Adventures of Great Laker

June 23, 2013

Day 240 - June 22, 2013: Fort Ticonderoga and Lake George

With the car giving us mobility, we headed back up to see Fort Ticonderoga, which is at the southern end of Lake Champlain and near the northern end of Lake George. This fort has a rich history of being critically involved in five battles during two wars and of changing hands five times. I have tried to create a simple version of key events below.

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During the French & Indian War, this location was considered a strategic defensive position by the French to control any movements by the British towards the Saint Lawrence or Great Lakes. Therefore in 1755, the French built Fort Carillon here and used it as a base to attack British camps to the south. However, in 1759, British General Amherst came up from the colonies, attacked, took over the fort and renamed it Fort Ticonderoga.

In 1775, Americans Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold realized that Fort Ticonderoga could be taken, and a small band of Green Mountain Boys captured the fort from the British making it the American's first victory in the Revolutionary War. Shortly thereafter, Colonel Henry Knox transported over 50 tons of captured military supplies including 59 artillery pieces to Boston where the threat of these weapons forced the British to evacuate.

In 1777, General Burgoyne led a very large army of British and German troops south to take Albany, and on the way forced the Americans to abandon Fort Ticonderoga. Two months later, the Americans retook Fort Ticonderoga at the same time that they defeated General Burgoyne at the Battle of Saratoga.

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Since 1930, this site has been reconstructed and managed by a non-profit organization which appears to have done an excellent job. We took a morning tour of the King's Garden, where soldiers grew their food, ate lunch at the visitor center, and took an afternoon tour of the reconstructed buildings of Fort Ticonderoga.