The canoes were checked at once. A score of the paddlers had sunk,
killed or wounded, into the bottom, and several of the frail barks were
upset. As fast as the men could load, they continued their fire, and,
in two minutes from the first shot, the canoes were turned, and paddled
at full speed towards the shore, pursued by a hearty cheer from the
English. The oars were then manned again, and the remains of Parker's
flotilla rowed up the lake to Fort William Henry.
Several of the prisoners taken by the Indians were cooked and eaten by
them. A few days afterwards a party of Indians, following the route
from the head of Lake Champlain, made a sudden attack on the houses
round Fort Edward, and killed thirty-two men.
It was an imposing spectacle, as the French expedition made its way
down Lake George. General Levis had marched by the side of the lake
with twenty-five hundred men, Canadians, regulars, and redskins; while
the main body proceeded, the troops in two hundred and fifty large
boats, the redskins in many hundreds of their canoes.
The boats moved in military order. There were six regiments of French
line: La Reine and Languedoc, La Sarre and Guienne, Bearn and
Roussillon. The cannons were carried on platforms formed across two
boats.
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