The engineer having reported that the entrenchment might be forced by musketry alone, Major-General Abercromby, unfortunately, determined to attack the place without waiting for the artillery, which, on account of the badness of the ground, could not be easily brought up. A rumour also that the French were about to be reinforced with three thousand men, confirmed the General in his resolution. Although the troops behaved with the utmost gallantry in the attack on fort _Ticonderoga_, on the 8th July, it was found impossible to succeed in the undertaking, and after many unavailing efforts, during a desperate contest of upwards of four hours, Major-General Abercromby gave orders to withdraw, and the British returned to their camp on the south of Lake George, where they arrived on the following evening.[13]
The following officers belonging to the FORTY-SIXTH regiment were killed on this occasion: Lieut.-Colonel Samuel Beaver, Captains George Needham and Edward Wynne; Lieutenants Jacob Laulhé and Arthur Lloyd; Ensign George Crofton, and Quarter-Master Thomas Carbonell.
In the year 1759, it was proposed to attack the French in all their strong posts in Canada at once, so as to fall as nearly as possible at the same time upon Crown Point, Niagara, and the forts to the south of Lake Erie, while a great naval armament, and a considerable body of land forces under Major-General James Wolfe, should attempt Quebec by the river St. Lawrence.
Lieut.-General Amherst, who commanded the British forces in America, was to attack Ticonderoga and Crown Point, by Lake George; the reduction of these forts would command the Lake Champlain, where having established a sufficient naval force, he was by the river Sorel, which forms the communication between this lake and the river St. Lawrence, to proceed to Quebec, and effect a junction with Major-General Wolfe.
The third of the grand operations was against _Fort Niagara_, near the celebrated falls of that name, a place of great consequence. The reduction of this place was committed to Brigadier-General John Prideaux (fifty-fifth regiment), under whom Sir William Johnson commanded the provincials of New York, and several Indians of the Five Nations, who were engaged in the British service, by the credit that gentleman had obtained among their tribes. It was to this portion of the army that the FORTY-SIXTH regiment was attached.