or so minute. Among those not already cited, may be
mentioned a letter of Colonel Woolsey of the New York provincials,
and two letters from British officers written just after the
battle and enclosed in a letter from Alexander Colden to Major
Halkett, 17 July. (_Bouquet and Haldimand Papers._)

The French greatly exaggerated the force of the English and
their losses in the battle. They place the former at from twenty
thousand to thirty-one thousand, and the latter at from four
thousand to six thousand. Prisoners taken at the end of the battle
told them that the English had lost four thousand,--a statement
which they readily accepted, though the prisoners could have
known little more about the matter than they themselves. And
these figures were easily magnified. The number of dead lying
before the lines is variously given at from eight hundred to three
thousand. Montcalm himself, who was somewhat elated by his
victory, gives this last number in one of his letters, though he
elsewhere says two thousand; while Levis, in his _Journal de la
Guerre,_ says "about eight hundred." The truth is that no pains
were taken to ascertain the exact number, which, by the English
returns, was a little above five hundred, the total of killed,
wounded, and missing being nineteen hundred and forty-four. A
friend of Knox, writing to him from Fort Edward three weeks
after the battle, gives a tabular statement which shows nineteen
hundred and fifty in all, or six more than the official report. As
the name of every officer killed or wounded, with the corps to
which he belonged, was published at the time (_London Magazine_,
1758), it is extremely unlikely that the official return was
falsified. Abercromby's letter to Pitt, of July 12, says that he
retreated "with the loss of four hundred and sixty-four regulars
killed, twenty-nine missing eleven hundred and seventeen wounded;
and eighty-seven provincials killed, eight missing, and two hundred
and thirty-nine wounded, officers of both included." In a
letter to Viscount Barrington, of the same date (Public Record
Office), Abercromby encloses a full detail of losses, regiment by
regiment and company by company, being a total of nineteen
hundred and forty-five. Several of the French writers state correctly
that about fourteen thousand men (including reserves) were engaged in
the attacks; but they add erroneously that there were thirteen thousand
more at the Falls. In fact there was only a small pr