Battle of Carillon The Battle of Carillon , also known as the 1758 Battle of Ticonderoga , was fought on July 8 , 1758 , during the French and Indian War ( which was part of the global Seven Years ' War ) . It was fought near Fort Carillon ( now known as Fort Ticonderoga ) on the shore of Lake Champlain in the frontier area between the British colony of New York and the French colony of Canada . In the battle , which took place primarily on a rise about three - quarters of a mile ( one km ) from the fort itself , a French army of about 4 , 000 men under General Louis - Joseph de Montcalm and the Chevalier de Levis decisively defeated an overwhelmingly numerically superior force of British troops under General James Abercrombie , which frontally assaulted an entrenched French position without using field artillery . The battle was the bloodiest of the war , with over 3 , 000 casualties suffered , of which over 2 , 000 were British . American historian Lawrence Henry Gipson wrote of Abercrombie ' s campaign that " no military campaign was ever launched on American soil that involved a greater number of errors of judgment on the part of those in positions of responsibility " . Many military historians have cited the Battle of Carillon as a classic example of tactical military incompetence . Abercrombie , confident of a quick victory , ignored several viable military options , such as flanking the French breastwork s , waiting for his artillery , or laying siege to the fort . Instead , relying on a flawed report from a young military engineer , and ignoring some of that engineer ' s recommendations , he decided in favor of a direct frontal assault on the thoroughly entrenched French , without the benefit of artillery . Montcalm , while concerned about the weak military position of the fort , conducted the defense with spirit . However , due in part to a lack of time , he committed strategic errors in preparing the area ' s defenses that a competent attacker could have exploited , and he made tactical errors that made the attacker ' s job easier . The fort , abandoned by its garrison , was captured by the British the following year , and it has been known as Fort Ticonderoga ( after its location ) ever since . This battle gave the fort a reputation for impregnability that had an effect on future military operations in the area . Despite several large - scale military movements through the area , in both the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War , this was the only major battle fought near the fort ' s location . Geography . Fort Carillon is situated on a point of land between Lake Champlain and Lake George , at a natural point of conflict between French forces moving south from Canada and the St . Lawrence River Valley across the lake toward the Hudson Valley , and British forces moving up the Hudson from Albany . The fort was sited with Lake Champlain to the east , with Mount Independence rising on the far side . Immediately to the south of the fort lay the mouth of the La Chute River , which drains Lake George . The river was largely non - navigable , and there was a portage trail from the northern end of Lake George to the location of a sawmill the French had built to assist in the fort ' s construction . The trail crossed the La Chute twice ; once about from Lake George , and again at the sawmill , which was about from the fort . To the north of the fort was a road going to Fort St . Frédéric . To the west was a low rise of land , beyond which lay Mount Hope , a rise that commanded part of the portage trail , but was too far from the fort to pose it any danger . The most serious geographic defect in the fort ' s location was Mount Defiance ( known at the time of this battle as Rattlesnake Hill , and in the 1770s as Sugar Bush ) , which lay to the south of the fort , across the La Chute River . This hill , which was steep and densely forested , provided an excellent firing position for cannon aimed at the fort . Nicolas Sarrebource de Pontleroy , Montcalm ' s chief engineer , said of the fort ' s site , " Were I to be entrusted with the siege of it , I should require only six mortars and two cannon . " Background . Prior to 1758 , the French and Indian War had gone very poorly for the British , whose military met few of its objectives . Following a string of French victories in 1757 in North America , coupled with military setbacks in Europe , William Pitt gained full control of the direction of British military efforts in the Seven Years ' War . Embarking on a strategy that emphasized defense in Europe , where France was strong , and offense in North America , where France was weak , he resolved to attack New France ( the colonial holdings of France in North America ) in three strategic campaigns . Large - scale campaigns were planned to capture Fort Duquesne on the Pennsylvania frontier and the fortress at Louisbourg ( on Île - Royale , now known as Cape Breton Island ) . The third campaign , assigned to General James Abercrombie , was to launch an attack against Canada through the Champlain Valley . Pitt probably would have preferred to have George Howe , a skilled tactician and a dynamic leader , lead this expedition , but seniority and political considerations led him to appoint the relatively undistinguished Abercrombie instead . Howe was appointed a brigadier general , and placed as Abercrombie ' s second in command . The French , who had started construction on Fort Carillon in 1755 , used it as a launching point for the successful siege of Fort William Henry in 1757 . Despite that and other successes in North America in 1757 , the situation did not look good for them in 1758 . As early as March , Louis - Joseph de Montcalm , the commanding general responsible of the French forces in North America , and the Marquis de Vaudreuil , New France ' s governor , were aware that the British were planning to send large numbers of troops against them , and that they would have relatively little support from King Louis XV of France . The lack of support from France was in large part due to an unwillingness of the French military to risk the movement of significant military forces across the Atlantic Ocean , which was dominated by Britain ' s Royal Navy . This situation was further exacerbated by Canada ' s poor harvest in 1757 , which resulted in food shortages as the winter progressed . Montcalm and Vaudreuil , who did not get along with each other , differed on how to deal with the British threat . They had fewer than 5 , 000 regular troops , an estimated six thousand militia men , and a limited number of Indian allies , to bring against British forces reported to number 50 , 000 . Vaudreuil , who had limited combat experience , wanted to divide the French forces , with about 5 , 000 each at Carillon and Louisbourg , and then send a picked force of about 3 , 500 men against the British in the Mohawk River on the northwestern frontiers of the Province of New York . Montcalm believed this to be folly , as the plan would enable the British to easily divert some of their forces to fend off the French attack . Vaudreuil prevailed , and in June 1758 Montcalm left Quebec for Carillon . British preparations . The British amassed their army , under the command of General James Abercrombie , near the remains of Fort William Henry , which lay at the southern end of Lake George but had been destroyed following its capture by the French the previous year . The army numbered fully 16 , 000 men , making it the largest single force ever deployed in North America at the time . Its complement of 6 , 000 regular troops included Lord John Murray ' s Highlanders of the 42nd Highland Regiment ( 1st Battalion ) the 27th , 44th , 46th , and 55th regiments , and the 1st and 4th battalions of the 60th , while the provinces providing militia support included Connecticut , Massachusetts , New York , New Jersey , and Rhode Island . On July 5 , 1758 , these troops embarked on boats , which unloaded them at the north end of Lake George on July 6 . French defensive preparations . Colonel François - Charles de Bourlamaque , in command of Fort Carillon prior to Montcalm ' s arrival , knew by June 23 that a major British offensive was about to begin . He had sent a messenger bearing a letter from Vaudreuil to Abercrombie ( part of a conventional exchange of pleasantries between opposing commanders ) on June 10 , expecting him to return ; the fact that the British held him was an indication that the messenger had probably learned too much just by being in the British camp . Bourlamaque increased scouting activities , and learned from captured British scouts the approximate size of the British force . Montcalm arrived at Fort Carillon on June 30 , and found there a significantly under - staffed garrison , with only 3 , 500 men , and food sufficient for only nine days . Bourlamaque ' s scouts reported that the British had 20 , 000 or more troops massing near the remains of Fort William Henry . Given the large force facing him and the defects of the fort ' s site , Montcalm opted for a strategy of defending the likely approaches to the fort . He immediately detached Bourlamaque and three battalions to occupy and fortify the river crossing on the portage trail about two miles ( 3 . 2 km ) from the northern end of Lake George , about from the fort . Montcalm himself took two battalions and occupied and fortified an advance camp at the sawmill , while remaining troops were put to work preparing additional defenses outside the fort . He also sent word back to Montreal of the situation , requesting that , if possible , the Chevalier de Lévis and his men , be sent as reinforcement ; these were troops that Vaudreuil intended for duty at the western frontier forts . Lévis had not yet left Montreal , so Vaudreuil instead ordered him and 400 troops to Carillon . They departed Montreal on July 2 . When word reached Bourlamaque on July 5 that the British fleet was coming , he sent Captain Trépezet and about 350 men to observe the fleet , and , if possible , to prevent their landing . On learning the size of the British fleet , which was reportedly " large enough to cover the face of [ Lake George ] " , Montcalm ordered Bourlamaque to retreat . Bourlamaque , who was satisfied with his defensive situation , resisted , not withdrawing until Montcalm repeated the orders three times . Montcalm , now aware of the scope of the movement , ordered all of the troops back to Carillon , and had both bridges on the portage trail destroyed . These withdrawals isolated Trépezet and his men from the main body , a situation made worse for Trépezet when his Indian guides , alarmed by the size of the British fleet , abandoned him . Beginning on the evening of July 6 , the French began to lay out entrenchments on the rise northwest of the fort , about away , that commanded the land routes to the fort . On July 7 , they constructed a lengthy series of abatis ( felled trees with sharpened branches pointed outward ) below these entrenchments . By the end of that day , they had also constructed a wooden breastwork above the trenches . These hastily erected defenses , while proof against small arms fire , would have been ineffective if the British had used cannon s against them . Bernetz Brook . The British army began an unopposed landing at the north end of Lake George on the morning of July 6 . Abercrombie first landed an advance force to check the area where the forces were to disembark , and found it recently deserted ; some supplies and equipment had been left behind by the French in their hasty departure . The bulk of the army landed , formed into columns , and attempted to march up the west side of the stream that connected Lake George to Lake Champlain , rather than along the portage trail , whose bridges Montcalm had destroyed . However , the wood was very thick , and the columns could not be maintained . Near the area where Bernetz Brook enters the La Chute , Captain Trépezet and his troop , who were attempting to return to the French lines , encountered Phineas Lyman ' s Connecticut regiment , sparking a skirmish in the woods . General Howe ' s column was near the action , so he led it in that direction . As they approached the battle scene , General Howe was hit and instantly killed by a musket ball . A column of Massachusetts provincials , also drawn to the battle , cut off the French patrol ' s rear . In desperate fighting , about 150 of Trepézet ' s men were killed , and another 150 were captured . Fifty men , including Trepézet , escaped by swimming across the La Chute . Trepézet died the next day of wounds suffered in the battle . Sources disagree on the number of casualties suffered . William Nester claims British casualties were light , only ten dead and six wounded , while Rene Chartrand claims that there were about 100 killed and wounded , including the loss of General Howe . The British , frustrated by the difficult woods , demoralized by Howe ' s death , and exhausted from the overnight boat ride , camped in the woods , and returned to the landing point early the next morning . Portage road . On July 7 Abercrombie sent Lieutenant Colonel John Bradstreet and a sizable force down the portage path . On reaching the first crossing , where Bourlamaque had camped , they rebuilt the bridge there , and proceeded on to the sawmill crossing . The army then followed , and set up its camp there . Scouts and prisoners reported to Abercrombie that Montcalm had 6 , 000 men and was expecting the Chevalier de Lévis to arrive at any moment with 3 , 000 reinforcements . Abercrombie ordered his engineer , Lieutenant Matthew Clerk , and one of his aides , Captain James Abercrombie ( it is uncertain if the Abercrombies were related or not ) to reconnoiter the French defenses . After ascending Rattlesnake Hill ( as Mount Defiance was then known ) , they reported that the French position appeared to be incomplete , and could be " easily forced , even without cannon " . They were unaware that the French had disguised much of the works with shrubs and trees , and that they were in fact largely complete . Clerk ' s report included recommendations to fortify both the summit and the base of Rattlesnake Hill . Abercrombie decided that they had to attack the next morning , hopefully before Lévis and his supposed 3 , 000 arrived . Lévis arrived at the fort on the evening of July 7 with his troop of 400 regulars . Abercrombie held a war council that evening . The options he presented to his staff were limited to asking if the next day ' s attack should be in three ranks or four ; the council opted for three . Abercrombie ' s plan of attack omitted Clerk ' s recommendation to fortify the summit of Rattlesnake Hill ; in addition to the frontal assault , 4 six - pound guns and a howitzer were to be floated down the La Chute River and mounted at the base of Rattlesnake Hill , with 20 bateaux of troops to support the effort . Early on the morning of July 8 , Clerk went out once again to the base of Rattlesnake Hill to observe the French defenses ; his report indicated that he still felt the French lines could be taken by assault . Battle lines form . The battle began on the morning of July 8 with Rogers ' Rangers and light infantry from Colonel Thomas Gage ' s 80th Regiment of Light - Armed Foot pushing the few remaining French scouts behind the entrenchments . They were followed by provincials from New York and Massachusetts , and then three columns of regulars , who made their way through the provincial formations to begin the attack . The 27th and 60th made up the right column , under the command of the 27th ' s Lt . Col . William Haviland , the 44th and 55th under Lt . Col . John Donaldson made the center , and the 42nd and 46th under the 42nd ' s Lt . Col . Francis Grant formed the left column . Each column was preceded by the regimental light infantry companies . Held in reserve were provincial regiments from Connecticut and New Jersey . Montcalm had organized the French forces into three brigades and a reserve . He commanded the Royal Roussillon and Berry battalions in the center of the entrenchments , while Lévis commanded the Béarn , Guyenne , and la Reine battalions on the right , and Bourlamaque led the La Sarre and Languedoc battalions on the left . Each battalion was given roughly of the entrenchment to defend . Redoubts with cannon protected the flanks of the entrenchments , although the one on the right had not been completed . The low ground between the left flank and the La Chute River was guarded by militia and marines , who had also constructed abatis to help protect their position . Reserve forces were either in the fort itself , or on the grounds between the fort and the entrenchments on Mount Hope . Portions of each battalion were also held in reserve , to assist in areas where they might be needed . Battle . While Abercrombie had expected the battle to begin at 1 pm , by 12 : 30 elements of the New York regiments on the left began engaging the French defenders . The sounds of battle led Haviland to believe that the French line might have been penetrated , so he ordered his men forward , even though not all of the regulars were in place , and Abercrombie had not given an order to advance . The result , rather than an orderly , coordinated advance on the French position , was a piecemeal entry of the regulars into the battle . As companies of the regulars came forward , they arranged themselves into lines as instructed , and then began to advance . The right column , with a shorter distance to travel , attacked first , followed by the center , and then the left . The 42nd had initially been held in reserve , but after insisting on being allowed to participate , they joined the action . The French position was such that they were able to lay down withering fire on the British forces as they advanced , and the abatis ( a word that shares derivation with " abattoir " , or slaughterhouse ) rapidly became a killing field . By about 2 pm , it was clear that the first wave of attack had failed . Montcalm was active on the battlefield , having removed his coat , and was moving among his men , giving encouragement and making sure all of their needs were being met . Abercrombie , who was reported by early historians like Francis Parkman and Thomas Mante to be at the sawmill ( and thus well away from the action ) , was reported by his aide , James Abercrombie , to be near the rear of the lines by the La Chute River during much of the battle , and to have approached the front of the French lines at one point early in the battle . It is uncertain why , after the first wave of attack failed , Abercrombie persisted in ordering further attacks . Writing in his own defense , he later claimed that he was relying on Clerk ' s assessment that the works could be easily taken ; this was clearly refuted by the failure of the first charge . Around 2 pm , the British barges carrying artillery floated down the La Chute River , and , contrary to plan , came down a channel between an island in the La Chute and the shore . This brought them within range of the French left and some of the fort ' s guns . Fire from cannons on the fort ' s southwest bastion ' s sank two of the barges , spurring the remaining vessels to retreat . Abercrombie ordered his reserves , the Connecticut and New Jersey provincials , into the battle around 2 , but by 2 : 30 it was clear their attack also failed . Abercrombie then tried to recall the troops , but a significant number , notably the 42nd and 46th regiments on the British left , persisted in the attack . Around 5 pm the 42nd made a desperate advance that actually succeeded in reaching the base of the French wall ; those that actually managed to scale the breastwork were bayonet ed . One British observer noted that " Our Forces Fell Exceeding Fast " , while another wrote that they were " Cut Down Like Grass " . The slaughter went on until nightfall , with a great many men retreating behind a breastwork that had been erected at the back of the battlefield . Finally realizing the scope of the disaster , Abercrombie ordered the troops to muster and march down to the landing on Lake George . The retreat in the dark woods became somewhat panicked and disorganized , as rumors of French attacks swirled among the troops . By dawn the next morning , the army was rowing back up Lake George , reaching its base at the southern end around sunset . The humiliating nature of the retreat was immediately apparent to some of its participants ; Lieutenant Colonel Artemas Ward wrote that they " shamefully retreated " . Aftermath . Montcalm , wary of a British counterattack , and concerned about the fatigue of his troops after a long day of battle , had barrels of beer and wine brought forward to the lines . The troops spent the night alternating between sleeping and working on the defenses in anticipation of a renewed attack . News of the battle was received in England shortly after news of the fall of Louisbourg , putting a damper on the celebrations marking that victory . The full scope of British victories in 1758 did not reach English shores until later in the year , when Pitt learned of the successes at Forts Duquesne and Frontenac , key steps in completing the conquest of New France . Had Carillon also fallen in 1758 , the conquest might have been completed in 1758 or 1759 ; as it happened , Montreal ( the last point of resistance ) did not surrender until 1760 , with campaigns launched from Fort Oswego , Quebec , and Carillon , which was captured and renamed Ticonderoga in 1759 by forces under the command of Jeffrey Amherst , the victor at Louisbourg . Abercrombie never led another military campaign . Although he was active at Lake George , he did little more than provide support for John Bradstreet ' s successful attack on Fort Frontenac , which was authorized in a war council on July 13 . Bradstreet left with 3 , 000 men on July 23 , and Abercrombie then refused to engage in further offensive acts , alleging a shortage of manpower . William Pitt , the British Secretary of State who had designed the British military strategy and received word of the defeat in August , wrote to Abercrombie on September 18 that the " King has judged proper that you should return to England . " Abercrombie continued to be promoted , eventually reaching the rank of full General in 1772 . The fact that Indians allied to the British witnessed the debacle first hand complicated future relations with them . News of the defeat circulated widely in their communities , which had a significant effect on the ability of British agents to recruit Indians to their side for future operations . Casualties . The battle was the bloodiest of the war , with over 3 , 000 casualties suffered . French casualties are normally considered to be comparatively light : 104 killed and 273 wounded in the main battle . Combined with the effective elimination of Trépezet ' s force on July 6 , there were about 550 casualties , about 13 percent of the French force , a percentage similar to the losses of the British ( who Chartrand calculates as having lost 11 . 5 to 15 percent ) . General Abercrombie reported 547 killed , 1 , 356 wounded , and 77 missing . Lévis in one report claimed that the French recovered 800 British bodies , implying that Abercrombie may have underreported the actual death toll . Chartrand estimates the number of British killed ( or died of their wounds ) at about 1 , 000 for the main battle , with about 1 , 500 wounded . The skirmish on July 6 cost the British about 100 killed and wounded , and the loss of General Howe . The 42nd Regiment , known as the Black Watch , paid dearly with the loss of many lives and many severely wounded . More than 300 men ( including 8 officers ) were killed , and a similar number were wounded , representing a significant fraction of the total casualties suffered by the British . King George III , later in July 1758 , designated the 42nd a " Royal " regiment , due to its gallantry in earlier battles , and issued letters of service for adding a second battalion " as a testimony of his Majesty ' s satisfaction and approbation of the extraordinary courage , loyalty , and exemplary conduct of the Highland regiment . " However , the king did not learn of the regiment ' s loss of almost half its strength in this battle until August . A legend has long circulated concerning the death of the Black Watch ' s Major Duncan Campbell . In 1742 , the ghost of Campbell ' s dead brother is said to have appeared to him in a dream with a promise to meet him again at " Ticonderoga " , a place name that was unknown to him at the time . Campbell died of wounds sustained during the battle . Analysis . The actions of both commanders have been extensively analyzed in this action . While Montcalm performed well during the battle , some tactical options escaped his notice , and some of his actions in preparing the defenses at Carillon are open to question . In contrast , almost everything Abercrombie did has been questioned . It is widely held among historians that he was an incompetent commander . Montcalm . Both commanders were a product of the environment of European warfare , which generally took place in open fields with relatively easy mobility , and were thus uncomfortable with woodland warfare . Neither liked the irregular warfare practiced by the Indians and British counterparts like Rogers ' Rangers , but saw them as a necessary evil , given the operating environment . Although the French depended on Indian support to increase their comparatively small numbers throughout the war , Indian forces were quite low in this battle , and Montcalm generally disliked them and their practices . Montcalm in particular would have benefited from practicing a more irregular form of warfare . He apparently never inspected the landing area at the north end of Lake George , which was a location from which he could contest the British landing . Furthermore , the French could then have used the confined woodlands to blunt the numerical advantage of the British , and contested the entire portage road . The fact that fortifications were built along the portage road but then abandoned by the French is one indication of this failure of strategic thinking . Nester estimates that contesting the first crossing on the portage road would have gained Montcalm an additional day for defensive preparations . Abercrombie . James Holden , writing in 1911 , noted that American and British writers , both contemporary and historical , used words like " imbecile " , " coward " , " unready " , and " old woman " to describe Abercrombie . Before the battle . Criticisms of Abercrombie begin with his reliance on relatively poor intelligence . Reports reached him that the French strength at Carillon was 6 , 000 , and that a further 3 , 000 were expected . Many of these reports were from French deserters or captives , and Abercrombie should have investigated them by sending out scouts or light infantry . Even if the reports were accurate , Abercrombie ' s army still significantly outnumbered that of Montcalm . The same sources must also have reported the shortage of provisions at the fort , a sign that a siege would have ended quickly . Abercrombie ' s next error was an apparent over - reliance on the analysis of Matthew Clerk . His lack of experienced engineers caused the state of French defences to be repeatedly misread . What is clear is that Abercrombie , in his stated desire for haste , did not want to act on Clerk ' s recommendation to fortify Rattlesnake Hill , and then sought to blame Clerk , claiming he was merely acting on the engineer ' s advice . Clerk was one of the battle ' s casualties , so he was unavailable to defend himself against assignment of some of the blame . Captain Charles Lee of the 44th Foot wrote , on the prospect of using cannon on Rattlesnake Hill , " There was one hill in particular , which seem ' d to offer itself as an ally to us , it immediately commanded the lines from hence two small cannon well planted must have drove the French in a very short time from their breast work [ . . . ] this was never thought of , which ( one wou ' d imagine ) must have occur ' d to any blockhead who was not absolutely so far sunk into Idiotism as to be oblig ' d to wear a bib and bells . " The tactical decision not to bring cannons forward was probably one of Abercrombie ' s most significant errors . The use of cannon against the French works would have cleared paths through the abatis and breached the breastworks . Abercrombie also had the option to avoid a pitched battle , instead beginning siege operations against the French position . His force was large enough that he could have fully invested the French position and fended off any arriving reinforcements . Tactics . Abercrombie made two notable errors of judgment during the battle . One was a failure to recognize after the first wave of attacks that his chosen method of attack was unlikely to work . Instead of ordering additional waves of troops to the slaughter , he should have retreated to a safe distance and considered alternative actions . The second failure was that he apparently never considered ordering a flanking maneuver against the French right . At a minimum this would have stretched the French defenses , allowing his attackers elsewhere to find weak points . In fact , the French twice in the battle sent companies of militia out of their works on the right to enfilade the British attackers . After the battle . The disorganized nature of the British retreat demonstrated a loss of effective command . An experienced commander could easily have encamped at the Lake George landing , taken stock of the situation , and begun siege operations against the French . Abercrombie , to the surprise of some in his army , ordered a retreat all the way back to the south end of Lake George . Nester , unable to find other rational reasons for this , claims that the general must have panicked . Legacy . While the fort itself was never endangered by the British assault , Ticonderoga became a byword for impregnability . Even though the fort was effectively handed to the British by a retreating French army in 1759 , future defenders of the fort and their superior officers , who may not have been familiar with the site ' s shortcomings , fell under the spell of this idea . In 1777 , when General John Burgoyne advanced down Lake Champlain at the beginning of the Saratoga campaign , General George Washington , who had never seen the fort , thought highly of its defensive value . Anthony Wayne , who was at Fort Ticonderoga preparing its defenses before Burgoyne ' s arrival , wrote to Washington that the fort " can never be carried , without much loss of blood " . Fort Ticonderoga was surrendered by the Americans without much of a fight in July 1777 . The modern Flag of Quebec is based upon a banner supposedly carried by the victorious French forces at Carillon . The banner , now known as the Flag of Carillon , dates back to the 17th century , confirmed by textile expert Jean - Michel Tuchscherer : " The flag is without doubt an exceptional piece of document from the 17th century " . As for the coat of arm under the madonna now erased , they were most probably that of Charles , Marquis of Beauharnois ( 1671 – 1749 ) , Governor of New France from 1726 to 1747 : Silver on one side with a saber , monted on three merlettes . Only the governor had the right to inscribe his personal crest on a banner with the arms of France , and only Beauharnois had the eagles to support his crest . The flag was probably fabricated around 1726 , date of the arrival of Marquis de Beauharnois , and May 29 , 1732 , date were it was flown for the order of Saint Louis , with its motto : " Bellicae virtutis praemium " . However , historian Alistair Fraser is of the opinion that stories of the flag ' s presence on the battlefield appears to be a 19th - century fabrication , as there is no evidence that the large religious banner ( 2 by 3 meters , or 6 by 10 feet ) on which the flag design was based was actually used as a standard at the battle .