort  an episode that sparked outrage and changed the tactics of the war. Seen through the eyes of participants such as Louis Antoine de Bougainville  a scholarly young aide-de-camp  Jabez Fitch  an amiable Connecticut sergeant  and Kisensik  a proud Nipissing chief whose father once met Louis XIV in the marbled halls of Versailles  The Siege of Fort William Henry: A Year on the Northeastern Frontier uses contemporary newspaper reports  official documents  private letters  and published memoirs to bring the narrative to life. From Indian councils on the banks of the Saint Lawrence River and bustling military camps in northern New York to the narratives bloody denouement on the shores of Lake George  the reader is immersed in the colorful  yet brutal world of eighteenth-century northeastern America.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44952229838901,"sku":"ByrdShop_1594161461","price":31.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9781594161469.jpg?v=1770154854","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-siege-of-fort-william-henry-a-year-on-the-northeastern-frontier","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}