Capture of Fort Ticonderoga

Capture of Fort Ticonderoga
Part of the American Revolutionary War
Capture of Fort Ticonderoga shows Ethan Allen demanding the surrender of the fort (Alonzo Chappel, 1858)
Date May 10, 1775 Location Ticonderoga, New York Result Ticonderoga and Crown Point captured by New England militia
Belligerents
Green Mountain Boys militia of the Connecticut Colony militia of the Massachusetts Bay Colony	Great Britain 26th Regiment of Foot
Commanders and leaders
Ethan Allen, Benedict Arnold	William Delaplace
Strength
83 at Ticonderoga 50 at Crown Point 35 at Saint-Jean	48 at Ticonderoga 9 at Crown Point 21 at Saint-Jean
Casualties and losses
None	All captured

On May 10, 1775, Fort Ticonderoga was captured by a small force of American Patriots led by Ethan Allen and Colonel Benedict Arnold. They surprised and captured, without significant injury or incident, the small British garrison at the fort, and looted the personal belongings of the garrison and its hangers-on. Cannon and other armaments captured at the fort were subsequently hauled away and used to fortify Dorchester Heights and break the stalemate at the siege of Boston.

After seizing Ticonderoga, a small detachment of men captured the nearby Fort Crown Point on May 12, and, in a somewhat daring effort on May 18, Arnold and 50 men raided Fort Saint-Jean on the Richelieu River in southern Quebec, making off with military supplies, cannon, and the largest military vessel on Lake Champlain.

While this event was a relatively minor military action in the war, it had significant strategic importance, as it impeded communication between northern and southern units of the British Army, and gave the nascent Continental Army a staging ground for the invasion of Quebec later in 1775. It also involved two larger-than-life personalities in Allen and Arnold, who, each seeking to gain as much credit and honor as possible for the actions taken, engaged in a war of words and politics that still echoes today.

Background

Fort Ticonderoga was not the fortress it once was in 1758, when the French had held it from a British attack. After the 1763 Treaty of Paris, in which the French ceded their North American territories to the British, the fort was no longer on the frontiers of two great empires, and the French had blown the fort up when they departed. It had fallen into disrepair; it was garrisoned by a small detachment of the 26th Regiment of Foot, which consisted of only two officers and forty-six men, many of them "invalids" (soldiers with limited duties because of disability or illness). Twenty-five women and children lived there as well. Because of its former significance, Fort Ticonderoga still had a high reputation as the "gateway to the continent" or the "Gibraltar of America", but in 1775 it was, according to historian Christopher Ward, "more like a backwoods village than a fort."

Even before shooting in the American Revolutionary War started, American Revolutionaries were concerned about Fort Ticonderoga. The fort was a valuable asset for several reasons. Within its walls were a number of cannons and massive artillery, something the Americans had in short supply. The fort was situated in the strategically important Lake Champlain valley, the route between the rebellious Thirteen Colonies and the British-controlled Canadian provinces, which would expose the colonial forces in Boston to attack from the rear. After the war began with the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, several people had the idea of capturing the fort.

Benedict Arnold had frequently traveled through the area around the fort, and was familiar with its conditions, manning, and armaments. En route to Boston following news of the events of April 19, he mentioned the fort and its condition to members of Silas Deane's militia. This information was acted on by the Connecticut Committee of Correspondence; money was "borrowed" from the provincial coffers and recruiters were sent into northwestern Connecticut, western Massachusetts, and southern Vermont to raise volunteers for an attack on the fort.

John Brown, an American spy who frequently went to Montreal carrying correspondence between revolutionary committees in the Boston area and Patriot supporters in Montreal, was well aware of the fort and its strategic value. Ethan Allen and other Patriots in the Vermont territory were also aware of the fort's value, as it played a role in the territorial dispute over the Vermont territory between New York and New Hampshire; whether either took or instigated action prior to the Connecticut Colony's recruitment efforts is unclear, although Brown had notified the Massachusetts Committee of Safety in March of his opinion that Ticonderoga "must be seized as soon as possible should hostilities be committed by the King's Troops."

When Arnold arrived outside Boston, he told the Massachusetts Committee of Safety about the cannon and other military stores at the lightly defended fort. On May 3, the Committee gave Arnold a colonel's commission and authorized him to command a "secret mission", which was to capture the fort.

The forces assemble

Fort Ticonderoga

Arnold immediately departed with after receiving his instructions, accompanied by two captains, Eleazer Oswald and Jonathan Brown, who were charged with raising the necessary men. Arnold reached the Massachusetts–Vermont border on May 6, where he learned of the recruitment efforts of the Connecticut Committee, and that Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys were already on their way north. Riding furiously northward (his horse was destroyed), he reached Allen's headquarters in Bennington, Vermont on the 7th. There he was told that Allen was in Castleton, fifty miles to the north, awaiting supplies and more men. He was also warned that, while Allen's effort had no official sanction, Allen's men were unlikely to serve under any command not of their own choosing. Leaving early the next day, he arrived in Castleton in time to join a war council, in which he made a case to lead the expedition based on his formal authorization to act from the Massachusetts Committee.

The force that Allen had assembled in Castleton included about 100 Green Mountain Boys, about 40 men raised by James Easton and John Brown at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and an additional 20 men from Connecticut. Ethan Allen was elected colonel, with Easton and Seth Warner as his lieutenants. When Arnold arrived on the scene, Samuel Herrick had been sent to Skenesboro and Asa Douglas to Panton with detachments to secure boats. Captain Noah Phelps, who had been chosen a member of the "Committee of War for the Expedition against Ticonderoga and Crown Point," reconnoitered the fort disguised as a peddler seeking a shave. He saw that the fort walls were in a dilapidated condition, learned from the garrison commander that the British soldiers' gunpowder was wet, and that they expected reinforcements at any time. He reported this intelligence to Ethan Allen, enabling them to plan a dawn raid.

Many of the Green Mountain Boys objected to Arnold's wish to command, insisting that they would go home rather than serve under anyone but Ethan Allen. Arnold and Allen worked out an agreement, but no documented evidence exists about what the terms of the agreement were. According to Arnold, he was given joint command of the operation. Some historians have supported Arnold's contention, while others suggest he was merely given the right to march next to Allen.

Capture of the fort

The flag of the Green Mountain Boys

By 2 a.m. on the 10th, the men had assembled at Hand's Cove and were ready to cross the lake, but they had only two boats secured by Douglas. Eighty-three of the Green Mountain Boys piled in with Arnold and Allen and crossed the lake, and Douglas went back for the rest. But as dawn approached, and fearful of losing the element of surprise, Allen and Arnold ordered the attack. The only sentry on duty at the south gate fled his post after his musket misfired, and they rushed into the fort. Most of the men were detached to rouse the small number of sleeping troops at gunpoint, and to confiscate their weapons. Allen, Arnold, and few other men charged up the stairs toward the officers' quarters. Lieutenant Jocelyn Feltham, the assistant to the fort's commander, Captain William Delaplace, was awoken by the noise, and called to wake the captain. Stalling for time, he demanded to know by what authority the fort was being entered. Allen, who later claimed that he said it to Captain Delaplace, said, "In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!" Delaplace finally emerge from his chambers, fully dressed, and surrendered his sword.

No one was killed in the assault. The only injury was to one American, who was slightly injured by a sentry with a bayonet. Eventually, as many as 400 men arrived at the fort, which they began to plunder for liquor and other provisions. Arnold, whose authority was not recognized by the Vermont men, was unable to stop the plunder, and many of the men got drunk from the fort's liquor stores. Frustrated, he retired to the captain's quarters to await forces that he had recruited, and reported to the Massachusetts Provincial Congress that Allen and his men were "governing by whim and caprice" at the fort, that the plan to strip the fort and send armaments to Boston was in peril. His disputes with Allen and his unruly men were severe enough that weapons were sometimes drawn.

On May 12, Allen sent the prisoners to Connecticut's Governor Jonathan Trumbull noting that "I make you a present of a Major, a Captain, and two Lieutenants of the regular Establishment of George the Third."

Crown Point and the raid on Fort Saint-Jean

1777 map showing the Champlain Valley, and all four forts

Seth Warner sailed a detachment up the lake and captured nearby Fort Crown Point, garrisoned by only nine men. It is widely recorded that this capture occurred on May 10; this is attributed to a letter Arnold wrote to the Massachusetts Committee of Safety on May 11, claiming that an attempt to sail up to Crown Point was frustrated by headwinds. However, Warner claimed, in a letter dated May 12 from "Head Quarters, Crown Point" that he "took possession of this garrison" the day before. It appears likely that, having failed on the 10th, the attempt was repeated on the 11th, with success, as reported in Warner's memoir.

Troops recruited by Arnold's captains began to arrive. Some of the arrived after seizing a small schooner and several bateaux at Skenesboro. He rechristened this boat Liberty, outfitted her with guns, and sailed north with 50 men on May 14, intent on capturing the lone British warship on Lake Champlain. Allen, not wanting Arnold to get the full glory for that capture, followed with some of his men in batteaux, but Arnold's small fleet had the advantage of sail, and pulled away from Allen's boats. By the 17th, Arnold's small fleet was at the northern end of the lake. Anxious for intelligence, Arnold sent a man to reconnoiter the situation at Fort Saint-Jean on the Richelieu. The scout returned later that day, reporting that the British were aware of the fall of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and troops were apparently on the move toward Fort Saint-Jean. Arnold decided to act immediately.

Rowing all night, Arnold and 35 of his men brought the batteaux near the fort. After a brief scouting excursion, they surprised the garrison at the fort. seizing supplies there, along with HMS Royal George, a seventy ton sloop. Warned by their captives that several companies were on their way from Chambly, they loaded the more valuable supplies and cannon on the George, which Arnold renamed the Enterprise. Boats that they could not take were sunk, and the enlarged fleet returned to Lake Champlain. This activity was observed by Moses Hazen, a retired British officer who lived near the fort. Hazen rode to Montreal to report the action to the local military commander, and then continued on the Quebec City, where he reported the news to General Sir Guy Carleton, the governor of the province of Quebec on May 20. Major Charles Preston and 140 men were immediately dispatched from Montreal to Saint-Jean.

Fifteen miles out into the lake, Arnold's fleet met Allen's, still heading north. After a celebratory exchange of gunfire, Arnold opened his stores to feed Allen's men, who had rowed 100 miles in open boats without provisions. Allen, believing he could seize and hold Fort Saint-Jean, continued north, while Arnold sailed south. Allen arrived at Saint-Jean on the 19th, where he was warned of the approaching British troops by a sympathetic Montreal merchant, who had raced ahead of those troops on horseback. Allen returned to Ticonderoga on the 21st, having left Saint-Jean just as the British forces arrived, and having lost three men in skirmishes.

A 1902 photo of the Fort Crown Point ruins

Ethan Allen and his men eventually drifted away from Ticonderoga, especially once the alcohol began to run out, and Arnold largely controlled affairs from a base at Crown Point. Connecticut sent about 1,000 men under Colonel Benjamin Hinman to hold Ticonderoga, and New York also began to raise militia to defend Crown Point and Ticonderoga against a possible British attack from the north. When Hinman's troops arrived in June, there was once again a clash over leadership. None of the communications to Arnold from the Massachusetts committee that had granted his commission had indicated that he was to serve under Hinman; when Hinman attempted to assert authority over Crown Point, Arnold refused to accept it, as Hinman's instructions only included Ticonderoga. Eventually, the Massachusetts committee sent a delegation to Ticonderoga. When they arrived on June 22 and made it clear to Arnold that he was to serve under Hinman, he, after considering for two days, disbanded his command, resigned his commission, and went home, having spent more than £1,000 of his own money in the effort to capture the fort.

Aftermath

Further information: Invasion of Canada (1775), Saratoga campaign, Battle of Ticonderoga (1777), and Battle of Saratoga

1955 U.S. postage stamp depicting Ethan Allen and Fort Ticonderoga

Repercussions in Quebec

News of the capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and especially the raids on Fort Saint-Jean, electrified the Quebec population. Colonel Templer, in charge of the garrison at Montreal, issued a call on May 19 to raise militia for defense of the city, and requested the local Natives to also take up arms. Only 50 militia were raised, which were sent to Saint-Jean; the Natives did not move. Templer also prevented merchants sympathetic to the American cause from sending supplies south, in response to a letter from Ethan Allen brought into the city by the same man who had warned Allen of the approaching troops at Saint-Jean.

General Carleton, notified of the events on May 20, immediately ordered the garrisons of Montreal and Trois-Rivières to fortify Saint-Jean. Some troops garrisoned at Quebec City were also sent to Saint-Jean, with most of the remaining Quebec City troops dispatched to a variety of other points along the Saint Lawrence, as far west as Ogdensburg, to guard against potential invasion threats. He then traveled to Montreal, leaving Quebec City in the hands of Lieutenant Governer Hector Cramahé, to oversee the defense of the province from there. Before leaving, Carleton prevailed on Monsignor Jean-Olivier Briand, the Bishop of Quebec to issue his own call to arms in support of the provincial defense, which was circulated primarily in the areas around Montreal and Trois-Rivières.

Congress, when it received news of the events, drafted a second letter to the inhabitants of Quebec, which was sent north in June with James Price, another sympathetic Montreal merchant. This letter, and other communications from the New York Congress, combined with the activities of vocal American supporters, would continue to stir up the Quebec population in the summer of 1775.

Later actions near Ticonderoga

In July 1775, General Philip Schuyler began using the fort as the staging ground for the invasion of Quebec, that was launched in late August. In the winter of 1775–1776, Henry Knox moved the guns of Ticonderoga to Boston to support the siege of Boston. The guns were placed upon Dorchester Heights overlooking the British ships in the harbor, prompting the British to evacuate the city in March 1776.

Benedict Arnold would again lead a fleet of ships at the Battle of Valcour Island to thwart Britain's attempt to recapture the fort in 1776. The British did recapture the fort in July 1777 during the Saratoga campaign; but by November 1777 the British abandoned the fort after further battle and surrender at Saratoga.

Broken communications

Although Fort Ticonderoga was not at the time an important military post, its capture had several important results. Because rebel control of the area meant that overland communications and supply lines between British forces in Quebec and Boston were severed, British war planners in London made an adjustment to their command structure. Command of British forces in North America, previously under a single commander, was divided into two commands. General Carleton was given independent command of forces in Quebec and the northern frontier, while General William Howe was appointed Commander-in-Chief of forces along the Atlantic coast, an arrangement that had worked well between Generals Wolfe and Amherst in the Seven Years' War. In this war, however, cooperation between the two forces would prove to be problematic and would play a role in the failure of the Saratoga campaign in 1777, as General Howe abandoned an agreed-upon northern strategy, leaving Carleton and General John Burgoyne without southern support in that campaign.

War of words between Allen and Arnold

An engraving of Benedict Arnold by H.B. Hall after John Trumbull, published 1879

Beginning on the day of the fort's capture, Allen and Arnold both began a war of words, each attempting to garner for himself as much credit for the operation as possible. Arnold, unable to exert any sort of authority over Allen and his men, began to keep a diary of events and actions. Allen, in the days immediately after the action, began to work on a memoir that he eventually published several years later (see Further Reading). Allen also wrote several versions of the events, all intended to promote his version of events, to a variety of Congresses and committees in New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, which John Brown and James Easton, one of the Connecticut men, circulated on his behalf. Randall claims that Easton took accounts written by both Arnold and Allen to the Massachusetts committee, but conveniently lost Arnold's account on the way, ensuring that Allen's version, which greatly glorified his role in the affair, would be preferred. Smith indicates that it was highly likely that Easton was interested in claiming Arnold's command for himself. There was clearly no love lost between Easton and Arnold. Allen and Easton returned to Crown Point on June 10 and called a council of war while Arnold was with the fleet on the lake, a clear breach of military protocol. When Arnold, whose men now dominated the garrison, asserted his authority, Easton insulted Arnold, who responded by challenging Easton to a duel. Arnold later reported, "On refusing to draw like a gentleman, he having a [sword] by his side and cases of loaded pistols in his pockets, I kicked him very heartily and ordered him from the Point."

As a consequence of this war of words, it is not uncommon to see histories and biographies containing conclusions that reflect the author's preferred subject. For example, Wilson writes in his biography of Arnold that Allen, when the war was not going well, negotiated in good faith with the British to make the Vermont territory a new province, or part of Quebec. He then goes on to comment, "[Allen] is an odd figure to be revered as a revolutionary hero." It has been known (or at least knowable) for some time that Allen and other leaders of the Republic of Vermont were simply playing two larger political efforts against each other, with the interests of Vermont their primary focus.

References

• Bellesiles, Michael A (1995). Revolutionary Outlaws: Ethan Allen and the Struggle for Independence on the Early American Frontier. University of Virginia Press. ISBN 9780813916033.
• Boatner, Mark Mayo, III (1966; revised 1974). Encyclopedia of the American Revolution. McKay. ISBN 0-8117-0578-1. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help); Unknown parameter |city= ignored (|location= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: year (link)
• Chipman, Daniel (1848). Memoir of Colonel Seth Warner. L. W. Clark.
• Chittenden, Lucius Eugene (1872). The Capture of Ticonderoga: Annual Address Before the Vermont Historical Society Delivered at Montpelier, Vt., on Tuesday Evening, October 8, 1872. Vermont Historical Society.
• Lanctot, Gustave (1967). Canada and the American Revolution 1774–1783. Harvard University Press.
• Mackesy, Piers (1993). The War for America: 1775–1783. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-8192-7.
• Morrissey, Brendan (2000). Saratoga 1777: Turning Point of a Revolution. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 9781855328624.
• Nelson, James L. (2006). Benedict Arnold's Navy: The Ragtag Fleet that Lost the Battle of Lake Champlain But Won the American Revolution. McGraw-Hill Professional. ISBN 9780071468060.
• Nelson, Paul David (2000). General Sir Guy Carleton, Lord Dorchester: Soldier-statesman of Early British Canada. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. ISBN 9780838638385.
• Pell, John (1929). Ethan Allen. Houghton Mifflin. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |city= ignored (|location= suggested) (help)
• Phelps, Oliver Seymour (1899). The Phelps family of America and their English ancestors, with copies of wills, deeds, letters, and other interesting papers, coats of arms and valuable records (two volumes). Eagle Publishing Company. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |city= ignored (|location= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Randall, Willard Sterne (1990). Benedict Arnold: Patriot and Traitor. William Morrow. ISBN 1-55710-034-9.
• Smith, Justin Harvey (1907). Our Struggle for the Fourteenth Colony: Canada, and the American Revolution, Volume 1. G.P. Putnam's Sons.
• Van Tyne, Claude Halstead (1905). The American Revolution, 1776-1783. Harper & brothers.
• Ward, Christopher (1952). The War of the Revolution. Macmillan. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |city= ignored (|location= suggested) (help)
• Wilson, Barry (2001). Benedict Arnold: A Traitor in Our Midst. McGill-Queen's Press. ISBN 9780773521506.
• Vermont Historical Society (1871). Collections of the Vermont Historical Society. Vol. Volume 2. Vermont Historical Society. {{cite book}}: |volume= has extra text (help)

Further reading

• Allen, Ethan (1849). Ethan Allen's Narrative of the Capture of Ticonderoga: And of His Captivity and Treatment by the British. C. Goodrich and S.B. Nichols.
• French, Allen (1928). The Taking of Ticonderoga in 1775: The British Story; A Study of Captors and Captives. Harvard University Press. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |city= ignored (|location= suggested) (help)

External links

• "Capture of Ticonderoga", excerpt from Thrilling Incidents in American History by J.W. Barber, 1860.