Three miles from the fort, however, this rescuing
force was ordered to return, and thus such men as Johnson and Putnam
were compelled to remain at Fort Edward and listen to "the report of
cannon from Fort William Henry, two or three shots sometimes within a
minute or two of one another." Those fateful cannon-shots continued all
day long, and day after day, meanwhile, messengers were arriving from
Colonel Monroe asking for assistance in most urgent terms. For six days
the siege continued, with thousands of soldiers lying inactive at Fort
Edward while their brothers-in-arms were in peril of their lives at Fort
William Henry, only fourteen miles away. On the morning of the eighth of
August the cannon firing ceased, just as the last express from Colonel
Monroe arrived stating that he must give up the fort unless at once
relieved.
The ammunition of the beleaguered garrison was almost exhausted, many of
their cannon were split, some of the soldiers were sick with smallpox,
and their losses in killed and wounded amounted to more than three
hundred men. The end was inevitable, and it came after General Webb had
sent a letter to Colonel Monroe advising him to surrender.
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