this is on lake champlain, and then in the region between lake champlain and lake george to the south on the narrow passageway, the french built a fort in an area that the natives call ticonderoga. the british adopted the name tie conned brough roguea, but first the forts here were built by the french. well, let's go on in the talk. now here you see a modern view of the fort is reconstructed and reconstructed beautifully and how it is on this waterway that is southward to north or north to south between, again, the st. lawrence and the hudson river valley, and the fort was originally built by the french, and, of course, it would be a scene of conflict. on lake george to the south the british built a camp in -- a fort in 1755 after conflict there with the french. and in the early conflict in this particular theater the english only had the assistance of the mohawks. the french had the assistance of many native peoples besides the help of their own french colonials, the french canadians, who had a very important role in this campaign. between 1755, 1758-'09 to the end of the war. now, t

we'll also talk about a battle that occurred in the lake champlain corridor actually on lake -- on the shores of lake george and triggered a famous episode, a massacre that's featured in the movie "the last of the mohicans," as well as the book of course, by james fen more cooper, the 19th century novel. we'll also talk about the turning point in the war, how in the early stages in north america, the british and british colonials were faring badly and the french and their native allies were doing quite well and then how in 1757, with william pitt's rise to power as the first minister in england as the king's first minister what would be prime minister today, the british adopted a more effective war policy that made north america a central theater of the war and brought more resources to north america which helped british victory ultimately. and that british victory we'll see occurred through the occupation of certain points, including ultimately quebec. and we'll talk about the british campaign that culminated in the conquest of french canada in 1759-'60. now, let's turn to a modern pa

the war also involved the region of the lake champlain corridor. it's largely between two state, new york state on the western side of the lake and on the east, vermont. the northern tip of the lake does touch canada. lake champlain was important in the war. it could be an artery of invasion moving north ward or south ward as we'll see at various points of the conflict. lastly, of great importance was the saint lawrence river. the great river of canada. beginning with its source in the great lakes and of course, it's course downstream moving northeasterly all the way to the atlantic. quebec being the main french fortress and most powerful single point in canada. it was to be very significant in the conflict. let's take a look at a modern map and get a sense of this geography. today, beyond skudiscussing the military history, i'd like to give you a sense of the human dimensions of this conflict and the various people and interests involved. the struggle, the sufferings which were great. the hardships, not least of the acadia, the french colonyist of

willing captive, a willing prisoner by a party of huron, algonquin and -- penetrating the length of lake champlainthe iroquois lake, down to that place where the mohawks live. and the reason the hurons were taking champlain and his two french companions was because they had firepower. they could use their firepower for the first time ever in the champlain basin to make a power play, a power move against the mohawks. and in an illustration in champlain's book published that year, 1609 when he returns to france, he illustrates the site of that battle and the fort that is built by the mohawks on land the night before the battle. the first known victorian representation of a fort in the interior of north america, and it's on the shores of lake champlain, on the shores of this great warpath that connects the native people living in the st. lawrence valley with the mohawks and the other members of the iroquois confederacy. that's the prequell to eliot's book, eliot's tale of the next 200 years. so we've talked a little bit about place and the long history of america's great warpath. so we can talk about

he does not plans into in lake champlain. he is collecting all geographies .his geographical report, he has turned into a grand compilation not. by 1557 europeans are seeing for the very first time a printed form on an mercator map the interior of north america and(o this great warpath. place in the interior of north america does not show us the long island, cape cod, but it shows us that south for reaching waterway, down to the place where the water forks. he adds a very important piece of information. at that place down to the south, that's the place of the mohawks. this is america's warpath. often that distance is the place where we will be our enemies.'o france is not able for a variety of wars of religion taking place in france it takes almost 75 penetrates into the lake which he modestly named after self. growing up in new york state. he was being taken as a willing captive and prisoner by a party and content indians who were penetrating the length of lake champlain. the record laid down to the place where the mohawks left. the reason there were taking

and completely defeats slightly superior will navy on lake champlain.ne of the things the book brings out is i hope multiplicity of that. that remains a true thing. even as we're doing all the things we have done in iraq and afghanistan we are also getting ready for much larger more dimensional kinds of forces. >> we actually have a little time of -- because of the efficiency of the panel. we might take a couple questions from the audience if there are such. >> eliot, i would be interested in -- [inaudible] [laughter] >> we would have to go through an institutional review board at johns hopkins university, cable for the medical school would be passing on whether i could use human subjects. >> what are the -- were there archival materials? >> no. as i said it is a real book. ft notes, foreign-languages and everything. in washington that sometimes means the same thing. , very much tried to use primary sources. not entirely but one of the joys of this book, and thing that is very scary is different pieces have been the subject of fabulous historians over t

several accounts of the war andt aflame and battles on lake champlain and dandridge jackson's command of american forces of the final major battle of the war the battle of new orleans, which took place on >> o generally, 1815 petraeus to mckeithen and hinchey for coming to the tattered cover. tonight we welcome walterntroduh borneman to introduce his bookt 1812 the war that forge a nation. lit the audacious little hot usa in brish emclear its last war against our current trend of the anned h empire. and often overlook the war that spanned half a continent from o mackinac island rlto new orleans and lake champlain to horseshoes bend. now it's presented a historical sweeping narrative of the war and its importance to america's early development. he is the author of "saga -- alasa, saga of a bold land" and practices law here in colorado. will you please welcome walter borneman. [applause] >> thank you, sally, very much. i appreciate that gracious introduction and i appreciate all of you being here this evening. coming to the tattered cover is always like coming home for me and it's nice

the invasion from canada was dependent on the control of lake champlain. the british had a fleet there. we knew for a long time that they were going to invade, and we built up our fleet there. we had a wonderful commander there named mcdonough, but everybody thought the english were going to ce feet mcdonough, and this invasion army was going to take plattsberg, and how far they would go dependent on the circumstances and the berth and so on, but they were going to have an easy time of it. mcdonough stopped them. he defeated the english, english fleet only two weeks after they had burnt, burnt washington. and that invasion army, the general who was leading the invasion army, once he saw that naval battle being lost, he turned around and went back to canada. because he said without lake champlain, we cannot move further south safely. at the very same time that that was happening, the british attacked baltimore. the very same time. and they were beaten at baltimore. and the united states navy played a huge part in the battle of baltimore. as well. so the nav

now, what about the fighting in the lake champlain corridor. here we have an interesting image of a chief. he was a mohawk chief for many years. he made a visit. normally where a british coat like that of an officer, but in this case he did. as a badge of honor. that's the british authorities.

now, what about the fighting in the lake champlain corridor? here we have an interesting image of an iroquois chief called hendrick by the english and the dutch in new york. and he was an influential mohawk chief for many years. and he made a visit to england about 1740. and perhaps for that reason at one point he didn't necessarily normally wear a british coat like that, of an officer. but in this case, he did as a badge of honor that he felt a loyalty to the english. of course, that require that the british authorities and the british colonial authorities respect the mohawks, respect their lands, give them sufficient presents and good terms of trade. so there was reciprocity in this relationship. it was not one way. let's go on. we talked about the albany conference earlier in 1754. hendrick was there.