obstacles with their claymores. The
deadly fire still continued from the fort. As no ladders had been
provided for scaling the breastwork, the soldiers climbed on to one
another's shoulders, and made holes for their feet in the face of the
work with their swords and bayonets, but as soon as a man reached the
top he was thrown down. Captain John Campbell and a few men succeeded
at last in forcing their way over the breastworks, but were
immediately cut down.

After a long and desperate struggle, lasting in fact nearly four
hours, General Abercromby gave orders for a retreat. The troops could
hardly be prevailed upon to retire, and it was not till the order had
been given for the third time that the Highlanders withdrew from the
hopeless encounter. The loss sustained by the regiment was as
follows: eight officers, nine sergeants and 297 men killed; seventeen
officers, ten sergeants and 306 men wounded.

Inverawe, after having fought with the greatest courage, received at
length his death wound. Colonel Grant hastened to the dying man's
side, who looked reproachfully at him, and said: "You deceived me;
this is Ticonderoga, for I have seen him". Inverawe never spoke
again. Inverawe's son, an officer in the same regiment, also lost his
life at Ticonderoga.

On the very day that these events were happening in far-away America,
two ladies, Miss Campbell of Ederein and her sister, were walking from
Kilmalieu to Inveraray, and had reached the then new bridge over the
Aray. One of them happened to look up at the sky. She gave a call to
her sister to look also. They both of them saw in the sky what looked
like a siege going on. They saw the different regiments with their
colours, and recognised many of their friends among the Highlanders.
They saw Inverawe and his son fall, and other men whom they knew.
When they reached Inveraray they told all their friends of the vision
they had just seen. They also took down the names of those they had
seen fall, and the time and date of the occurrence. The well-known
Danish physician, Sir William Hart, was, together with an Englishman
and a servant, walking round the Castle of Inveraray. These men saw
the same phenomena, and confirmed the statements made by the two
ladies. Weeks after the gazette corroborated their statements in its
account of the attempt made on Ticonderoga. Every detail was correct
in the vision, down to the actual number of the killed and wounded.