THE HOGGATTEER REVOLUTION
  • Homeroom
  • Orientation
    • Class Handbook
    • Families: The Wind Beneath Our Wings
    • Meet the Teacher
    • Place in the World
    • Teachers: File Cabinet
  • Positivity
    • Earn Your Wings
    • G.R.O.S.S.
    • Insightful Poetry
    • Inspirational Prose
    • Meaningful Quotes
    • Positive Behavior Conversations
  • Exploration
    • Celebrate Good Times (Come On)
    • Cerebral Cinema >
      • Hoggatt-Made Videos
      • Mood Music
      • Music Appreciation
      • Positive Behavior Conversations
    • Coursework >
      • Cultivating America
      • Focus on Science
      • Let's Communicate
      • M4+HEM4+1C5
      • Missouri, USA
      • Recess Bell

The War that Made America:  To Abatis and Beyond

7/11/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
I have finally arrived at the point in Fred Anderson's account of the French and Indian War where the Battle of Fort Carillon occurs.  This is the 1758 skirmish in which the English attempted to overcome Fort Carillon (called by the British, Ticonderoga); it is also the battle that will be reenacted at the fort when I arrive later this summer.  Anderson explains some of the different tactics that have evolved in the strategies and fighting methods implemented in this part of the war:
By 1758 regular infantrymen were being trained in "bush fighting" tactics, learning how to move through the woods in single file, fight in a spread-out single rank or in loose order as skirmishers, avoid bunching up when attacked, and take cover when the command "Tree all!" rang out on the march...As the campaigns of 1758 began, troops lopped the long tails off their coats to keep them from tangling in brush; discarded regimental lace; carried spar powder in cow horns to supplement the cartridges in their cartouche boxes; trimmed back the brims on their hats and wore them slouched rather than wearing it in queues.
Reading this, one may be tempted to think, as did I, it's about time!  I thought those regular commanders would never give up their battlefield "strategies" of standing in straight lines and getting shot.  Both sides still wanted to fight in a traditional manner, but they finally figured out that war is ugly, and hiding behind a tree is not such a bad idea after all.

So here's what happened.  That big fortress kept a pretty good watch on the situation, but it sits lower than Mount Defiance.  The English were mounting an attack, but it would be crucial to begin by taking artillery up the mountain and blasting the French in the fort.  That would then signal the rest of the soldiers to march through and take command of the fort.
By noon on Thursday eight regular battalions - about seven thousand men - drawn up opposite the breastwork in battle order and readied for a frontal assault.  Six thousand provincials formed the reserve.  The army's heavy siege artillery...remained parked near the landing place, four miles away...Four field guns - three six-pounders and a howitzer - were loaded on rafts and towed down the Rivière de la Chûte, to be landed near the base of Mount Defiance.  These wer to be dragged up the hill, from which they could fire down on the rear of the French lines.  The British infantry would attack when the battery opened fire.
And then things unraveled for the English.
Unfortunately for the men drawn up to make the attack, the planned cannonade never began.  The towboat crews overshot the place where they should have landed, and drifted within range of the cannon on the southwest bastion of Fort Carillon.  The fort's gunners, noticing what was afoot, fired on the British boats.
That set the stage for complete chaos for the English.  The French commander, Montcalm, had to figure out how to defend the fort.  To do so, he had many of his troops move closer to where the English attack would finally take place, forward and outside of the fort walls.  To prepare for the enemy attack, Montcalm also instructed his men to dig trenches and set up massive piles of tree limbs, all facing outward to slow down the English.  So greatly outnumbered, this would be their only chance.

​The shots fired at the cannon-bearing boats probably signaled the English foot soldiers to charge the French fortifications.
In all likelihood it was the sound of French cannon shelling the rafts that caused the British troops to advance...According to a lieutenant in the Highland..."The abatis...was what gave them the fatal advantage over us."  The entangled branches of its "monstrous large fir and oak trees...not only broke our ranks, and made it impossible to us to keep our order, but...put it entirely out of our power to advance briskly; which gave the enemy abundance of time to mow us down like a field of corn, with their wall pieces and small arms, before we fired a single shot."

...At least 551 redcoats and provincials died and more than thirteen hundred were wounded trying to come to grips with the thirty-six hundred well-protected French and Canadian troops who methodically cut them to shreds.  The Battle of Ticonderoga, as the Anglo-Americans called it, was the heaviest loss of life that His Majesty's forces sustained during the whole American war.  It was, in fact, the bloodiest day the British army would see in North America until the Battle of New Orleans in 1815.  The French, by contrast, suffered a total of 377 casualties.

​Montcalm expected that the British would renew the attack the next morning, and was surprised when they did not...[H]e waited until Saturday before sending out a reconnaissance party to see what had become of the enemy.  What they found - "wounded [men], provisions, abandoned equipment, shoes left in miry places, remains of barges and burned pontoons" - was evidence of the panic that had gripped Abercromby's defeated force...By dawn the greatest army Britain had ever assembled in North America was rowing frantically for the other end of Lake George, fleeing an enemy that it still outnumbered by more than three to one...
This vision of the British soldiers tangled in the limbs of the abatis while being picked off by the French is a fascinating one.  It's easy to imagine the pride in the French ranks.  They had just pulled off the greatest upset of the war, but with Montcalm at the helm, that pride would soon be put to the side.  I'll write more about that later.

​As I continue to reflect on this reading, I will collect my thoughts on my Fort Ticonderoga page.
I am reading this volume to help me prepare for a week-long Teacher Institution at Fort Ticonderoga,
​on the east bank of Lake Champlain in upstate New York, this summer.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Anthem

    The Hoggatteer Revolution
    is
    an extensive,
    award-winning, 
    inimitable,
    digital platform
    for Encouraging
    ​and Developing
    ​the Arts and Sciences

    in the beautiful, friendly

    LAND OF THE FREE
    AND THE HOME
    ​OF THE BRAVE
    This site is described as
    "a fantastic site... chockablock full of interesting ideas,
    hilarious ane
    cdotes,
    and useful resources."
    Picture
    Picture
    ...to like, bookmark, pin,
    ​tweet, and share

    about us...and check in regularly for updates, posted before DAWN'S EARLY LIGHT, daily!
    Picture

    Campus Map

    Picture
    Your Source for At-Home Learning during Social Distancing for the Spring of 2020
    Picture

    Passing Notes

    GigSalad Member Since 2022
    Book Mr. Hoggatt Securely
    ​for Your Event
    ​at GigSalad.com.
    Email Mr. Hoggatt
    Picture

    Trophy Case

    Picture
    Selected Participant for 2020-2022
    Picture
    Selected Honoree/Celebrant, 2022
    Picture
    Outstanding Achievement, 2022
    Picture
    Nominated, January 2022
    Picture
    2021 Missouri History Teacher of the Year and National History Teacher of the Year Nominee
    Picture
    Recognized in Joplin Globe, February 2021
    Picture
    Teacher Institute Participant, 2019
    Picture
    Ancestry Classroom Grant, Since 2018
    Picture
    Summer Residency Participant, 2018
    Picture
    "The Bus Stops Here" Grant, November 2018
    Picture
    Summer Residency, 2018
    Picture
    Recognized 2017
    Since 2017
    Picture
    MSTA Media Award, KOAM-TV's "Manners Matter", Featuring Our Class, May 2017
    Picture
    Third Place, 2016 Film Festival
    Picture
    Recognized 2016
    2014 Recipient
    Picture
    Slide Certified, 2012
    Picture
    2009 Outstanding Class Website
    Picture
    2005 Nominee
    Picture
    2005 Joplin Teacher of the Year and Missouri Teacher of the Year nominee
    Picture
    2004 Recipient
    Picture
    2002 Excellent Education Program
    Picture
    2001 Nominee
    Picture
    1996 Outstanding Classroom Video
    Picture
    Grant Recipient, 1993

    Picture

    Fireside Chats

    Picture
    Choose Your Platform:
    Anchor
    ​Apple Podcasts (iTunes)
    Breaker
    Google Podcasts
    ​
    Overcast
    Pocket Casts
    RadioPublic
    Spotify
    Stitcher
    Picture

    Archives

    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012

    Picture

    Checks & Balances

    Links to external sites
    on the internet are for convenience only.

    No endorsement or approval of any content, products, or services is intended.

    Opinions on sites are not necessarily shared
    by Mr. Hoggatt
    (In fact, sometimes
    Mr. Hoggatt doesn't agree with anyone.)
    Picture

The Hoggatteer Revolution

H

O

P

E