The Battle of Ticonderoga (1758): Britain’s Disastrous Assault on Fort Carillon

In The Battle of Ticonderoga (1758): Britain's Disastrous Assault on Fort Carillon, Jack Whitaker tells the remarkable true story of one of the most unexpected reverses of the French and Indian War. In July 1758, nearly sixteen thousand British and colonial troops advanced toward Fort Carillon, the French stronghold guarding the vital corridor between Lake George and Lake Champlain. Facing them were fewer than four thousand defenders under the Marquis de Montcalm, protected by hastily constructed breastworks and a formidable barrier of felled trees. Drawing on contemporary journals, military correspondence, official reports, and accounts from the campaign, Whitaker reconstructs the battle from the preparations along Lake George to the bloody assaults of July 8. British regulars, provincial troops, and the Highlanders of the 42nd Regiment repeatedly struggled through the tangled abatis under devastating French fire, while failures of reconnaissance, leadership, and coordination turned overwhelming numerical superiority into catastrophe. More than the story of a failed assault, this book explores how terrain, preparation, and disciplined defense could overturn the apparent logic of numbers. Ticonderoga became one of France's greatest victories in North America and one of Britain's costliest defeats, a battle that demonstrated with brutal clarity how decisions made before an attack can determine the fate of thousands once the fighting begins.