"A concise, but comprehensive, treatment of the various versions of the tale is given by the historian Dr. Joseph Gagne in "A" Legend of Ticonderoga: Retracing the Origins of the Duncan Campbell Ghost Story, found here and best read after one has experienced the story itself. The origin of the tale is unknown, but, according to Dr. Gagne, it was passed down through oral transmission until committed to writing by the Scottish author Thomas Dick Lauder in 1841."
"Lang claims to have heard the story from Elspeth Campbell, daughter of Lord Archibald Campbell (not the Archibald Campbell who fought alongside his father, Duncan, at Carillon) and Janey Sevilla Callander, but provides no details on when or how he heard it nor any clues to its origin. Lord Archibald Campbell wrote his own version of the tale in 1885, which, according to Gagne, contained several critical errors that Elspeth's version corrects."
The Legend of Ticonderoga centers on Duncan Campbell, mortally wounded at the Battle of Carillon on 8 July 1758, amid the British failed assault on Fort Carillon (now Fort Ticonderoga). The tale circulated orally for generations before appearing in print by Thomas Dick Lauder in 1841. Notable retellings include A. P. Hill (1880), Robert Louis Stevenson (poem, 1887), Andrew Lang (1897), and Lord Archibald Campbell (1885). Dr. Joseph Gagne traced variant forms and cautioned on origins. Versions vary widely, sometimes shifting the setting to the American Revolution, and the story remains popular with folklorists and seasonal storytellers.
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