As soon as they neared the spot, James scattered his men in skirmishing order.  Each placed himself behind one of the blackened stumps of the roughly-cleared forest, and opened fire upon the Indians.  Several of these fell, and the rest bounded back to the forest, whence they opened a heavy fire.

Now the company showed the advantage of the training they had gone through, fighting with the greatest steadiness and coolness, and keeping well in shelter, until, when the soldiers and cattle had got well on their way towards the fort, James gave the order to fall back, and the band, crawling among the stumps, and pausing to fire at every opportunity, made their way back without having lost a man, although several had received slight wounds.

Chapter 16:  The Massacre At Fort William Henry.

When the skirmishing round Fort Henry was over, La Corne, with a body of Indians, occupied the road that led to Fort Edward; and Levis encamped close by, to support him, and check any sortie the English might make from their intrenched camp.  Montcalm reconnoitred the position.  He had, at first, intended to attack and carry the intrenched camp, but he found that it was too strong to be taken by a rush.  He therefore determined to attack the fort, itself, by regular approaches from the western side, while the force of Levis would intercept any succour which might come from Fort Edward, and cut off the retreat of the garrison in that direction.  He gave orders that the cannon were to be disembarked at a small cove, about half a mile from the fort, and near this he placed his main camp.  He now sent one of his aides-de-camp with a letter to Monro.

“I owe it to humanity,” he said, “to summon you to surrender.  At present I can restrain the savages, and make them observe the terms of a capitulation, but I might not have the power to do so under other circumstances, and an obstinate defence on your part could only retard the capture of the place a few days, and endanger the unfortunate garrison, which cannot be relieved, in consequence of the dispositions I have made.  I demand a decisive answer within an hour.”

Monro replied simply that he and his soldiers would defend themselves till the last.

The trenches were opened on the night of the 4th.  The work was extremely difficult, the ground being covered with hard stumps of trees and fallen trunks.  All night long 800 men toiled at the work, while the guns of the fort kept up a constant fire of round shot and grape; but by daybreak the first parallel was made.  The battery on the left was nearly finished, and one on the right begun.  The men were now working under shelter, and the guns of the fort could do them little harm.

While the French soldiers worked, the Indians crept up through the fallen trees, close to the fort, and fired at any of the garrison who might, for a moment, expose themselves.  Sharpshooters in the fort replied to their fire, and all day the fort was fringed with light puffs of smoke, whilst the cannon thundered unceasingly.  The next morning, the French battery on the left opened with eight heavy cannon and a mortar, and on the following morning the battery on the right joined in with eleven other pieces.