of Ogdensburg, had been captured. Fort Frontenac had been
destroyed by Bradstreet, and was left without a garrison.
British troops were in charge of Fort Oswego, which had
been built in 1759. Niagara, the strongest fort on the
Great Lakes, had been taken by Sir William Johnson. Near
it were two lesser forts, one at the foot of the rapids,
where Lewiston now stands, and the other, Fort Schlosser,
on the same side of the river, above the falls. Forts
Presqu'isle, Le Boeuf, and Venango, on the trade-route
between Lake Erie and Fort Pitt, and Fort Pitt itself,
were also occupied. But all west of Fort Pitt was to the
British unknown country. Sandusky, at the south-west end
of Lake Erie; Detroit, guarding the passage between Lakes
Erie and St Clair; Miami and Ouiatanon, on the trade-route
between Lake Erie and the Wabash; Michilimackinac, at
the entrance to Lake Michigan; Green Bay (La Baye), at
the southern end of Green Bay; St Joseph, on Lake Michigan;
Sault Ste Marie, at the entrance to Lake Superior--all
were still commanded by French officers, as they had been
under New France.

The task of raising the British flag over these forts
was entrusted to Major Robert Rogers of New England, who
commanded Rogers's Rangers, a famous body of
Indian-fighters. On September 13, 1760, with two hundred
Rangers in fifteen whale-boats, Rogers set out from
Montreal. On November 7 the contingent without mishap
reached a river named by Rogers the Chogage, evidently
the Cuyahoga, on the south shore of Lake Erie. Here the
troops landed, probably on the site of the present city