Point, consisting of a defensive tower with casemates, which, as well as I could judge in passing, appeared to have been located with much judgment and erected at a small expense. This tower completely commands the communication between the lake and the Sorel, and as the guns are all under cover, the garrison has but little to fear from the vertical fire of the enemy’s infantry. The fort stands on a cape. According to the treaty of Ghent, the forty-fifth degree of north latitude, between the state of Maine and the St. Lawrence, between the United States and Canada, were fixed as boundaries; and as to fulfil the terms of the treaty, the commissioners determined the latitude of several places astronomically, it has been discovered that this fort lies somewhat north of forty-five degrees, and consequently is on the Canadian side.
The greatest breadth of Lake Champlain, which contains several large islands, is six miles. The shore on our right, belonging to the state of New York, is low and covered with trees; the other belongs to Vermont, and is more mountainous. As night approached, we were prevented from enjoying this beautiful part of the country; I was also with regret prevented from seeing the battle ground of Plattsburgh, at which town the vessel made a short stay during the night. Some American custom-house officers came on board, without, however, inquiring after our baggage, and this was a new and not disagreeable circumstance.
The same night we stopped at Burlington in Vermont, and the Grymes’ family left us here to go to Boston. I expected to meet this interesting family again in New York in fourteen days. Towards morning we passed the ruins of Fort Crownpoint, which lie on a hill. At this place the lake is very narrow and resembles a river. The shores are generally covered with bushes and pine trees, are hilly, and afford a pleasing prospect. At the village of Shoreham, twelve miles above Crownpoint, on the eastern shore of Vermont, we left the Phœnix, which went twenty miles further to Whitehall, the southern point of Lake Champlain, and landed to see Lake George, which is celebrated for its romantic situation and shores. Sir Michael and Lady Clare continued with us, and resolved not to part from us till we arrived at Albany, after which they would travel to Boston. As a slight recompense for the loss of the Grymes’ family, Mr. Shoemaker, and his wife, from Philadelphia, bore us company hence to Albany. They were Quakers, but had laid aside the striking costume of their sect.
At the inn of Shoreham is a place for loading and unloading vessels, which transport much plaster of Paris and blue limestone for building, to Canada. Among the stones on the shore we found some which appeared to be rich iron ore, said to be common in Vermont. At the inn we met with an elderly lady of the middle rank, who was smoking tobacco; this custom is said to be prevalent here among elderly women. We passed over the lake, scarcely half a mile wide, in a wherry, and landed on the other shore, not far from the ruins of Fort Ticonderoga. This in an old French fort, lying on an elevated cape, which commands the navigation of the lake. From the ruins we saw that it was a square with four small bastions and three ravelins, the scarp, and the counterscarp being covered with strong stone-work; the bastion contains casemates as well as the curtain of the eastern front. Several massive buildings stood in the fort so that it must have had but little room. About three hundred paces east of the fort, on the extremity of the cape, stands a small pentagonal redoubt, which communicated with the fort by means of a covered way. The cape is connected with the main land of New York by means of a neck of land, which was cut off by a crownwork, consisting of earth. The eminence on which this crownwork lies, in some measure commands the fort, and an entrenched camp seems to have been located here. Between the fort and crownwork we remarked the remains of two square redoubts. On the same shore, south of the fort, but separated from it by an inlet of the lake, lies Mount Defiance, which commands the fort in a great degree, and from which, in July, 1777, the English, under General Burgoyne, bombarded the fort, which was too quickly evacuated by the Americans, under General St. Clair. On the eastern shore of the lake, opposite Ticonderoga, lies another hill, Mount Independence, of the same height as the fort on which the Americans had formed their works at that time, under the protection of which they passed the lake after the evacuation of the fort. This was afterwards destroyed by the English. In July, 1758, when the fort still belonged to the French, the English attacked it, but were repulsed with a loss of eighteen hundred men.
From Ticonderoga we went in a stage three miles further to Lake George, through a very hilly country. The level of this lake is about three hundred feet higher than that of Lake Champlain; the stream which flows from the former into the latter lake, forms a succession of small cascades, and turns several saw-mills. We arrived at the northern point of Lake George, and entered the steam-boat Mountaineer, which was ready to depart; it was ninety feet long with a machine of sixteen horse-power.
Lake George resembles the Scottish lakes. It is thirty-six miles long, and never more than five miles broad. The shores are very hilly, the heights are all covered with trees, and are not, as it seems to me, above eight hundred feet high. There are several islands in the lake, generally covered with wood. A single one, called Diamond Island, on account of the handsome crystals which are found in it, is inhabited. The inhabitants consist of an Indian family, which lives in a small house, and maintains itself by selling these crystals. About five o’clock in the evening, we arrived at the southern point of the lake. The scenery is very handsome. One of the highest mountains, which rises perpendicularly out of the lake, is called Rodgers’ rock, after an American Captain Rodgers, who being hunted by the Indians, during the revolution, fled to the top of this rock, and in extremely cold weather, being urged by danger, glided on the smooth surface down to the frozen lake. Towns are not seen; but few single houses stand along the shore. At the southern extremity, however, lies the village of Caldwell, founded about twenty years ago, which, besides a very good and large inn, where we took lodgings, contains several neat houses. In former times, an English fort, William Henry, stood here, which, to judge from its few remains, must have been a square redoubt of earth. It was built in the year 1755, by order of Sir William Johnstone, who commanded the English army in the then colony of New York, after having completely routed, on September the 8th, 1755, a French corps which had come from Ticonderoga to attack him. In this rencontre, Baron Dieskau, a French general lost his life. In the following year, however, Marquis de Montcalm arrived with a stronger force and captured the fort. A capitulation was allowed to the English garrison, but they were attacked after leaving the fort, by the Indians, in a disgraceful manner, and the greater part cut to pieces. After the fort was taken, the Marquis de Montcalm ordered it to be destroyed. Not far from this place, in a higher station and on a rocky ground, the English erected afterwards a new fort, called Fort George, which, at the unsuccessful expedition of General Burgoyne, in 1777, served his army as a depôt and magazine, till he moved too far forward and was cut off from the fort. Remains of it are still plainly seen. It was a strongly-built square redoubt, the entrance being protected by a fleche. It lies in an advantageous situation, commands the whole southern shore of the lake, with a large part of the vicinity, stands, as was said before, on a strong ground, and is covered on one side by a morass. On the eastern side alone, it is commanded by a high mountain, which, however, is at some distance. If the American government should resolve to restore Crownpoint and Ticonderoga, the latter particularly would be adapted, after fortifying the two mountains, Defiance and Independence, for an arsenal of a superior kind; it might contain large depôts, serve as a fortified camp, and be successfully defended by a small garrison. Here fleets might be completed to command Lake Champlain, and an expedition against Isle Aux Noix and Canada organized. However, a good road would be necessary, leading from Ticonderoga to the northern point of Lake George, three miles distant, and here it would be necessary to protect the place of embarkation by a fort. A new fort on the same spot where Fort George was erected, would be necessary. There is a good locality between this fort and Fort William Henry to found a dock-yard. The communication between Ticonderoga and the United States would be well and doubly protected by the southern point of Lake Champlain, towards Whitehall, and by Lake George. If the English should attack the United States on this side, they would undoubtedly waste much strength, and not advance a step, unless they had seized Ticonderoga.
We left Caldwell at eight o’clock the next day, September 11, in two inconvenient carriages, and passed through a very uninteresting, deep, sandy road, in a hilly country, covered with thorny trees, on our route to Saratoga springs, to which the whole fashionable world of the United States repairs in summer, for the fashionables have
