departure in some concern, and wrote on
Monday to Abigail, his wife: "I could wish for more appearance of
dependence on God than was observable among them; yet I hope God will
grant deliverance unto Israel by them." There was another military
pageant, another long procession of boats and banners, among the
mountains and islands of Lake George. Night found them near the outlet;
and here they lay till morning, tossed unpleasantly on waves ruffled by
a summer gale. At daylight they landed, beat back a French detachment,
and marched by the portage road to the saw-mill at the waterfall. There
was little resistance. They occupied the heights, and then advanced to
the famous line of intrenchment against which the army of Abercromby had
hurled itself in vain. These works had been completely reconstructed,
partly of earth, and partly of logs. Amherst's followers were less
numerous than those of his predecessor, while the French commander,
Bourlamaque, had a force nearly equal to that of Montcalm in the summer
before; yet he made no attempt to defend the intrenchment, and the
English, encamping along its front, found it an excellent shelter from
the cannon of the fort beyond.

Amherst brought up his artillery and began approaches in form, when, on
the night of the twenty-third, it was found that Bourlamaque had retired
down Lake Champlain, leaving four hundred men under Hebecourt to defend
the place as long as possible. This was in obedience to an order from
Vaudreuil, requiring him on the approach of the English to abandon both
Ticonderoga and Crown Point, retreat to the outlet of Lake Champlain,
take post at Isle-aux-Noix, and there defend himself to the last
extremity;[726] a course unquestionably the best that could have been
taken, since obstinacy in holding Ticonderoga might have involved the
surrender of Bourlamaque's whole force, while Isle-aux-Noix offered rare
advantages for defence.

[Footnote 726: _Vaudreuil au Ministre, 8 Nov. 1759. Instructions pour M.
de Bourlamaque, 20 Mai, 1759, signe Vaudreuil. Montcalm a Bourlamaque, 4
Juin, 1759_.]

The fort fired briskly; a cannon-shot killed Colonel Townshend, and a
few soldiers were killed and wounded by grape and bursting shells; when,
at dusk on the evening of the twenty-sixth, an unusual movement was seen
among the garrison, and, about ten o'clock, three deserters came in
great excitement to the English camp. They reported that Hebecourt and
his soldiers were escaping