It was reconstructed, as we know, and
served both British and Patriots in the Revolutionary War; but is now in
ruins, picturesque and imposing in their decay.
Crown Point was also evacuated by the French, and thus at last the main
object of so many months' toil in the wilderness with such woful waste
of life and vast expenditure of treasure, was accomplished. While Putnam
and his comrades were engaged in restoring the fortifications of Crown
Point, they heard the news of British victories on every hand: of the
fall of Fort Niagara; and of the storming and capture of Quebec, when,
on that fateful thirteenth of September, 1759, Wolfe and Montcalm found
death and fame, the former at the hour of victory, the latter in defeat.
Israel Putnam met nearly all the great British commanders, with the
possible exception of Wolfe, and had assisted with all his might at the
upbuilding of English power in America, so it was not strange that when,
later, the Revolution opened, he was looked upon by them more as a
friend than an enemy. The next year, when Amherst moved upon Montreal,
then the chief, almost sole possession of the French in Canada, Colonel
Putnam went along, as a matter of course, and, it is gravely related by
his first biographer, he assisted the general at a critical moment and
in a very novel way.
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