The Siege of Fort William Henry is a new documentary from Erik Swanson. For the unversed, Fort William Henry was a British fort on Lake George, the New York frontier, during the French and Indian War. In 1757 a French army of 9,000 men, including almost 2,000 of their American Indian allies, laid siege to the fort. Over several days the French cannons bombarded the fort, while the Indians harassed the men in the adjacent encampment. After 6 days the siege came to an end. The British and colonials in the Fort and adjacent encampment flew the white flag and surrendered. The following day the Indians attacked the surrendered British troops in what has become an infamous massacre. These events inspired author James Fenimore Cooper to write “the Last of the Mohicans.” The siege of Fort William Henry being the backdrop to his novel. This film recounts the events through journals and letters of men who were at the Siege. A report from Colonel Joseph Frye, the Journals of the French General Montcalm, his aide de camp, and many others bring the historic events to life. Hear the story from men on both sides of the Siege of Fort William Henry. For the 411 on the doc, which is available now on DVD, we speak to Swanson.
When did this project come to be?
I made The Siege of fort William Henry between June of 2020, and June of 2021. Part of my objective while making it was to complete it in less than a year. I just barely made my deadline.
And the inspiration?
My inspiration for making the documentary came mostly from my love of The Last of the Mohicans, and my memory of old History channel documentaries. I really enjoy history, and history documentaries, but unfortunately programming about actual history has been in the decline the past few decades.
There also aren’t a lot of good documentaries on any topics before 1900 – probably due to the lack of footage and photographs – so I thought I would make the type of documentary that I wanted to see.
You’re primarily known for documentaries but is this, a historical account, the type of film you normally gravitate towards?
This is the first historical documentary I have made, but probably won’t be the last. My other films have been focused more on finding the story in the footage I captured, or interviews I conducted. For this documentary I really enjoyed the historical research and creating images to portray this piece of history, so I am actively trying to find another subject to cover. I guess I gravitate towards topics that interest me. History just happens to be one of those topics.
Was the goal to inform others? Especially those whose education of these times starts and ends with ‘Mohicans’?
I definitely wanted to inform others, and hopefully to entertain them as well. This period in American history is not really known to a lot of people, but it helped instigate the war for independence. I hope to show people that there are a lot of fascinating stories throughout history, so maybe they’ll want to read more about the French and Indian War… or at least look it up on wikipedia.
Have any trouble getting materials or was that a wealth of stuff out there to use?
Thankfully the US Library of Congress, National Archives, and other public and private libraries have quite extensive digital versions of their collections. I was able to find quite a lot of maps and other sources fairly easily, but some of the historic journals I referenced were very difficult to locate. One of the main journals took me several months to hunt down. Another, the journal of the French General Montcalm, was only available in French, so I had to painstakingly translate the entries as I looked for information and quotes that might be relevant to the story.
I imagine a doc is even more challenging to put together than a feature. Can you explain the process of putting together a doc?
For me the documentary filmmaking process is actually easier than a feature, or at least it suits my working style better.
The documentary process is much more freeform. The writing, editing, and filming all take place at the same time. As I shoot, or write something it gets edited. This way I can see what form the film is taking right from the start, and adjust as needed. If I find a gap in the story, I can film an interview, or write some narration to fill the hole. This is the part about making documentaries that I really love. The whole film is developed at the same time, and writing, filming, and editing all happen together throughout the whole process, rather than one at a time like in narrative film.
I also have more tools at my disposal to tell the story in documentary. I can use maps, photographs, interviews, voice over, animation or abstract imagery. All of these devices are much more accepted in documentary than in a feature.
How much did you know about the story before tackling the film?
My first introduction to the story was seeing the movie “The Last of the Mohicans,” as a kid. Eventually I found out that Fort William Henry was a real place, and that it wasn’t that far from where I lived, which piqued my interest. So I learned the broad strokes of the story a while ago, but not all the details. It wasn’t until I started reading all the historic journals for myself that I really understood the story.
You are selling the film online – at your site – why this distribution model. More beneficial for the filmmaker than getting into a distribution contract?
I also have the film in the gift shops at The Fort William Henry Museum, and the Fort Plain museum, with hopefully more to come. I do think it is more beneficial to self distribute in this case. I will probably pursue other options in the future, but for now I think this is the best path for me. I get to build a relationship with the folks who are actually watching my documentary.
While making the documentary, I was able to post images and short clips online, and connect with groups interested in the subject. I got their feedback on my DVD cover, and shared the journey with them. If I signed with a distributor I would be losing that personal connection, and just letting someone else benefit from my engagement with the audience.
Thanks for taking the time to chat with me. Hopefully we can talk again.
Order the DVD : https://eks.tv/product/the-siege-of-fort-william-henry-dvd/