Lake George Colonial Wars Walking Tour Stop 20: Fort William Henry
Fort William Henry was constructed in 1755 under the direction of provincial General William Johnson and Captain William Eyre. It was an earthwork fort and constructed "in the manner the French build." It was to garrison 500 troops and was approximately 17 feet high and included walls up to 30 feet thick.
Approximately 500 to 700 men, or one quarter of the troops stationed at Lake George, worked at building the fort. At times the number working on the fort's construction would rise to 1,000 people. The fort's flag finally raised on November 13, 1755, 44 days after construction began.
Fort William Henry had several two story barracks, magazines for storing artillery, and other armament, storehouses, and even a large encampment east of the fort in what is now Lake George Battlefield Park.
The fort survived a major assault in March 1757, when the French, led by Francois-Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil, crossed ice-covered Lake George and attacked the fort. Without artillery and siege equipment, the French relied upon scaling ladders.
Though the French burned all structures around the fort including many boats, the French could not take the fortress and they soon retreated. Fort William Henry was at that time commanded by its builder, William Eyre, then a major.
However, several months later, in August 1757, Fort William Henry succumbed to Montcalm as this French commander laid siege to the fortress. After the garrison surrended it was burned to the ground by the French. Today, Fort William Henry is one of the area's most popular tourist attractions.
You'll go up the stairs from the parking lot to reach the fort proper. We encourage you to pay a visit inside the museum, open May through October. There is an admittance fee, discounted for children and seniors.
Continue the Walking Tour to Stop 21: Fort William Henry l18 Cemetery and Memorial
This "Colonial Wars" guide that Mannix Marketing has adapted for lakegeorge.com, with the Alliance's OK, is attributed to Bateaux Below, Inc.
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TOUR WRITTEN BY: Dr. Russell P. Bellico, Bob Benway, Tim Cordell, John Farrell, Scott Padeni and Joseph W. Zarzynski
ART BY: Tim Cordell
PHOTOGRAPHY BY: Bob Benway
©1996, 2022 Bateaux Below, Inc. Reprinted 2022 with the permission of Bateaux Below, Inc. Historical updates provided by Dr. Russell P. Bellico and Dr. Lyn Karig Hohmann The reproduction of this brochure has been made possible by an Occupancy Tax Grant award from the Town of Lake George.
Lake George Battlefield Park Alliance PO Box 26, Lake George, NY 12845 www.lakegeorgebattlefield.org
SUGGESTED READING LIST:
Bellico, Russell P. - Chronicles of Lake George - Journeys in War and Peace. Purple Mountain Press, Fleischmanns, NY, 1995.
Bellico, Russell P. - Sails and Steam in the Mountains – A Maritime and Military History of Lake George and Lake Champlain. Purple Mountain Press, Fleischmanns, NY, 2001.
Bellico, Russell P. - Empires in the Mountains - French and Indian War Campaigns and Forts in the Lake Champlain, Lake George, and Hudson River Corridor. Purple Mountain Press, Fleischmanns, NY 2010.
Griffith IV, William R. - The Battle of Lake George - England’s First Triumph in the French and Indian War. History Press, Charleston, South Carolina, 2016
Steele, Ian K. - Betrayals – Fort William Henry & The “Massacre.” Oxford University Press, Oxford, United Kingdom, 1990.
Zarzynski, Joseph W. - Ghost Fleet Awakened - Lake George’s Sunken Bateaux of 1758. State University of New York, Albany, NY, 2019.
