William Johnson renamed Lac du Saint Sacrement for which British king in 1755? He renamed it Lake George in honor of George II.
William Johnson, a British agent to the Iroquois, reached the southern end of Lac du Saint Sacrement on August 28, 1755. He renamed the lake Lake George to honor Britain’s reigning monarch, King George II. Johnson was leading an expedition intended to move north toward the French fort at Crown Point, or Fort Saint-Frédéric.
The renaming occurred during the French and Indian War, before the Battle of Lake George on September 8, 1755. Johnson’s force defeated a French-led army commanded by Baron Dieskau, then built Fort William Henry at the lake’s southern end. The lake and its surrounding forts became a major corridor between the Hudson River and Lake Champlain.
The royal names are easy to confuse. George II was king in 1755; George III succeeded him in 1760. George I ruled earlier, from 1714 to 1727, while William III’s reign ended in 1702. The name Lake George therefore commemorates George II, not a later Hanoverian king.