Another Head Rolls

 Fun Fact:

Braddock had gone down beneath French and Indian fire. Admiral Byng had fallen before a British firing squad. When the French attacked Fort Ontario, another head would roll.

 The Marquis de Montcalm--whose name would later be linked forever with James Wolfe, Quebec, and the Plains of Abraham--sailed from Fort Frontenac across Lake Ontario to Oswego and surrounded the British forts of Ontario, Pepperell, and George. Fort Ontario on the east bank of the Oswego River overlooked Fort Pepperell on the western bank and the small redoubt of Fort George farther to the west. Montcalm placed his guns and rolled for initiative. Winning the roll, he opened up on Fort Ontario on August 12, 1756. Lieutenant Colonel James Mercer did not appreciate Montcalm's arrival and felt he was not properly prepared to welcome visitors. He evacuated Fort Ontario and retreated. Montcalm did the inevitable, and placed his guns on the heights to send his greetings to the other two forts. Mercer finally decided it was time to use his head, but his saving throw versus artillery came up a critical failure, and he was beheaded by a cannonball. The remaining British officers held a quick council of war and voted against death by heavy flying objects to the head and elected to surrender. As a result, England lost access to Lake Ontario and much of New York. The new war with France was taking a heavy toll on British commanders.

Capitulation of Fort Oswego, Aug. 1756

John Henry Walker (1831-1899) - public domain

--Although the above information is available from many sources, and I've read them in other places, I've consulted my highlights from The French and Indian Wars: Deciding the Fate of North America by Walter R. Borneman for this fun fact episode. 

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On the writing front (Did I mention that I sold a short story? - Well, I did.) Book 6 of the Tomahawks and Dragon Fire Series got some attention. I roughly outlined the final eight chapters and wrote a couple paragraphs on Saturday. Next week, I expect to complete the edits on another short story, get it submitted, and resume the exciting final chapters of Book 6, which remains untitled. I usually have a title before I start, or something leaps out at me during the writing process that demands to become the title, but that hasn't happened yet with this one. Perhaps when I re-read it, a heretofore unrecognized contender for the title will manifest itself amid angel voices and bursts of glory.