another note came from Monro to say that the French were upon him in great numbers, well supplied with artillery, but that the garrison were all in good spirits.  “I make no doubt,” wrote the hardpressed officer, “that you will soon send us a reinforcement;” and again on the same day:  “We are very certain that a part of the enemy have got between you and us upon the high road, and would therefore be glad (if it meets with your approbation) the whole army was marched."[512] But Webb gave no sign.[513]

[Footnote 511:  Frye, Journal of the Attack of Fort William Henry.  Webb to Loudon, 1 Aug. 1757.  Ibid., 5 Aug. 1757.]

[Footnote 512:  Copy of four Letters from Lieutenant-Colonel Monro to Major-General Webb, enclosed in the General’s Letter of the fifth of August to the Earl of Loudon.]

[Footnote 513:  “The number of troops remaining under my Command at this place [Fort Edward], excluding the Posts on Hudson’s River, amounts to but sixteen hundred men fit for duty, with which Army, so much inferior to that of the enemy, I did not think it prudent to pursue my first intentions of Marching to their Assistance.” Webb to Loudon, 5 Aug. 1757.]

When the skirmishing around the fort was over, La Corne, with a body of Indians, occupied the road that led to Fort Edward, and Levis encamped hard by to support him, while Montcalm proceeded to examine the ground and settle his plan of attack.  He made his way to the rear of the entrenched camp and reconnoitred it, hoping to carry it by assault; but it had a breastwork of stones and logs, and he thought the attempt too hazardous.  The ground where he stood was that where Dieskau had been defeated; and as the fate of his predecessor was not of flattering augury, he resolved to besiege the fort in form.

He chose for the site of his operations the ground now covered by the village of Caldwell.  A little to the north of it was a ravine, beyond which he formed his main camp, while Levis occupied a tract of dry ground beside the marsh, whence he could easily move to intercept succors from Fort Edward on the one hand, or repel a sortie from Fort William Henry on the other.  A brook ran down the ravine and entered the lake at a small cove protected from the fire of the fort by a point of land; and at this place, still called Artillery Cove, Montcalm prepared to debark his cannon and mortars.

Having made his preparations, he sent Fontbrune, one of his aides-de-camp, with a letter to Monro.  “I owe it to humanity,” he wrote, “to summon you to surrender.  At present I can restrain the savages, and make them observe the terms of a capitulation, as I might not have power to do under other circumstances; and an obstinate defence on your part could only retard the capture of the place a few days, and endanger an unfortunate garrison which cannot be relieved, in consequence of the dispositions I have made.  I demand a decisive answer within