History of Northampton, Massachusetts, from its settlement in 1654;

1755.] FOURTH FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 253
capt. Hawiey's Com- TliG solcliers from Northampton and vicin-
P*°y- ity under Capt. Hawley set out for Albany
the last week in June, and were in camp
at Greenbush on the 29"' of the month. They marched by
way of Westfield,^ and the entire army remained in camp,
waiting for stores and ammunition till the middle of July.
On the 17"" the corps of Gen. Phinehas Lyman, who commanded
the Massachusetts and Connecticut troops, was
ordered to build a fort at the " Great Carrying Place" on
the Hudson River near the site of Fort Nicholson. The
details of this march will be found in the appended jour-
nals. General marching orders were not issued till the 2''
of August, and about the middle of the month the army
joined the advance guard at the new fort, which had
been appropriately named Fort Lyman, but was afterwards
changed to Fort Edward. On the 26^^, the army went
slowly forward and encamped at the lower extremity of
Lake George, where it remained, collecting means of transportation
through the lake, till attacked by Dieskau on the
8"' of September.
Baron Dieskau and While GeU. JollUSOU WaS thuS slowly ad-
his Army of French vauciug, Barou Dieskau with an army of
French and Indians, about fifteen hundred
strong, occupied Fort Ticonderoga. On the C"' and 7"* of
September he moved southward, landing at South Bay.
His plan was to get in the rear of Johnson's army, attack
Fort Edward, then barely completed, and held by Col.
Blanchard with his New Hampshire regiment, and secure
the great amount of supplies stored there. But his Indian
allies refusing to participate in an assault upon a fort defended
by artillery, he decided to attack Gen. Johnson's
camp. Proceeding by the way of Wood Creek, he gained
the rear of the English army, and counted upon a speedy
victory. Gen. Johnson, anticipating the attack upon Fort
Edward, though unaware that Dieskau had changed his
1 The principal thoroughfare from the Connecticut Valley to Albany diiring the
seven years' war was by way of Westfield. Blandford. Tyringham, North Sheffield
(Great Barrington) and Kinderhook. It was the route that had been used as far back
as 10(J5. There were several other routes, hut they were not much in use. A new way
was cut from Northampton to Albany, in 175;), but it was in an imperfect condition,
impassable for wheels. There was another way from Deerfield through Charlemont
to Fort Massachusetts, thence to the fort at Hoosack.