06/23/01

Battle for Carillion

Lord Howe dies again in Ticonderoga

By LOHR McKINSTRY Staff Writer

TICONDEROGA — British troops spotted French scouts coming down a hill. Muskets blazed. Powder smoke filled the air. Men fell.

In the midst of it all, Lord George Augustus Viscount Howe charged up the hill toward the French, his sword drawn.

A shot took him in the center of his chest, throwing him backwards, and he hit the ground in a crumpled heap.

On Friday it was actor John Eric Nelson of Milford, Conn. portraying Lord Howe, who on July 6, 1758 had been about to lead 16,000 British troops against the French-held fortress Carillon, later called Fort Ticonderoga.

Howe had been called "the best soldier in the British army," and his death in the Battle of Ticonderoga Falls so shocked his Majesty’s forces that they wound up marching directly on Carillon and were utterly defeated. They’d outnumbered the French garrison at Carillon 5 to 1.

At the battle site between DeLorm Drive and Pearl Street in Ticonderoga, about 3,000 spectators gathered behind police lines to watch more than 800 British and French military re-enactors engage each other in a recreation of Lord Howe’s death.

Getting ready before the re-enactment, Nelson joked about his upcoming death scene.

"I told them I want the grass dry where I land when I die," he said. "I’m very excited — this is our weekend. We’ve been waiting for this, myself and all the re-enactors here, and there’s been a spirit and an energy around the camp."

Nelson was dividing his duties between the Lord Howe death and the weekend’s big French and Indian War Grand Encampment at Fort Ticonderoga. That event is today and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and many of the same re-enactors went to both events.

"We have a great group of people," Nelson said. "This is the largest group of re-enactors ever in Ticonderoga. The town has been very responsive, very good to us."

Every motel and restaurant in Ticonderoga was full because of the weekend’s events, Town Supervisor Michael Connery said.

"Talk about a boost to our economy — this was great," he said.

Louis Valiquette of Montreal, Quebec, came down with his unit of French-Canadian military re-enactors to participate in the Lord Howe event.

"We relived something very great here," he said. "It’s been a great experience, something to remember.

"We got into the mood for the 18th-century."

Nelson said that when the re-enactment began, it was so realistic that the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.

"When we got on that field, and the guns started going off, and the smoke filled the battlefield, it was eerie," he said.

He said he did a lot of research on how to portray Howe.

"I got out the old journals to see what should be happening," Nelson said.

"This guy really could have changed the history of the United States. He could have beat the French here. They might have withdrawn from the continent."

If that had happened, there might have been no American Revolution, he said.

"He had great relationships with the Americans," Nelson said. "He also had influence with King George. He could have said ‘these Americans aren’t so bad’ and maybe the king would have loosened up."

Newcomb author Robert Bearor, who devised the Lord Howe re-enactment, believes the field behind the Lord Howe Street Trailer Park was the place Howe was killed. He wrote a book, "French and Indian War Battlesites: A Controversy," detailing his research.

After the battle, Bearor and about 800 other re-enactors marched through the streets of Ticonderoga to get to Percy Thompson Bicentennial Park, where a barbecue was being held in their honor.

"They said this re-enactment couldn’t be done," Bearor said. "But we did it."

It can, however, only be done once on the field where Howe was shot — next year the trailer park owners have plans to expand into that site.

Lohr McKinstry can be reached by
e-mail: lmckinstry@pressrepublican.com 

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