Fort William Henry commemorates siege with Battles & Beverages

Fort William Henry at the head of Lake George was filled with musket fire, whiskey and wine this Saturday for Battles & Beverages. The annual event commemorates the March 1757 siege known as Vaudreuil’s raid, when French forces attempted to take the fort in a surprise attack.

Battles & Beverages is presented by Fort William Henry, the French and Indian War Society at Lake George, and Lake George Battlefield Park Alliance. The day included reenactments of the siege, a craft beverage fair, a sutler’s market and a discussion of 18th-century foods, including a tasting of dishes such as turtle soup, hard tack and venison.

Spectators lined the edge of the battle zone outside Fort William Henry as reenactors portrayed British and French forces, with many French reenactors traveling from Montreal to Lake George to participate. Historian and reenactor John-Eric Nelson narrated the battle, describing 18^th-century warfare and explaining why this raid was consequential as the French and British Empires fought over control of the continent.

“This was not a faraway war,” Nelson said, as reenactors fired upon each other under a heavy curtain of gun smoke. “This was up close and personal… the distance is close, so you literally saw your enemy face to face. Now, imagine the courage it took to be here and go through this. The smell of the smoke. The smoke would disorient you, and you get intermingled in the wrong group. You may end up in the enemy line with a heavy smoke. Again, the noise. The cries of the wounded and dying. Just imagine the courage it took to be here.”

*Historian and reenactor John-Eric Nelson narrates the reenactment of Vaudreuil’s Raid at Fort William Henry.*

In March 1757, 1,500 French troops, a mix of French Regulars and Canadian militia, carrying 300 siege ladders they had built at Fort Carillon (now Fort Ticonderoga), traveled up frozen Lake George in an attempt to seize Fort William Henry, which was then under the command of British Major William Eyre.

“The idea was they put the ladders up against the wall of the fort, hopefully the snow would be piled up a little bit high, and they could sneak up on the British and climb over the walls and attack them without the British really being aware,” Nelson explained. Less than 500 troops were garrisoned at the fort that winter, and many were incapacitated with dysentery and smallpox, leaving Major Eyre an effective force of about 340. The odds were good for the French.

However, the surprise was foiled by an alert sentry at the fort who heard noise out on the ice, a noise historians believe was the sound of the French and their Native American allies banging on the ice with tomahawks to test its strength. The French were unable to sneak into the fort by ladder, but they continued the assault, laying siege from March 19 until their retreat on the 22^nd.

The Battles & Beverages reenactment gave spectators an immersive experience of how the battle would have looked with the French advancing towards the fort and the British regulars and Provincial forces pushing them back. At one point, the French pounded on the fort doors offering surrender, a courtesy of the times, says Nelson, but Eyre and his men were safe and protected from the volatile March weather inside the thick log walls, and Eyre had no reason to turn over his fort.

*The French pound on the Fort’s doors, offering surrender.*

On the third day of battle, a heavy, wet snowfall left the French cold and wet. They were almost out of food and had to retreat. Before heading back down the lake, the French set fire to the fort’s outbuildings, and they destroyed the fort’s ships that were harbored along the shoreline.

Although the French failed in their goal of taking the fort, their actions did have consequences for the British. “Now, as a result of this battle,” said Nelson, “the British had lost all their firewood for the winter, which was important. They lost all their supplies and sheds along the shoreline, their boats, all the boats, and all that. So, they [the French] first did inflict some damage, which is going to make a difference in the upcoming summer.”

The loss of their fleet hampered the British’s ability to run scouting missions down the lake, and that following August, the French returned under the command of General Montcalm and took the fort in the infamous Siege and Surrender of Fort William Henry.

The beverage part of Battles & Beverages was held inside the fort, where local craft distilleries, wineries and breweries offered free tastings of their products, which were available for sale. Several vendors were set up throughout the fort’s gift shop selling a variety of 18^th-century replica goods. Freelance cartoonist and journalist Alex Portal also participated in the Sutler’s Market, where he was signing and selling his historical graphic novels.