Editing 18thCenturyMage/Crown Point Expedition (section)

==Battle==

On the morning of 10th May, the guns and baggage arrived at the portage before Hudson's Fall and began to unload. An hour into their activities, they came under fire, the militia with them hard-pressed to give resistance with their backs to the river. Captain Robinson's company were skirting around the marsh at the south of the lake on their way back from the alternative path, and heard the gunfire coming from the ambush at the portage. They made haste towards the sounds of battle, falling on the ambushers and scattering them.

Colonel Bécart learned of the ambush and launched the next stage of his plan. An Acadian militiaman was dressed as an Iroquois and sent up to Rafferty's camp, claiming to be a runner from the fort, bringing news it was under attack and in need of aid. Leaving Colonel Wagenbach in command of the camp, Rafferty immediately dispatched half of his regiment to march to the fort's relief.

As it reached the narrowing of the pass, they found the path was obstructed with fallen trees, at which point fire began to pour in from the flanks. Colonel Rafferty was mortally wounded, and it was rumoured that Marin himself fired the fatal shot. From behind the barricade blocking the path, the French marines stood up and began to fire in volleys into the head of the British column of march. Major Dowling fell from his horse, at first thought killed or wounded, but he proved only winged and in a daze. The British tried to form into lines to repel the three-pronged attack firing ineffectually into the trees and the marines sheltering behind the barricade. Seeing the men around the British colours faltering, a band of Canadian militia charged out of the trees in the hopes of capturing the standard. This roused Major Dowling to charge, single-handed at first, to it's rescue, an action which steadied the remnants who had now fallen back into a rough box around the colours.

Disaster was averted by the timely arrival of Captain Robinson, who had installed the survivors of the river ambush in Fort Lyman, then marched to the sounds of gunfire to the north. Their sniping drove off the marines blocking the path, who hadn't expected any opposition to their rear, then swept up the flanking attackers.

Deciding that he'd done enough damage, and not willing to risk a full-scale engagement, Bécart sounded the retreat and brought his troops away in good order.