Other editions of book French and Indian War: 2

On July 8, 1758, the greatest battle to be fought on American soil until the Revolutionary War took place between a combined army of more than 12,000 British and provincial troops and an army of approximately 4,000 French for possession of the French Fort Carillon (later renamed Ticonderoga). For more than six hours on a stifling summer afternoon, amid terrible slaughter wave after wave of mostly British regulars attempted to take the strongly entrenched French position on the Heights of Carillon by frontal assault. Conspicuous among the units involved in the day's disastrous action was the 42nd Highland Regiment—Black Watch—which lost more than half its men in the unsuccessful attempt, 499 in all. Total British losses in their worst defeat of the French and Indian War amounted to 1,610 killed, wounded or missing. French losses, in their last victory in the long struggle, amounted to 377.