While the expedition under Lieut.-General (afterwards Lord) Amherst proceeded in May, 1758, against Cape Breton,[12] the FORTY-SIXTH regiment was ordered to join the body of troops under Major-General James Abercromby, selected to attack the fort of _Ticonderoga_. This force, which comprised the twenty-seventh, forty-second, forty-fourth, FORTY-SIXTH, and fifty-fifth regiments, embarked on Lake George on the 5th of July, and landed on the following day near the extremity of the lake, from whence the troops marched through a wild and thickly-wooded country, in four columns, upon _Ticonderoga_; the guides mistook the route through the trackless woods, and on the 6th of July, a skirmish ensued with a body of French troops, in which Brigadier-General George Augustus Viscount Howe (of the fifty-fifth regiment) was killed. With this exception the British sustained but small loss, while the enemy had three hundred killed, and one hundred and forty-eight taken prisoners. On the 8th of July, the British appeared before the fort, which was situated on a tongue of land, projecting into Lake Champlain, and was built by the French in 1756. It could only be approached on one side, which was strongly fortified; the other three sides being surrounded by water. Felled trees, with their branches outward, were spread before the works, which were defended by between four and five thousand men. 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] [Sidenote: 1759] 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.