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Michigan Chapter Eight Border Wars of the Colonists
The next stroke of the pre-arranged campaign was to be the movement against Crown Point, which had been assigned to Sir William Johnson. His well-known favor and influence among the Five Nations seemed to recommend him as just the man for the place. He was accordingly appointed major-general. Connecticut, New Hampshire and Rhode Island contributed upwards of two thousand soldiers at their own charge, while New York added a thousand, to say nothing of the Indians who were only too eager to respond to any call of Sir William Johnson. A month after the luckless affair at the junction of the Alleghany and Monon-gahela Johnson's army had rendezvoused at Albany and was preparing to move northward. There were no regulars; the army was made up entirely of the sturdy yeomanry. It numbered in the ranks some men whose names afterward became familiar—Ephraim Williams, Who made his will in the camp at Albany and left a legacy to found a school which eventually became Williams College; Israel Putnam, a private in a Connecticut regiment; John Stark, who was in the New Hampshire levies. Their arms and equipment were of the rudest sort. There were various annoying causes of delay,
chiefly due to the fact that each colony had to equip and maintain its own levies and to the confusion which arose in consequence.
The French had ample knowledge of the designs against Crown Point and plenty of time to prepare to meet them. A battalion of regulars had just arrived from France and these were put under the command of Baron Dieskau who set out at once for the defense of the fortification. The summer wore on and by the end of August Johnson's army had got no further than the head of Lake George. Mohawk scouts reported that Canada was all ablaze with excitement and that eight thousand men were marching toward 'Crown Point.
Michigan
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