When is an "accurate representation" not, I wonder: ------ -3/12/00 Plattsburgh, NY _Press-Republican_- WINTER BATTLE, ENCORES TOGETHER By LOHR McKINSTRY Staff Writer TICONDEROGA — Nearly 300 18th-century reenactors dressed as Rogers' Rangers and French troops charged at each other on the golf course at Ticonderoga Country Club Saturday with muskets blasting. They were re-creating the 1758 Battle on Snowshoes, in which the British-loyal Rogers' Rangers were ambushed and decimated by French soldiers during the French and Indian War. The battle actually took place 242 years ago on the same ground, about two miles south of Ticonderoga. The re-creation of the event Saturday afternoon drew more than 100 spectators and was narrated by Town Historian Daniel Blanchette and history enthusiast Keith Dolbeck. "They're coming this way," Blanchette said over the public address system as the battle raged back and forth on the links. "There'll be a massacre." "The French have fired a devastating barrage," Dolbeck said. Rangers fell all over the links and the sound of musket fire drowned out orders shouted by officers in the two reenactment armies. Warren Stevens of Shelton, Conn., portrayed Capt. Robert Rogers, leader of the rangers, while Newcomb author Robert Bearor was the French Commander Langy. "We were looking at the same cliffs they looked at 240 years ago," Bearor said after the battle. "It was an interesting feeling. It felt real." He led a column of about 50 French and Native American reenactors who marched the four miles from Carillon, now Fort Ticonderoga, to join the others at the battlefield. "I'm amazed at the number of reenactors who turned out," Bearor said. "We had people here from California, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois. The motels and restaurants were full all weekend. "We're thankful to the town of Ticonderoga for the tremendous response and help. We couldn't have asked for better help." The reenactment was filmed by an independent crew for The History Channel and will be shown later this year. The event has been held before as a small private reenactment near Rogers' Rock south of Ticonderoga. "It was done as war games in the woods," Bearor said. "I don't think we'll do it on this scale again until 2008. That's the 250th anniversary of the Battle on Snowshoes." In the original battle, Rogers' Rangers were on patrol in the area when their ice-creeper marks were discovered on Lake George by Indians loyal to the French. An ambush was set for the rangers along a bend on Trout Brook, the stream that runs behind what is now the Country Club. When the ranger force of 180 men saw a small French patrol they chased it around a bend in the creek and found 300 French soldiers waiting. In the devastating battle that followed, about 150 rangers were killed or captured and the rest fled south toward Hague, eventually working their way back to their home base at Fort Edward, 50 miles south. "This was an accurate representation of what happened back then," said Bearor, the author of the book, "The Battle on Snowshoes." "Almost everything happened as it occurred in March of 1758." The major differences were that the battle was fought on three feet of snow then and only about an inch on Saturday, and Trout Brook was frozen, allowing the French to use it as an attack route. Blanchette said it was one of the best reenactments he has ever seen. "It was excellent," he said. "Was this fantastic or what?" Lohr McKinstry can be reached by e-mail: [log in to unmask]