midnight
On the 12th of August , the Earl of London sent Colonel Webb , with the 44th Regiment and some of Bradstreet 's boatmen , to reinforce Oswego . They should have started a month before , and , had they done so , would have been in time ; but confusion and misunderstanding had arisen from a change in command . Webb had scarcely made half his march , when tidings of the disaster met him , and he at once fell back with the greatest precipitation . At midnight on the 10th , Montcalm had landed his force within half a league of the first English fort . Four cannon were at once landed , and a battery thrown up , and so careless of danger were the garrison , that it was not till the morning that the invaders were discovered . Two armed vessels at once sailed down to cannonade them ; but their light guns were no match for the heavy artillery of the French , and they were forced to retire . The attack was commenced without delay .