Darkness had fallen long before the men of Vermont came to the lakes.
Through woods where giant trees reached upward and made the darkness
impenetrable they had marched, stumbling along, feeling their way,
often bumping into trees or falling over logs. Now at the lake shore
they were ready to embark. Silently they moved to and fro, and the only
sound was the lapping of the water against the shore and the roar of
the falls. Just a few boats could be found; but they were filled and
rowed across in silence, brought back, filled again, and again rowed
across. When dawn broke in the east eighty-three American soldiers had
been ferried over, and it was too late to wait for more.
If the attack was to be a success it must be made without more delay.
With the utmost caution, therefore, the men moved forward and up the
slope. The rumble of the falls helped them, drowning out all other
sounds. They reached the sally port. There a sentry pointed his musket
at the leader of the Americans and pulled the trigger. The piece did
not go off, and the sentry fled. In a few moments the little army
of invaders had formed a hollow square within the fort, facing the
barracks about them, their muskets ready to fire. The Indian war-cry
was given, and Ethan Allen, who led them, made his way to the quarters
of the commandant, and demanded the surrender of the fort.
“In whose name,” asked the commandant.
“In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress,”
replied Allen. And the surrender was made. So easily and quietly did
Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold capture Ticonderoga from the British
on that early morning in May, 1775, without the loss of a man or the
firing of a gun, and the army of the colonies was enriched by many
precious cannon, muskets, and a large amount of ammunition for the
struggle for freedom that had but started.
“Sounding waters” is the interpretation given to the Indian name,
Ticonderoga. Here, where the waters of Lake George descend tumultuously
into Lake Champlain, falling thirty feet in one sheer drop, where the
voyagers from Canada to New England had to leave their boats, and
portage their loads, a fort had been built by the French twenty years
before. Three years after it was put up, Ticonderoga was attacked by
six thousand British regulars and ten thousand provincials. The four
thousand men of the French garrison repulsed the attacking army, and
among the killed was Lord Howe. His memory is kept fresh by a tablet
in Westminster Abbey, erected by the people of Massachusetts. Three
weeks after this repulse, when Montcalm had gone to Quebec to oppose
General Wolfe and only four hundred men were left in the fort, Lord
Amherst, with eleven thousand English, besieged it. Realizing the
hopelessness of their task, the garrison blew up the fortifications
and abandoned the place. It had been in English hands since that time
up to its capture by the “Green Mountain Boys” under Ethan Allen. Two
years later, when General Burgoyne descended from Canada, the fort was
captured, while the Americans retreated after a feeble resistance. But
when Burgoyne surrendered, after the battle of Saratoga, Ticonderoga
again fell into American hands.
In 1909, on the three hundredth anniversary of the discovery of Lake
Champlain, the owner of the ground on which the ruins of the fort stood
began its restoration.
The waters still roar at the falls as they did on the night Ethan Allen
and his Green Mountain Boys made the bloodless attack upon the fort.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. 32, SERIAL No. 32
COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
[Illustration: INDEPENDENCE HALL]
_HISTORIC SPOTS OF AMERICA_
_Independence Hall_