Siege of Fort at Number 4 The Siege of Fort at Number Four ( April 7 – 9 , 1747 ) was a frontier action at present - day Charlestown , New Hampshire during King George ' s War . The Fort at Number 4 ( named so because it was located in the fourth of a series of recently surveyed township land parcels ) , was unsuccessfully besieged by a French and Indian force under the command of Ensign Joseph Boucher de Niverville . The British defenders were alerted to the presence of the besiegers by their dogs , and were well - prepared to defend the fort . They successfully fought off attempts to burn the fort down , and turned down demands that they surrender . Some of Niverville ' s Indians , short on provisions , attempted to bargain with the fort ' s defenders for supplies , but were rejected . Background . In the 1720s , during Dummer ' s War , the Province of Massachusetts Bay had constructed Fort Dummer at present - day Brattleboro , Vermont . In the following years , settlers from Massachusetts , which laid claim to the territory , moved up the Connecticut River , establishing small frontier settlements . The most northerly of these , north of Fort Dummer and located at the site of present - day Charlestown , New Hampshire , was called Number Four . In 1741 , King George II declared that the territory belonged to the Province of New Hampshire . Massachusetts withdrew its protection from both Fort Dummer and Number Four , and New Hampshire , none of whose existing settlements was near these places , also refused to provide protection . In 1743 the settlers at Number Four constructed a wooden stockade fort to provide for their own protection . Massachusetts reluctantly agreed to provide some militia forces to the area when King George ' s War broke out . During the summer of 1746 Number Four was repeatedly attacked by French and Indian raiding parties organized by the authorities of New France , and these militia had provided timely defense . The severity of the attacks , however , prompted the settlers to abandon Number Four , which remained unoccupied during the winter of 1746 – 47 . The fort was then occupied by Captain Phineas Stevens and 30 provincial militia in the spring of 1747 . Stevens brought with him several dogs , which provided early warning of the arrival of strangers . The Marquis de Beauharnois , New France ' s governor , had waged a war against the frontiers of the northern British colonies ( New York , Massachusetts , New Hampshire , and Nova Scotia ) since the fall of Louisbourg in 1745 had dried up supplies of important trade goods and provisions . In early 1747 one of the parties he sent south consisted of 10 French troupes de la marine ( the colonial troops ) and 60 Abenaki warriors under the command of Ensign Joseph Boucher de Niverville . Some English accounts of the action report Niverville ' s claims that he had several hundred men ; they also incorrectly identify the party leader as " General Debeline " . Siege . On April 7 , eleven days after Captain Stevens and his men arrived , Niverville ' s force arrived at Number Four . Although they remained concealed in the woods that surrounded the fort , one of Stevens ' men was alerted to the enemy presence by his dogs , which refused to stop barking . Cautiously leaving the fort with some of the dogs to investigate , he was eventually fired on and slightly wounded , after which he retreated into the fort . Niverville ' s party fired ineffectual volleys of musket fire at the fort , and then set on fire buildings on the windward side of the fort in an attempt to burn it down . The defenders , who had plentiful access to water , seized upon an ingenious method to keep the flames at bay . Some of the men were sent outside the walls , where they then dug trenches near the walls . Inside the trenches , men were protected from hostile musket fire , and were also able to use water passed in buckets from inside the fort to keep the fort ' s timbers wet . When the attempt to burn the fort failed , Niverville requested a cessation of hostilities for the night , to be followed by a parley the next morning . Stevens agreed , and refused Niverville ' s demand in the parley that he surrender . Upon returning into the fort he held council with his men , who all agreed with the decision . Niverville ' s force ineffectually continued to fire on the fort that day and into the evening . Attempts to ignite the fort with fire arrows were easily quenched by the defenders . On the morning of April 9 , two Indians came forward and requested a parley . They offered to cease hostilities in exchange for provisions . Stevens refused , offering instead to accept hostages , to be exchanged for British prisoners later , in exchange for food . The Indians refused , and after a desultory exchange of musket fire , the French and Indian force withdrew . Aftermath . Niverville ' s hungry force then moved further south , destroying , according to one report , " three meeting - houses , several fine barns , about one hundred dwellings , mostly of two stories , furnished even to chests of drawers , and killed five to six hundred sheep and hogs , and about thirty horned cattle . " Sir Charles Knowles , a Royal Navy admiral , was in Boston when news of the spirited defense of Number Four arrived . He recognized Stevens ' leadership by sending him a silver - hilted sword . As a result , the settlers of Number Four decided to name the community Charlestown in Knowles ' honor . The reconstructed fort is now a living history museum , recreating the era of King George ' s War .