As the season was so far advanced, I wished to reach New York without delay. We therefore concluded to travel soon, and visit Lake Champlain to its southern extremity, then to Saratoga, Albany, and further down the Hudson to New York, taking the Catskill mountains by the way, and inspecting the famous military school of West Point. With this view, on Friday, the 9th of September, we went on board the steam-boat Montreal, which runs between Montreal and the right bank of the river. Lieutenant-Colonel M‘Gregor and Major Loring escorted us to the boat. In half an hour we found ourselves on the other side of the river. We landed near the village Longueuil, where stage-coaches awaited us, which carried us and our baggage to St. John, situated on the river Richelieu, about twenty-seven miles from Longueuil. The road lies several miles along the banks of the river St. Lawrence, till you arrive to the village of La Prairie. In this village we took our leave of this noble neighbourhood and majestic stream, on whose banks we had tarried so agreeably. The road led through a plain, which was very little cultivated, and containing few trees. We only met with a single village called Lavane. Here and there we observed some larch trees. About half past one in the afternoon, we reached the village of St. John, having arrived a mile from the above-named village, at the river Richelieu. Here we went on board the American steam-boat Phœnix, in order to sail for Whitehall. This vessel deserves the name, because the boat, whose place it supplies, was of the same name, and burned some years ago on Lake Champlain. The new Phœnix is commodious and clean, one hundred and twenty feet long, having machinery of forty-six horse-power. Both banks of the river were thickly timbered. Ten miles above St. John we reached an island called Isle Aux Noix, the last English strong post on Lake Champlain. The captain had the politeness to tarry here a short time, in order that I might survey the island and its fortifications.
Isle Aux Noix contains about ninety acres, and is very flat and swampy. The fort is called Fort Lenox, in honour of the late duke of Richmond; it consists of a regular square, with four bastions and two ravelins, and is built according to the system of Vaubans. On account of the swampy ground, the fortification which anciently stood here, is almost sunk. The revêtement is a half one, and formed of wood, as well as the scarp and counterscarp. The whole lower wall consists of roots of trees, mostly cedar, placed horizontally crosswise, and only those roots which constitute the revêtement stand upright. On the horizontal roots earth is thrown and rammed. The engineers believe that this costly work will stand thirty years. I however believe it would have been better if they had rammed the roots into the ground and put a grate upon that, and then a strong stone revêtement, or still better if they had arched it en décharge. The two ravelins, whose basis is also of wood, lie before the northern and southern front. Under the curtain of the eastern front, they have built casemates for the garrison. Near the gate in the wall are small arsenals, and on the inside of the fort stands the guard-house, which also contains the prison. The base of this fortification, as well as the few buildings which stand within, are bomb-proof. The houses are built of blue limestone which comes from the state of Vermont. A road covered with palisades surrounds the fort. I observed here palisades which can be knocked down backwards, and might be advantageous in case of accident, whilst I took a survey of this work, accompanied by Captain Reed of the seventieth regiment, who is commandant, and has already been in garrison here one year with his company, also by the two engineer officers. Northward of the fort stands the navy-yard, which is in the same situation as it was at the period of the treaty of Ghent. There were about twelve gun-boats under cover, and a frigate of thirty-six guns on the stocks, whose keel and skeleton has rotted ever since. A naval magazine, and the dwellings of the officers, overseers, and workmen of the wharf, stand behind the navy-yard. The two branches of the stream separating the island from the main land are tolerably small, and the shores are covered with trees.
Eleven miles above Isle Aux Noix we left Canada and again reached the territories of the United States. At the point where the river Sorel leaves Lake Champlain, and where we entered into the latter, the American government has erected a fort called Rous’ Point, consisting of a defensive tower with casemates, which, as well as I could judge in passing, appeared to have been located with much judgment and erected at a small expense. This tower completely commands the communication between the lake and the Sorel, and as the guns are all under cover, the garrison has but little to fear from the vertical fire of the enemy’s infantry. The fort stands on a cape. According to the treaty of Ghent, the forty-fifth degree of north latitude, between the state of Maine and the St. Lawrence, between the United States and Canada, were fixed as boundaries; and as to fulfil the terms of the treaty, the commissioners determined the latitude of several places astronomically, it has been discovered that this fort lies somewhat north of forty-five degrees, and consequently is on the Canadian side.
The greatest breadth of Lake Champlain, which contains several large islands, is six miles. The shore on our right, belonging to the state of New York, is low and covered with trees; the other belongs to Vermont, and is more mountainous. As night approached, we were prevented from enjoying this beautiful part of the country; I was also with regret prevented from seeing the battle ground of Plattsburgh, at which town the vessel made a short stay during the night. Some American custom-house officers came on board, without, however, inquiring after our baggage, and this was a new and not disagreeable circumstance.
The same night we stopped at Burlington in Vermont, and the Grymes’ family left us here to go to Boston. I expected to meet this interesting family again in New York in fourteen days. Towards morning we passed the ruins of Fort Crownpoint, which lie on a hill. At this place the lake is very narrow and resembles a river. The shores are generally covered with bushes and pine trees, are hilly, and afford a pleasing prospect. At the village of Shoreham, twelve miles above Crownpoint, on the eastern shore of Vermont, we left the Phœnix, which went twenty miles further to Whitehall, the southern point of Lake Champlain, and landed to see Lake George, which is celebrated for its romantic situation and shores. Sir Michael and Lady Clare continued with us, and resolved not to part from us till we arrived at Albany, after which they would travel to Boston. As a slight recompense for the loss of the Grymes’ family, Mr. Shoemaker, and his wife, from Philadelphia, bore us company hence to Albany. They were Quakers, but had laid aside the striking costume of their sect.
At the inn of Shoreham is a place for loading and unloading vessels, which transport much plaster of Paris and blue limestone for building, to Canada. Among the stones on the shore we found some which appeared to be rich iron ore, said to be common in Vermont. At the inn we met with an elderly lady of the middle rank, who was smoking tobacco; this custom is said to be prevalent here among elderly women. We passed over the lake, scarcely half a mile wide, in a wherry, and landed on the other shore, not far from the ruins of Fort Ticonderoga. This in an old French fort, lying on an elevated cape, which commands the navigation of the lake. From the ruins we saw that it was a square with four small bastions and three ravelins, the scarp, and the counterscarp being covered with strong stone-work; the bastion contains casemates as well as the curtain of the eastern front. Several massive buildings stood in the fort so that it must have had but little room. About three hundred paces east of the fort, on the extremity of the cape, stands a small pentagonal redoubt, which communicated with the fort by means of a covered way. The cape is connected with the main land of New York by means of a neck of land, which was cut off by a crownwork, consisting of earth. The eminence on which this crownwork lies, in some measure commands the fort, and an entrenched camp seems to have been located here. Between the fort and crownwork we remarked the remains of two square redoubts. On the same shore, south of the fort, but separated from it by an inlet of the lake, lies Mount Defiance, which commands the fort in a great degree, and from which, in July, 1777, the English, under General Burgoyne, bombarded the fort, which was too quickly evacuated by the Americans, under General St. Clair. On the eastern shore of the lake, opposite Ticonderoga, lies another hill, Mount Independence, of the same height as the fort on which the Americans had formed their works at that time, under the protection of which they passed the lake after the evacuation of the fort. This was afterwards destroyed by the English. In July, 1758, when the fort still belonged to the French, the English attacked it, but were repulsed with a loss of eighteen hundred men.
From Ticonderoga we went in a stage three miles further to Lake George, through a very hilly country. The level of this lake is about three hundred feet higher than that of Lake Champlain; the stream which flows from the former into the latter lake,