Massacre at Fort William Henry

The Massacre at Fort William Henry, near upstate New York's Lake George, happened in August 1757, when French troops attacked British forces stationed in the area, and Native American fighters sacked the Brits as they attempted to fall back to Fort Edward. The episode formed the basis for James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans, to which Plymouth State College archeologist David R. Starbuck (A Shaker Family Album) here devotes an entire chapter before marshaling fascinating and minutely detailed evidence (musket balls: 251; cut shot lead 14; wine bottles: 1,004) against many of Cooper's artistic liberties. The bulk of the book consists of descriptions of site excavations and reconstructions of the lives of the men and women from all sides of the conflict via the artifacts they left behind. ( Apr. 1)