Fort Carillon Fort Carillon , the precursor of Fort Ticonderoga , was constructed by Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil , Governor of Canada , to protect Lake Champlain from a British invasion . Situated on the lake some fifteen miles south of Fort Saint Frédéric , it was built to prevent an attack on Canada and slow the advance of the enemy long enough for reinforcements to arrive . Assigned to remedy Fort Saint Frédéric ' s inability to resist a constant British threat to the south , French King ' s Engineer Michel Chartier de Lotbinière began construction of Fort Carillon where Lake George , at that time called Lac Saint Sacrement , joins Lake Champlain by the La Chute river . Construction began in October 1755 . Location . Fort Carillon was situated south of Lake Champlain and north of Lake George , a natural point of conflict between the French forces , who were advancing south from Quebec through the Richelieu River towards Lake Champlain and the Hudson Valley , and the British forces , who were hoping to move north . The area was chosen so as to control the southern point of Lake Champlain as well as access to the Hudson Valley . The fort is surrounded by water on three sides , and on half of the fourth side by a moat . The portion remaining was strongly fortified by deep trenches , sustained by three batteries of cannon and , in front of the fort , blocked by trees which had been cut down and the pointed ends strengthened by fire , creating a formidable defensive system . Handicapped by corruption , the construction continued at a slow pace . By mid - July 1756 , four bastions with cannon were placed at a height of 5 . 5m . Two of the bastions were directed to the northeast and northwest , away from the lake . They were the Reine and Germaine bastions , with two demilunes ( an outwork in front of a fort , shaped like a crescent moon ) further extending the works on the land side . The two other bastions provided cover for the landing area outside the fort . They were the Joannes and Languedoc bastions , which overlooked the lake to the south . The walls were seven feet ( 2 . 1 meters ) high and fourteen feet ( 4 . 3 meters ) thick , and the whole works was surrounded by a glacis and a dry moat five feet ( 1 . 5 meters ) deep and wide . The fort was armed with cannon brought in from Fort St . Frédéric and Montréal . By Fall , the fort was still not finished when an important discovery was made : as soon as the trees of the peninsula were cut , the French realized that the location they chose did not join well with the junction between the two lakes . To correct this , a second but smaller fort was built closer to the lake , known as " Redoute des Grenadiers . " By January 1757 , the fort was still incomplete and composed of earth and moats , mounted by 36 cannon waiting for an attack that the French were anticipating . The French and Canadians did not want to wait passively for the British assault however , and decided to attack first . In April , 8 , 000 men , under the command of Marquis de Montcalm , mustered at Fort Carillon . In August 1757 , they crossed Lake George to take Fort William Henry . The operation was a success and Montcalm brought back his men to Fort Carillon for the summer . Lower and Upper town of Carillon . In 1756 , the Canadian and French troops developed “ le Jardin du Roi ” on the sandy plain below the heights . It was intended to feed the summer garrison charged with constructing the new fort . By 1758 , Fort Carillon and its surroundings were composed of a lower town , an upper town , two hospitals , hangars , and barracks for the soldiers . The lower town itself took the form of a triangle with the fort as its northern tip , and the lower town the southern part of the triangle . There , taverns with wine cellars for the soldiers , bakeries , and nine ovens were located . It was important to construct batteries for the lower town , and the earth removed for construction of the lower town was taken closer to the fort . On July 22 , 1759 , when orders were given to set fire to the town , the Indians could not believe that the French and Canadians would abandon what they had worked so hard to build . Heavy smoke rose from the two hospitals , the hangars of the lower and upper town , and the soldiers ' barracks . All was to be abandoned to the advancing British army . None of the buildings were ever reconstructed as was the case in Louisbourg , Cape Breton . Garrison at Fort Carillon . " Les troupes de terre " . The " troupes de la terre " were composed of professional soldiers of the French Army , sent from France to America , who were disciplined and well trained . At Fort Carillon in 1758 , these troops were made up of the second battalions of seven regiments sent from different regions of France . The regiments represented in the garrison were those of La Reine ( 345 soldiers ) , Guyenne ( 470 soldiers ) , Berry ( 450 soldiers ) , Béarn ( 410 soldiers ) , La Sarre ( 460 soldiers ) , Royal Roussillon ( 480 soldiers ) , and Languedoc ( 426 soldiers ) . The Berry regiment also had a second battalion , but their numbers were not known . The requisite white uniform of the French regular infantry is likely to have been similarly modified for all the battalions . The uniform of the " Régiment de Guyenne " and " Régiment Berry " was a bit like the " Régiment de la Reine " : a white - grey coat with red reversed sleeves with three ornate buttons , red vest , white - grey pants , and black shoes with metallic buckles . However , contrary to " La Reine " , the tricorn hat was black felt with a gold medallion . The uniforms of the other regiments had blue vests and blue cuffs , except for " Régiment de La Sarre " which had red vests and blue cuffs . The French musket was of a smaller caliber than the British musket . " Les troupes de la Marine " . The Troupes de la Marine were led by Chevalier de Lévis with 150 Canadians . There were also about 250 Canadian Indians at Fort Carillon , for a total of 3 , 500 soldiers . The French and Canadians often made use of guns placed on the walls of the fort , although for the Battle of Carillon , because the fighting took place 3 / 4 of a mile from the fort , it was essentially a battle of musket and bayonet . Fort Carillon 1757 . Louis - Joseph de Montcalm , in command of the French troops at Fort Carillon decided to attack Fort William Henry from Fort Carillon . On August 9 , 1757 , Montcalm , with an army of 7 , 000 men consisting of French soldiers , Canadian militia , and Indians from various tribes , took Fort William Henry , situated at the southern point of Lake George . The Indians , who thought that an agreement had been made without their consent , revolted . What ensued were violent attacks by the Indians intoxicated by alcohol . There were , according to sources , between 70 and 150 people killed , scalped , and decapitated . After this massacre , the French soldiers accompanied the survivors to Fort Edward to avoid further bloodshed . After his victory , Montcalm could have taken Fort Edward , but he took instead the destroyed Fort William Henry , and returned to Fort Carillon . The British had been humiliated and Montcalm had shown the compassion of a great general by stopping any further bloodshed by the Indians and accompanying the survivors . However , Montcalm knew that he had to withdraw because of the anger and loss of the Indians as allies , as well as a shortage of provisions . In 1756 , New France had suffered a disastrous crop failure . Montcalm was forced to release the Canadian militiamen who made up more than half of his force . The Canadians were urgently needed to return home for the harvest . However , in 1757 , disaster struck again and the harvest was the worst in Canadian history . Conditions were particularly bad around Montreal , which was " the granary of Canada . " By late September , the inhabitants were subsisting on a half - pound of bread a day , and those at Quebec on a quarter - pound of bread . A month later , there was no bread at all . " The distress is so great that some of the inhabitants are living on grass , " Bougainville wrote . There was a feeling of dispirited despair in the colony and the conclusion was that its military prospects would soon become indefensible . After a string of French victories in 1757 , the British were prompted to organize a large - scale attack on the fort as part of a multifaceted campaign strategy against Canada . In June 1758 , British General James Abercromby began amassing a large force at Fort William Henry in preparation for the military campaign directed up the Champlain Valley . These forces landed at the north end of Lake George , only four miles from the fort , on July 6 . The French general Louis - Joseph de Montcalm , who had only arrived at Carillon in late June , engaged his troops in a flurry of work to improve the fort ' s outer defenses . They built , over two days , entrenchments around a rise between the fort and Mount Hope , about three - quarters of a mile ( one kilometer ) northwest of the fort , and then constructed an abatis ( felled trees with sharpened branches pointing out ) below these entrenchments . Abercromby ' s failure to advance directly to the fort on July 7 made much of this defensive work possible . Brigadier General George Howe , Abercromby ' s second - in - command , had been killed when his column encountered a French reconnaissance troop . Abercromby " felt [ Howe ' s death ] most heavily " and may have been unwilling to act immediately . 1757 was therefore a bad year for the British in North America , not only because of their defeat in northern New York , but in the Ohio Valley and Nova Scotia as well . That year , British Prime - Minister William Pitt named General James Wolfe commander of the British troops in North America . British force sent against Fort Carillon . The British force sent against Fort Carillon was made up of regular British regiments and provincial regiments . The British regiments were in their customary red coats with the exception of Gage ’ s light infantry , which wore grey . The soldiers were armed with musket s , bayonets , hatchets or tomahawks , and knives . The standard battle issue for British soldiers was 24 rounds of ammunition ; Howe may have ordered his soldiers to carry as many rounds as they could . The British Regiments were the 27th ( Inniskilling ) , the 42nd Highland , the 44th , 46th Regiments of Foot : 2nd Bn , the Duke of Cornwall ' s Light Infantry , the 55th : 2nd Bn , the Border Regiment , the 1st and 4th battalions of 60th ( Royal American ) Regiment , and Gage ’ s Light Infantry . The provincial regiments wore blue , but extensive modification of uniform was made to suit forest warfare with coats being cut back and any form of headgear and equipment permitted . Rogers ' Rangers most likely wore their distinctive green . Along with Rogers ' Rangers , there were regiments from New York , Massachusetts , Rhode Island , Connecticut , and New Jersey . Early preparations to the Battle of Carillon ( 1758 ) . Although the French government knew that the British had dispatched 8 , 000 men to North America , Canada had only received 1 , 800 men , most of whom were assigned to Louisbourg . The army ' s small size forced Major - General Louis - Joseph de Montcalm , commander of French forces in Canada , to rely on Indians , and although traditional French allies like the Nipissing , Algonkin , and Abenaki contributed a thousand warriors , it was not enough . Determined to capture both Fort William Henry and Fort Edward , Governor Vaudreuil also recruited a thousand warriors from tribes around the upper Great Lakes . The large number of different tribes meant that there were not enough interpreters , and potentially dangerous tribal rivalries needed attention . Dealing with Indians was never an easy matter , but these Indians did not see themselves as subjects of New France , just temporary allies in search of loot . However , even traditional French allies had scalped wounded British when the garrison at Oswego surrendered , and then forced the French to buy back a number of English prisoners . While Montcalm and Vaudreuil were raising an army , American rangers proved to be too few to stop Indians from raiding the area around Fort William Henry at will . In late June , a powerful Indian raiding party discovered that the road between the two forts was basically unguarded . The French had a clear picture of the strategic situation in June , but six separate scouting parties were unable to penetrate the Indian screen to learn anything more detailed than that there was a large force at Fort Carillon . The destruction of Fort William Henry should have guaranteed the safety of Fort Carillon , but the British government had made North America the priority , while France had not , so another attempt was made at Fort Carillon . Battle of Fort Carillon . The British were alarmed by the outcome of losing Fort William Henry , which was their northernmost fort . They decided to prepare for a massive attack against Fort Carillon . Close to 16 , 000 men ( the largest troop deployment ever assembled on the North American continent ) was united under the orders of General James Abercromby , commander in chief of the British forces in North America . The actual officer in charge of the land operation was Brigadier - General Lord Howe . On July 8 , 1758 , the British army of General James Abercromby with 16 , 000 men , ( 6 , 000 British soldiers and 10 , 000 colonials ) and their allies the Mohawks ( who did not participate in the battle ) , attacked Fort Carillon commanded by Louis - Joseph de Montcalm with 3 , 600 soldiers , including 400 Canadians from Lévis and 300 Abenakis . Abercromby was determined to go ahead with his advancement before he lost the advantage . The British however faced a well - fortified position . While the fort was still under construction , the French forces dug deep trenches flanked by three batteries of cannon . The fort was also defended by a line of sharpened trees pointed towards the exterior and intertwined with branches and spikes installed during the night on orders from Montcalm . Part of the French forces were dispersed in the adjoining forest . The land around the fort gave way to only one opening , since the fort was surrounded on three sides by water and at half of the rear by a moat . Abercromby could have gone around the French , but wanting a quick victory , he decided against this maneuver . Informed by his lieutenant that it would be possible to take the French by assault , he opted for a massive frontal attack . However the French defenses proved to be well prepared and they were not in danger of enemy fire . The French easily decimated the British ranks with cannon fire . ( The French were lined up in 3 rows : the first row fired while the third was reloading their rifles , permitting a strong even fire ) . The British soldiers had to climb on each other ' s shoulders in order to reach the top of the trenches , so it was easy for the French to repulse them as they arrived near the summit of the defenses . Only one time were the British capable of breaking through the French defenses , only to be repulsed by a charge of bayonets . The British tried to take the fort , but were driven back time and time again by the French artillery . Abercromby sent his men to assail the fort several times ; he lost 551 soldiers , 1 , 356 were wounded and 77 disappeared . They retreated to Fort William Henry . As for the French and Canadians , they had 104 killed and 273 wounded . British capture . Jeffrey Amherst , now commander in chief of the British forces in America with 12 , 000 soldiers , prepared to move against Fort Carillon on July 21 , 1759 . On July 22 and 23 , Bourlamaque left the fort with 3 , 600 men and deployed 400 soldiers to set fire to the two hospitals , hangars , barracks , and to the lower part of the town . During four days , from July 23 to 26 , the British bombed the fort , using artillery positioned where Captain Hébécourt and his men were retrenched . On July 26 , they left at 10 PM , and at midnight , the explosives demolished most of the fort . They then moved out to Fort Saint Frédéric with the regiment of Hébécourt , captain of the La Reine regiment . Bourlamaque did the same to Fort Saint Frédéric on July 31 . After that , they moved up to Isle - aux - Noix where Amherst declined to advance against them , preferring to consolidate his forces in the lower Lake Champlain area . In withdrawing , the French used explosives to destroy what they could of the fort and spiked or dumped cannon they did not take with them . The British moved in on July 27 and , though they worked in 1759 and 1760 to repair and improve the fort ( which they renamed Fort Ticonderoga ) , the fort saw no more significant action in the war . After the war , the British garrison ed it with a small number of troops but allowed it to fall into disrepair . Colonel Frederick Haldimand , in command of the fort in 1773 , wrote that it was in " ruinous condition " . Legacy of Fort Carillon . The importance of Fort Carillon , the Battle of Carillon , and the Flag of Carillon ; have long been a source of pride for French Canadians and to the people of Quebec . The Flag of Quebec was modeled after the Carillon flag and the Fort and its history bring honor to a nation which was recognized by the Canadian government in 2007 .