English prisoners, sick with horror, were forced to
watch this feast. The priest's protest was dismissed with anger:
the savages would follow their own customs; let the French follow
theirs. The truth is that the French had been only too successful
in drawing the savages to them as allies. They formed now one-
quarter of the whole French army. They were of little use as
fighters and probably, in the long run, the French would have
been better off without them. If, however, Montcalm had caused
them to go, Vaudreuil would have made frantic protests, so that
Montcalm accepted the necessity of such allies.
Each success, however, brought some new horrors at the hands of
the Indians. Montcalm captured Fort William Henry, at the
southern end of Lake George, in August, a year after the taking
of Oswego. Fort William Henry was the most advanced English post
in the direction of Canada. The place had been left weak, for the
Earl of Loudoun, Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in
America, was using his resources for an expedition against
Louisbourg, which wholly failed.
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