him dead. Montcalm asked Pierre Pouchot to continue with the work of determining how to besiege the British positions. On the night of August 11–12 the French opened siege trenches and began working toward Fort Ontario. The fort's defenders exchanged cannon and gunfire with the French colonists and Indians until late in the day on August 13, at which point, under orders from Mercer, they abandoned the fort even before the siege trenches had reached their goal. Immediately capitalizing on this, Montcalm occupied the fort and began the construction of batteries on the western edge of the height, where they could reach Fort Oswego's exposed east side. Moving with all speed, the French had nine working cannon established by the morning of August 14. When these opened fire on the exposed stonework of Fort Oswego, the walls crumbled under the onslaught. The garrison, whose cannon were all pointed away from the river (not expecting enemy fire to come from that direction), eventually turned their guns around, and the French fire was returned to some effect. However, Montcalm had ordered Rigaud to lead some men across the river upstream from the fortifications, and these men, who made an unopposed crossing under somewhat difficult conditions, appeared on the edge of the clearing outside Fort Oswego about the same time that Colonel Mercer was struck and killed by a French shell. After a short council Lieutenant Colonel John Littlehales, who took over command from Mercer, raised the white flag. Aftermath The British surrendered about 1,700 people, including laborers, shipbuilders, women and children. Montcalm refused to grant the defeated army the honours of war, as he felt that Littlehales had failed to earn them by not putting up more of a fight. When the fort was opened to the Canadian militia and Indians, they rushed in and began plundering the fort, opening the barrels of rum and getting drunk on the contents. Amid the confusion some of the British tried to escape, and were tomahawked and killed by drunken French or Indians. Colonel Littlehales was seized by a group of Abenakis and badly beaten because "he was a coward and had behaved ill." General Montcalm, shocked by the behavior, was eventually able to prevent further killings, although he claimed it would "cost the King eight or ten thousand livres in presents." He then ordered the destruction of all the supplies the French did not