We must now return to the proceedings in the British camp. In the stern climate of Northern America the season for military action was very limited. From the breaking up of the ice on the lakes and rivers, and the melting of the forest snows, till they again hindered or forbid the movement of troops, but little interval was left for the march of an invading army. To pursue with effect the great plan of the campaign, it was necessary to take the field with the earliest signs of returning spring. General Amherst, therefore, left New York on the 28th of April, 1759, and arrived at Albany on the 3d of May: there he busied himself in assembling and organizing his army for the field, preparing boats for transporting the troops, artillery, and stores, and instructing the raw Provincial levies in the rudiments of military discipline. Before this time, he had dispatched the active partisan officer, Major Rogers, with 350 men, from Fort Edward, to feel the strength of the enemy at Ticonderoga and Crown Point: they succeeded in surprising a French working party close to the disastrous scene of the previous year's defeat, killed some men, and took several prisoners, with but little loss to themselves. The intense severity of the weather, however, made the victors pay dearly for their success: two thirds of the detachment were frost-bitten in the feet, some of them to such an extent that their more fortunate companions were obliged to carry them back to the British camp. The whole month of May was occupied in preparation for the advance. The Provincial regiments, as fast as they arrived at head-quarters, were encamped, and instructed with all diligence. The regular troops were pushed on by the road to Fort Edward, and posted at a place fifty-six miles from Albany, while a detachment under Major West constructed a small stockaded fort between Fort Edward and the lake. On the 3d of June the near divisions of the army were ordered to take the field. That same day the general left Albany, and encamped at Port Edward on the 6th.