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Commemorating the 400th Anniversary of Samuel de Champlain's Explorations on the lake
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Praise for Jim Millard's new "Bastions on the Border..."

"It is really a terrific book... [Millard's] exhaustive study of the documents connected to the forts and masterful presentation of the materials is laudable...quality and variety of the images is terrific..."

Dr. Russell P. Bellico- Historian/Author
"Sails and Steam in the Mountains: A Maritime and Military History of Lake George and Lake Champlain" and other titles

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Bloody Pond at Lake George, New York. Photo by Jim Millard.

Bloody Pond
Lake George, New York
(click for map)

By James P. Millard

"Here Sept. 8, 1755 (Battle of Lake George) the Colonial forces under Lieut. Col. Cole checked the hitherto successful advance of Baron Dieskau and his allies, changing the British rout into ultimate victory.

Here likewise on the evening of the same day- Capt. McGinnis assisted by Capt. Folsom with 200 New York and New Hampshire men, fell upon 300 Canadians and Indians encamped near the pond for the night. After a desperate struggle the French force was almost annihilated. Over 200 bodies rolled into the pool stained the water red and gave it its name. In this conflict Rogers, the famous Ranger made his debut as a soldier.

Near this spot Oct. 11, 1780 Major Christopher Carleton and his band of Regulars, Tories and Indians, defeated with great loss, Captain John Sill and an American detachment from Fort George forcing the surrender of that station."

Erected 1905 by NYS Historical Association

(click on the small images to see a full size photo)

Note: These markers and monuments are photographed as they stand in Lake George. In keeping with our policy of always wanting to maintain the strictest of accuracy in the information available, we do want to point out that archaeologist David R. Starbuck maintains that this is not the actual "Bloody Pond."

Starbuck states that this pond was created by in "modern" times by the Town of Lake George. He states that there is "a modest stream to the East... and that 'Bloody Pond' was probably a pool created as the stream flowed through a large depression."¹

This view is not universally held. Some still maintain this is the original location.

^Notes:
¹David R. Starbuck, "The Great Warpath- British Military Sites from Albany to Crown Point" (Hanover, New Hampshire, University Press of New England, 1999) 112,113

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