Battle of Carillon (1758)

Battle of Carillon
Part of the French and Indian War
The Victory of Montcalm's Troops at Carillon by Henry Alexander Ogden. A man (Montcalm) stands to the right, waving his three-cornered hat at a group of soldiers. To the left, uniformed men wave two large military banners. Fort Ticonderoga Museum, NY.
Date July 6–8, 1758 Location Fort Carillon, present-day Ticonderoga, New York 43°50′30″N 73°23′15″W / 43.84167°N 73.38750°W / 43.84167; -73.38750Coordinates: 43°50′30″N 73°23′15″W / 43.84167°N 73.38750°W / 43.84167; -73.38750 Result Decisive French victory
Belligerents
France Colony of Canada	Great Britain British America
Commanders and leaders
Louis-Joseph de Montcalm Chevalier de Levis	James Abercrombie George Howe †
Strength
3,600 regulars, militia, and Indians	6,000 regulars 12,000 provincial troops, rangers, and Indians
Casualties and losses
100 killed 500 wounded 150 captured	1,000 killed 1,500 wounded 100 missing

The Battle of Carillon, also known as the 1758 Battle of Ticonderoga, was fought on July 8, 1758, during the French and Indian War (which was part of the global Seven Years' War). It was fought near Fort Carillon (now known as Fort Ticonderoga) on the shore of Lake Champlain in the frontier area between the British colony of New York and the French colony of New France.

In the battle, which took place primarily on a rise about three-quarters of a mile (one km) from the fort itself, a French army of about 3,600 men under General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm and the Chevalier de Levis decisively defeated an overwhelmingly numerically superior force of British troops under General James Abercrombie, which frontally assaulted an entrenched French position without using field artillery, a lack that left the British and its allies vulnerable and allowed the French to win a decisive victory. The battle was the bloodiest of the American theater of the war, with over 3,000 casualties suffered. French losses were about 400, while more than 2,000 were British.

American historian Lawrence Henry Gipson wrote of Abercrombie's campaign that "no military campaign was ever launched on American soil that involved a greater number of errors of judgment on the part of those in positions of responsibility". Many military historians have cited the Battle of Carillon as a classic example of tactical military incompetence. Abercrombie, confident of a quick victory, ignored several viable military options, such as flanking the French breastworks, waiting for his artillery, or laying siege to the fort. Instead, relying on a flawed report from a young military engineer, and ignoring some of that engineer's recommendations, he decided in favor of a direct frontal assault on the thoroughly entrenched French, without the benefit of artillery. Montcalm, while concerned about the weak military position of the fort, conducted the defense with spirit. However, due in part to a lack of time, he committed strategic errors in preparing the area's defenses that a competent attacker could have exploited, and he made tactical errors that made the attacker's job easier.

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