Editing 18thCenturyMage/Crown Point Expedition (section)

==Background==

The governor of Massechusetts, William Shirley, had argued for an attack on Fort Saint-Frédéric early on in King George's War, recognising the threat it posed to the northern border of the New England and Middle Colonies. It was used by the French and their Indian allies as a staging ground for raids and heavier assaults, and its commanding position gave the French control of the frontier. After the loss of Saratoga in late 1745, an Iroquois and intercolonial force was assembled in the July 1746 for a retaliatory attack, but the British regulars failed to arrive and the attack was aborted. That same year, a large French and Indian force raided the Hoosac River valley causing great losses to English colonists.

In the winter of 1746, in spite of voices warning of the risk to the trade with Quebec (particularly strongly on the part of Albany's merchants), the New York assembly resolved to end the threat of Fort Saint-Frédéric once and for all. They passed measures providing for the raising and equipping of militia regiments from the province and stores of additional arms and munitions. Assurances were sought from governor Clinton to guarantee British regular support and emissaries sent to the Iroquois seeking aid once again.

Orders were issued to gather an expeditionary force in Albany at the end of the spring. By mid- April a British regular regiment under Colonel James Rafferty arrived to lead the expedition, supported by a regiment of New York provincial militia under Colonel Martin Wagenbach, a two of companies of David Robinson's provincial rangers, artillery from New York and around a hundred Iroquois. Rafferty make the unpopular decision of ordering the wives and other non-essential camp followers to remain in Albany, in an attempt to reduce the size of the baggage train. Then he split his force, putting the guns and baggage on boats to send up the Hudson river, while his infantry would march ahead along the route of the river.

Meanwhile, Paul Bécart, the commandant of Fort Saint-Frédéric learned of British forces amassing at Albany and mustered a force of his own, comprising of three companies of ''troupes de la marine'' from the garrison, a body of Canadian militia under Luc Marin and around 450 natives from the Wabanaki Confederacy led by Jacques Soleil. While he lacked the manpower to directly oppose the British in the field, he formulated a plan with Marin to use their knowledge of the countryside and native warfare to their advantage. There were a limited number of routes the British could take to approach Saint-Frédéric and an ambush could be set south of Lac du Saint-Sacrement.

The British expedition set off from Albany on 1st May and made good time on the first leg of its journey, Rafferty's infantry column reaching Fort Lyman early on the 7th May. The fort was re-occupied and the stockade made whole again, during which time the ranger companies were sent to assess the routes ahead. Rather than wait for the artillery and baggage to catch up, Rafferty chose to press on, leaving two companies of militia behind to secure the portage guarded by the fort.

The ranger companies had scouted the two alternative routes around the southern tip of Lac du Saint-Sacrement, and since the company scouting the westerly route around had returned where the other had not, Rafferty chose to take the main force that way.

Back at Fort Lyman, on the evening of the 9th May a hundred Wabanaki assaulted the fort, taking the garrison by surprise and killing them to a man. They then sat in wait around the portage for the arrival of the river force. Now behind the route of Rafferty's march, Bécart gathered the bulk of his men at a narrow pass close to the south of Lac du Saint-Sacrement. Around ten miles to the north of them, the British infantry began construction of a temporary camp as a staging ground for the final assault on Fort Saint-Frédéric.