With the ComplimetU^of vnu^i^/- BLODGET'S PLAN OF THE BATTLE ON THE SHORES OF LAKE GEORGE, 8 September, 1755. REMARKS MADE BEFORE THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY, March 13, 1890. BY SAMUEL ABBOTT GREEN, M.D. W BLODGET'S PLAN BATTLE ON THE SHORES OF LAKE GEORGE, 8 September, 1755. REMARKS MADE BEFORE THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY, March 13, 1890. BY SAMUEL ABBOTT GREEN, M.D. ORitlj a Jac--simtk of % $lan. CAMBRIDGE: JOHN WILSON AND SON. 2Sntbersttg $Jr««. 1890. \^v G i> BLODGETS PLAN BATTLE ON THE SHORES OF LAKE GEOBGE. At a meeting of the Massachusetts Historical Society, on Thursday, March 13, 1890, Dr. Samuel A. Green called attention to an early engraving, of which a fac-simile of the exact size is herewith given, and said : — During the summer of 1883 a bound volume of " The Boston Gazette, or Country Journal," running from April 14, 1755, to December 29 of the same year, came into the posses- sion of the Historical Society. The file had once belonged to the Rev. Dr. Abiel Holmes, for many years the Corresponding- Secretary of the Society, and bears some of his handwriting ; and it was given to the library by his son John Holmes, Esq. In the copy of the newspaper for September 15, there is a reference to the battle between the French and the English on the shores of Lake George, where General Johnson de- feated and captured Baron Dieskau. Attached by wafers to this particular number was a rare engraving of the battle, showing the engagement of the troops on each side, and giv- ing a plan of the English encampment, with the position of the various regiments. The original drawing was made by Samuel Blodget, — present at the time as a sutler, — which was without doubt fairly accurate. It was engraved on cop- per by Thomas Johnston, a native of Boston, and at that period an artist of some local repute. Subjected to the tests of a modern standard, the work would be harshly criticised, but, making due allowance for the improved methods in the art of engraving during the last century and a half, it is on the whole creditable. An advertisement in the Gazette, December 22, in this file, gives the date of the publication, and other inter- esting facts connected with the Plan, as follows : — THIS DAY PUBLISH'D, And Sold by Samuel Blodget, at the South End of Boston, near the Sign of the Lamb, and opposite to Capt. Smith's. A prospective PLAN of 2 of the Engagements the English had with the French at Lake- George, on the 8th of September 1755 ; exhibiting to the Eye a very lively as well as just Representation of them ; together with Part of the Lake, the Camp, the Situation of each Regiment, with the Disad- vantages attending them : The Appearance of the Canadians, Indians and Regulars, as they made their Approach to the Brest-work ; the Form of the Land and the Enemy ; together with the Advantage they had in their Ambuscade against Col. Williams. As also a Plan of Hudson's- River from New- York to Albany ; with such Marks as will be of great Service to Navigation : Likewise the River and Waggon Road from Albany to Lake- George ; together with a Plan and Situation of each of the Forts that have been lately built. All which is carefully and neatly struck off from a large Copper Plate. N B. There will be Sold with each Plan a printed Pamphlet with Explanatory Notes, containing a full, tho' short History of that impor- tant Affair from the Beginning to the End of it. ijg^ The above Map, together with the Pamphlets, may be had of the Printers hereof. According to this advertisement the Plan or Map was pub- lished in connection with a pamphlet, of which, fortunately, there is a copy in the Historical Library, though lacking the Map. A comparison between these two publications shows beyond all doubt that they belong together and explain each other, as figures in the one refer to corresponding numbers in the other. The Map, probably, was folded and fastened between the first and second leaves, as there are marks of stitches at this place in the copy. The pamphlet is bound up with others, once owned by the Rev. Dr. Jeremy Bel- knap and given to the Society by his daughter, on March 11, 1858. It is a quarto in form, containing five pages of de- scriptive matter, besides a page of " Advertisement," and is entitled : " A Prospective-Plan of the Battle near Lake Greorge, on the Eighth Day of September, 1755. With an Explanation thereof ; Containing a full, tho' short, History of that important Affair. By Samuel Blodget, Occasionally at the Camp, when the Battle was fought. Boston ; New-England. Printed by Richard Draper, for the Author. MDCCLV." Samuel Blodget, the author of the Plan, was a trader in Boston. He has an advertisement in the Gazette, Dec. 10, 1759, by which it appears that he kept a shop in Marl- borough Street, where he sold English goods, sugars, hats, etc. He gives notice that " Officers and Soldiers who have lately been discharged, may be supplied at the lowest Price, till their Muster-Rolls are made up," showing that he still had certain relations with the army. A sketch of Mr. Blodget is given in Potter's " History of Manchester, N. H." (pages 525-537), from which it appears that he was born at Woburn, on April 1, 1721, and died at Derryfield, now Manchester, on Sept. 1, 1806. At one time he was a Jus- tice of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas for the County of Hillsborough, and at a later period the projector of Blod- get's canal around the Amoskeag Falls. See also Chase's " History of Haverhill" (pages 621, 622) for another account of Mr. Blodget. u Thomas Johnston, the engraver of the Plan, died in Boston, on May 8, 1767. He was an artist of respectability, and had practised as an heraldic painter. "The Boston Evening- Post," May 11, 1767, has the following notice of his death : — Last Friday Morning died here Mr. Thomas Johnston, Japanner, Painter and Engraver, after a short illness, having heen seized with an Apoplectic Fit a few Days before. In the list of ante-Revolntionary publications given in the second volume of Thomas's " Histoiy of Printing " (second edition), it is said, on page 523, that Blodget's " Plan is rarely met with." According to Sabin's " Dictionary of Books re- lating to America" (vol. ii. pp. 231, 232), an edition of the pamphlet was brought out in London, during the year 1756, by T. Jefferys. ) 'Jp*tf -1 M g.-jagiegaEK-^i^S "' - --w- J >i* >ss ?- >,; s iMidfi °n s •*" a 3* a h kin "v <» k\ m Us ST* 1 * ibrymiilkjfyJiu't ,&. .J flit fp ^> •r ^ Edvard. ^ ^ -M A LoSu &"& &$ : 4W$m. t~4& sf •& ■•**., h IfipKIStfi ^ n. »3 ,^ 0; ,i - m *m mM -*■! I !&i ;v:'"-**W '.&&>£ u H ■v.; jgMfcs* RgSSj Si '^gf'fc •■'' ' A -if =ggjSw&. WW I *w ■ t, - r^^ .■/ y,v/WiM am ^irfe|Ef<| (/WW t y//< rir/i<'i/nti :'0 //fy" Jir. •/'//•/«-'. //'////>/.' 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