Wednesday, September 15 (7 PM) to Saturday, September 18 (5 PM)
Led by: David Preston
HQ: Lake George, NY
Tour Registration: $495.00
America’s History’s last two French & Indian War era tours concentrated on the conflict in western Pennsylvania: Braddock’s Defeat and Pontiac’s Rebellion. Now we are moving to the crucible of wilderness warfare: the Lake George/Lake Champlain corridor to Canada. Our tour guide for this expedition is the premier historian of the Seven Years’ War, Dr. David Preston. Even if you have visited these sites in the past, this tour provides an exciting interpretation of the strategy, tactics and logistics for the years 1755 to 1759 in northern New York.
We’ll begin our tour in Old Saratoga at the Schuyler House to set the stage for events in 1755 by discussing the military situation at the end of King George’s War. We’ll follow the British advance to Fort Edward and Rogers Island which has an excellent museum dedicated to Rogers Rangers. We’ll follow Maj. Gen. William Johnson’s army as he builds a military road in 1755 to the southern shore of Lake George. Next we’ll cover each part of the three-phased battle of Lake George. We will visit the sites of Bloody Morning Scout, the main battlefield at Lake George and the little seen Bloody Pond site. In the afternoon we will visit the reconstructed Fort William Henry to discuss Rigaud de Vaudreuil’s raid in March 1757, Marquis de Montcalm’s siege of August 1757 and the subsequent massacre after the surrender of the fort.
On the second day we will follow British General James Abercromby’s ill-fated 15,000 man flotilla as we drive up the west side of Lake George, stopping at Sabbath Day Point where both Abercromby and Amherst stopped during their campaigns. At this stop you’ll be able to see Rogers’ famous “Secret Passage” between Lake George and Lake Champlain. Our next stop will be the site of Rogers’ famous Second Battle on Snow Shoes. We will also be able to view the legendary “Rogers’ Slide” which helped enhance Rogers’ reputation, even during his own lifetime. Next we will visit the controversial spot where the most beloved man in the British army, Lord George Viscount Howe, met his fate. After lunch we’ll visit Mount Defiance with its panoramic view shed of the reconstructed Fort Carillon (Ticonderoga). Here, Rogers and his Rangers conducted reconnaissance as the French built their fort on a promontory overlooking Lake Champlain. After lunch we will follow Abercromby’s attack on Montcalm’s “French Lines” which the French general successfully defended in 1758, walking the length of the earthworks to see the site where the famed 42nd Highlanders, the “Black Watch” made their forlorn attack on the works. We will also see Sir Jeffery Amherst’s siege lines that were never needed in 1759. We will return to the hotel via a route that will allow you to see South Bay on Lake Champlain where Baron Dieskau originally landed his troops for his attack on Johnson’s army in 1755. Weather permitting we have a special surprise planned for Friday evening.
On our final day, we will travel back to Fort Ticonderoga so you can explore the fort itself, its vast collection of military artifacts and discuss various aspects of its importance as a French outpost defending Canada. Then it’s on to Crown Point. We will visit at the ruins of the French Fort St. Frederic, an important staging area for French and Indian raids on the New England frontier. The ruins of His Majesty’s Fort at Crown Point on Lake Champlain are truly outstanding. Crown Point was also the jump off point for Rogers’ St. Francis raid. The fort, constructed by Amherst in 1759, was the largest fortification ever built during the French & Indian War, a statement sure to raise heated debate as it did during our Pontiac’s Rebellion tour in 2019.
What’s included: Motor coach transportation, three lunches, beverage and snack breaks, a map and materials package, all admissions and gratuities, and the services of experienced tour guide. Tour participants are responsible for transportation to the headquarters hotel, and securing a room reservation, if necessary. Dinner is on your own. Tour goes out rain or shine. Please see our policy page for information about cancellations.
Hotel: We have arranged with the headquarters hotel for a group room rate of $135.00 per night plus tax. Please call the Comfort Inn and Suites (formerly the Wingate Hotel), 4054 State Route 9L, Lake George, NY 12845 at 518-668-4884; ask to reserve your room under our group name: “America’s History LLC Tour.” This rate will be guaranteed until August 4, 2021, so please make your reservations early.
Our Tour Leader: David Preston is the General Mark W. Clark Distinguished Professor of History at The Citadel and author of the award-winning Braddock’s Defeat: The Battle of the Monongahela and the Road to Revolution which won the prestigious Gilder-Lehrman Prize for Military History along with four other book prizes. His first book, The Texture of Contact: European and Indian Settler Communities on the Frontiers of Iroquoia, 1667-1783 (2009), was hailed as an innovative study of how French, British, and Indian communities coexisted near the Iroquois Confederacy. He is currently writing a narrative history of Fort Ticonderoga during the French & Indian War period.
Register Online: $495.00
Register by phone, e-mail or postal mail:
- Phone: 1-703-785-4373
- Email us at: info@AmericasHistoryLLC.com
- Postal mail: America’s History LLC, P. O. Box 1076, Goochland, VA 23063
Visa, Master Card and Discover accepted. We take checks too!
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