The troops marched to the assault with great intrepidity; but their utmost efforts could make no impression on the works. The impediments in front of the intrenchments retarded their advance, and exposed them, while entangled among the boughs of the trees, to a very galling fire. The breast-work itself was eight or nine feet high, and much stronger than had been represented; so that the assailants, who do not appear to have been furnished with ladders, were unable to pass it. After a contest of near four hours, and several repeated attacks, general Abercrombie ordered a retreat. [Sidenote: General Abercrombie repulsed under the walls of Ticonderoga.] The army retired to the camp from which it had marched in the morning; and, the next day, resumed its former position on the south side of lake George.[160] [Footnote 160: Letter of general Abercrombie.] In this rash attempt, the killed and wounded of the English amounted to near two thousand men, of whom not quite four hundred were provincials. The French were covered during the whole action, and their loss was inconsiderable.[161] [Footnote 161: Minot. Belknap.] Entirely disconcerted by this unexpected and bloody repulse, General Abercrombie relinquished his designs against Ticonderoga and Crown Point. Searching however for the means of repairing the misfortune, if not the disgrace, sustained by his arms, he readily acceded to a proposition made by colonel Bradstreet, for an expedition against fort Frontignac. This fortress stands on the north side of Ontario, at the point where the St. Lawrence issues from that lake; and though a post of real importance, had been left, in a great degree, undefended. The detachment designed for this service was commanded by colonel Bradstreet. It consisted of three thousand men, of whom two hundred were British, and was furnished with eight pieces of cannon, and three mortars. [Sidenote: Fort Frontignac taken.] Colonel Bradstreet embarked on the Ontario at Oswego, and on the 25th of August, landed within one mile of the fort. In two days, his batteries were opened at so short a distance that almost every shell took effect; and the governor, finding the place absolutely untenable, surrendered at discretion. The Indians having deserted, the prisoners amounted only to one hundred and ten men. A great quantity of military stores, together with nine armed vessels, mounting from eight to eighteen guns, also fell into the hands of the English.[162] [Footnote 162: Letter of colonel Bradstreet.] After destroying the fort and vessels, and such stores as could not be brought off, colonel Bradstreet returned to the army which undertook nothing farther during the campaign. [Sidenote: Expedition against Fort Du Quesne.]