Green Mountains boys, nor do I hesitate as to the success. I expect
lives must be lost in the attack, as the commander of George’s sloop is
a man of courage, etc.
“Messrs. Hickock, Halsey and Nichols have the charge of conducting the
officers to Hartford. These gentlemen have been very assiduous and
active in the late expedition.
“I depend upon your Honour’s aid and assistance in a situation so
contiguous to Canada.
“I subscribe myself, your Honour’s ever faithful, Most obedient and
humble servant.
Ethan Allen
“At present commander at Ticonderoga. To the Hon’ble Johnathan Trumbull,
esq., Capt. General and Governor of the Colony of Connecticut.”
[Illustration: Ethan Allen and Captain Delaplace at The Capture of
Fort Ticonderoga]
It is interesting to note that in neither of Allen’s reports does he
mention Arnold, who had a joint command with him. Hard feeling between
the two commanders had already developed. Arnold was a commissioned
officer in the Connecticut Militia and Allen, an amateur. Professional
soldiers and amateurs never have hit it off.
[Illustration: Letter From Ethan Allen, Ticonderoga, May 12, 1775,
Manuscript in the Museum Collection]
Ticonderoga 12^th. May 1775
Hono^bl Sir I make You a Present of a Major a Captain and Two Lieut^s in
the regular Establishment of George the Third I hope they may serve as
ransoms for some of our Friends at Boston and particularly for Capt
Brown of Rhodiseland a Party of men under the Command of Cap^t Herich
has Took Posession Scenesborough Imprisoned Major Sceen^e and Seized a
Schooner of his, I Expect in ten days Time to have it rigged and man’d
and armed with 6 or 8 Pieces of Canon which with the Boat in our
Possession I Purpose to make an attack on the armed Sloop of George the
Third which is Now Cruising on Lake Champlain and is about Twice as bigg
as the Schooner. I Hope in a Short Time to be authorized to acquaint
your Hoour that Lake Champlain ^^& the fortifications thereon are
subjected to the Colonies The Enterprise has been approbated by the
Officers and Soldiary of the Green Mountain Boys Nor do I hesitate as to
the Success I Expect Lives must be Lost in the attack as the Comander of
George’s Sloop is a man of Courage &c.
[Illustration: Letter, continued]
I Conclude Cap^t Warner is by this time in Possession of Crown Point the
Ordnance Stores &c I Conclude Governor Carlton will Exert himself to
oppose us & Command the Lake &c—Messers Hickock Halsey & Nichols have
the Charge of Conducting the ^Officers{illegible} to Harford These
Gentlemen have been Very Assiduous and active in the Late Expedition I
depend upon Your Honours Aid and Assistance in a Situation so Contiguous
toCanandaigaCanada—I Subscribe my Self Your Honours Ever Faithfull most
Obedient and Humble Servant
Ethan Allen,
at Present Commander of Ticonderoga
THE BRITISH SIDE OF THE CAPTURE
A few years ago Mr. Allen French discovered the manuscript of Lieutenant
Feltham’s report, which reads as follows:
New York, June 11th 1775.
“Sir
“Capt. Delaplace of the 26th regt has given me directions to lay before
you in as plain a narrative as I can the manner of the surprizal of the
fort of Ticonderoga on 10th May with all the circumstances after it that
I thought might be of any service in giving you Exy any light into the
affair.
[Illustration: “Allen Needs You at Ti”
(Courtesy National Life Insurance Company of Vermont)]
“Capt. Delaplace having in the course of the winter applied to Gen.
Carleton for a reinforcement, as he had reason to suspect some attack
from some circumstances that happend’d in his neighborhood, Gen Carleton
was pleased to order a detachment of a subaltern and 20 men to be sent
in two or three separate parties the first party of which was sent as a
crew along with Major Dunbar who left Canada about the 12th April, I
being the first subaltern on command was ordered down with 10 men in a
few days more, to give up to Capt Delaplace with whom Lt Wadman was to
remain, having receiv’d orders from the regt some time before to join
there. as he was not arrived when I came I had orders to wait until he
did. I was 12 days there before he came which was about an hour after
the fort was surprised. I had not lain in the fort on my arrival having
left the only tolerable rooms there for Mr. Wadman if he arrived with
his family, but being unwell, had lain in the fort for two or three
nights preceding the 10th May, on which morning about half an hour after
three in my sleep I was awaken’d by numbers of shreiks, & the words no
quarter, no quarter from a number of arm’d rabble I jump’d up about
which time I heard the noise continue in the area of the fort I ran
undress’d to knock at Capt. Delaplaces door & to receive his orders or
wake him, the door was fast the room I lay in being close to Capt
Delaplace I stept back, put on my coat & waist coat & return’d to his
room, there being no possibility of getting to the men as there were
numbers of the rioters on the bastions of the wing of the fort on which
the door of my room and back door of Capt Delaplaces room led, with
great difficulty, I got into his room, being pursued, from which there
was a door down by stairs in to the area of the fort, I ask’d Capt
Delaplace who was by now just up what I should do, & offer’d to force my
way if possible to our men, on opening this door the bottom of the
stairs was filld with the rioters & many were forcing their way up,
knowing the Commg Officer lived there, as they had broke open the lower
rooms where the officers live in winter, and could not find them there,
from the top of the stairs I endeavour’d to make them hear me, but it
was impossible, on making a signal not to come up the stairs, they
stop’d, & proclaimd silence among themselves, I then address’d them, but
in a stile not agreeable to them I ask’d them a number of questions,
expecting to amuse them till our people fired which I must certainly own
I thought would have been the case, after asking them the most material
questions, I could think viz by what authority they entered his
majesties fort who were the leaders and what their intent &c &c I was
informd by one Ethan Allen and one Benedict Arnold that they had a joint
command, Arnold informing me he came from instructions recd from the
congress at Cambridge which he afterwards shew’d me. Mr. Allen told me
his orders were from the province of Connecticut & that he must have
immediate possession of the fort and all the effects of George the third
(those were his words) Mr. Allen insisting on this with a drawn sword
over my head & numbers of his followers firelocks presented at me
alledging I was commanding officer & to give up the fort, and if it was
not comply’d with, or that there was a single gun fired in the fort
neither man woman or child should be left alive in the fort. Mr. Arnold
begg’d it in a genteel manner but without success, it was owing to him
they were prevented getting into Capt Delaplaces room, after they found
I did not command. Capt. Delaplace being now dress’d came out, when
after talking to him some time, they put me back into the room they
placed two sentry’s on me and took Capt Delaplace down stairs they also
placed sentrys at the back door, from the beginning of the noise till
half an hour after this I never saw a Soldier, tho’ I heard a great
noise in their rooms and can not account otherwise than that they must
have been seiz’d in their beds before I got on the stairs, or at the
first coming in, which must be the case as Allen wounded one of the
guard on his struggling with him in the guard room immediately after his
entrance into the fort. When I did see our men they were drawn up
without arms, which were all put into one room over which they placed
sentrys and allotted one to each soldier their strength at first coming
that is the number they had ferry’d over in the night amounted to about
90 but from their entrance & shouting they were constantly landing men
till about 10 o’clock when I suppose there were about 300, & by the next
morning at least another 100 who I suppose were waiting the event & came
now to join in the plunder which was most rigidly perform’d as to
liquor, provisions, &c whether belonging to his majesty or private
property, about noon on the 10th May, our men were sent to the landing
at L. George, & sent over next day, then march’d by Albany to Hartford
Connecticut where they arrived on the 22d they would not allow an
Officer to go with them tho’ I requested it. They sent Capt Delaplace
his Lady, family & Lt Wadman & myself by Skenesborough to Hartford where
we arrived the 21st.”
Shortly after Allen’s capture of the Fort Congress decided to garrison
the place, and what was afterwards called the Northern Army was
concentrated there. It consisted mostly of New York, New Jersey and
Pennsylvania troops with the Pennsylvanians the best equipped and
organized. General Philip Schuyler of New York was in command through
1775. The Fort was repaired and the old French Lines strengthened and a
number of redoubts started.
[Illustration: Ethan Allen’s Blunderbuss in the Museum Collection]
[Illustration: Benedict Arnold]
CHAPTER EIGHT
Montgomery, Knox, Valcour Island
A number of important things happened at Ticonderoga during the American
occupation between Allen’s capture, May 10th, 1775, and St. Clair’s
evacuation before Burgoyne, July 6, 1777.
An expedition for the invasion of Canada was planned. By the middle of
July, 1775, General Schuyler arrived at Ticonderoga and found but little
progress had been made to advance the expedition, few bateaux, no
boards, little material and few workmen able to build boats. He repaired
the French sawmill, sawed boards, requisitioned carpenters, nails,
provisions and teams and forwarded matters with so much dispatch that by
the beginning of August regiments which were to form the army began to
move toward Ticonderoga. The Continental troops began to arrive by the
middle of August, and on the 13th General Richard Montgomery arrived and
reviewed the troops. On the 28th the army advanced and after a few
skirmishes on the way reached St. Johns on the 6th of September. The
army consisted of about 1000 men under command of General Philip
Schuyler, almost wholly Connecticut troops excepting about 250 of the
first battalion of New Yorkers, under command of Lieutenant Colonel
Ritzma. On the 13th of September General Schuyler was forced to return
to Ticonderoga on account of illness, leaving General Richard Montgomery
in command. The fort at St. Johns held out until November 2nd, when the
garrison surrendered to the American invaders. Among the officers who
surrendered and who were sent down to Ticonderoga, a prisoner with the
rest was Lieutenant John Andre, afterwards executed as a spy.
[Illustration: Major General Richard Montgomery]
On Monday morning, November 13th, a detachment from the Continental Army
took possession of Montreal. Unfortunately, the time of many of the
Connecticut troops had expired and most of them decided to go home. The
General offered as a bounty for those who would enlist for only five
months, a watch great coat, coat, jacket and breeches, stockings and
shoes, shirt, caps, mittens, socks and an English Crown. About 200
volunteered to stay.
General Montgomery shortly afterwards joined Benedict Arnold who was
besieging Quebec, and lost his life in the unsuccessful attack on that
place. The remnants of two armies reached Ticonderoga in the spring of
1776 in a terrible condition.
It was while serving under General Montgomery that Ethan Allen,
advancing toward Montreal to ascertain whether the Canadians were with
or against the Americans, was captured, sent to England as a prisoner
and not returned and released until May, 1778. He took no further part
in the Revolution, though Congress granted him the rank and pay of a
colonel.
On the 16th of November General Washington sent the following
instruction to Henry Knox, then a Colonel of Artillery:
“You are immediately to examine into the state of the artillery of this
army, and take an account of the cannon, mortars, shells, lead and
ammunition that are wanting. When you have done that you are to proceed
in the most expeditious manner to New York, there to apply to the
President of the Provincial Congress and learn of him whether Colonel
Reed did anything or left any orders respecting these things, and get
him to procure such of them as can possibly be had there. The president,
if he can, will have them immediately sent hither; if he cannot, you
must put them in a proper channel to be transported to this camp with
despatch before you leave New York. After you have procured as many of
these necessaries as you can there, you must go to Major-General
Schuyler and get the remainder from Ticonderoga, Crown Point, or St.
John; if it should be necessary, from Quebec, if in our hands. The want
of them is so great that no trouble or expense must be spared to obtain
them. I have wrote to General Schuyler, he will give every necessary
assistance, that they may be had and forwarded to this place with the
utmost despatch. I have given you a warrant to the Paymaster General of
the Continental Army for a thousand dollars, to defray the expense
attending your journey and procuring these articles, an account of which
you are to keep and render upon your return.
[Illustration: General Knox]
“Given under my hand at headquarters at Cambridge, this 16th day of
November, Annoque Domini 1775.
G. Washington.
“(Endeavor to procure what flints you can)”
The Continental Army, approximately 16,000 men, was besieging Boston,
but without heavy artillery it would be impossible to force the British
out. Apparently Colonel Knox had submitted a plan to Washington for the
removal of the guns from Ticonderoga.
On the 5th of December Knox reached Ticonderoga and by the 6th was busy
removing heavy guns from the Fort to a gondola, a type of flat-bottomed
boat used on the lake. By the 9th they had all been transported to the
carrying-place and were loaded on the scows to take them to the head of
Lake George. With the greatest difficulty he transported them over-land,
having had made forty-two strong sleds and hired eighty-one yoke of
oxen. Not until January 4th did the first brass 24 pounder reach Albany,
and on the 24th of the same month with his “noble train of artillery,”
he arrived at the camp in Cambridge. It was a great undertaking
considering the roads and bridges of the period.
[Illustration: General Knox Moving Cannon From Fort Ticonderoga To
Cambridge
(Courtesy Joseph Dixon Crucible Co.)]
Fort Ticonderoga’s Immortal Guns go to General George Washington ...
winter of 1776 ... over hundreds of miles of roadless, trackless,
snowclad mountains and valleys, through thick forests, over
ice-covered lakes and rivers ... on sledges hauled by oxen ... in
charge of General Knox and his artillery men in their red-trimmed
regimentals, who deliver the guns at Dorchester Heights. There,
roaring down at the enemy, they drive him out of Boston Town.
The guns removed from Ticonderoga by Knox consisted of:
MORTARS and COHORNS
Dim of bore. Ft. & Weight Total
ins. of w’ht.
length.
Brass
2 Cohorns 5 - 7/10 1-4 150 300
4 do. 4½ 1-1 100 400
1 Mortar 8½ 2-0 300 300
1 do. 7½ 2-0 300 300
8
Iron
1 do. 6½ 1-10 600 600
1 do. 10 3-6 1800 1800
1 do. 10¼ 3-6 1800 1800
3 do. 13 3 2300 6900
(average)
6
HOWITZERS
Iron
1 8 3-4 15.2.15 15.2.15
1 8¼ 3-4 15.2.15 15.2.15
2 (16)
CANNON
Brass
8 3 pounders 3 - 1/20 3-6 350 2,800
3 6 do. 3 - 7/10 4-6 600 1,800
1 18 do. 5½ 8-3 2000 2,000
1 24 do. 5 -11/12 5-6 16.3.18 1,800
Iron
6 6 do. 3 - 7/10 9-7 2500 15,000
4 9 do. 4 - 4/10 8-4 2500 10,000
10 12 do. 4¾ 9 2800 28,000
7 18 do. 5½ 9 4000 28,000
dble fortif.
3 18 do. 5½ 11 5000 15,000
To. can., 43 Total Weight, 119,900
Mortars, 16
[Illustration: From Contemporary Water Colors. Showing Rig of Fleet
at Valcour Island. (Original in the Museum)]
In the spring of 1776, Benedict Arnold returned to Ticonderoga from the
unsuccessful siege of Quebec. His spies soon told him that the British
under Sir Guy Carleton intended to invade from the North. Arnold, one of
the best soldiers this country ever has produced, realized that a fleet
on Lake Champlain should be the first line of defense. With super-human
efforts he collected shipwrights and carpenters at Ticonderoga and
Skenesborough, erected ways, and, in spite of the lack of men and money,
by the end of August the fleet was ready. It consisted of:
Guns Men Capt.
Schooner ROYAL SAVAGE 12 50 Wynkoop
(Arnold Flagship)
Schooner REVENGE 10 80 Seamen
Sloop LIBERTY 10 35 Plummer
Sloop ENTERPRIZE 12 50 Dickson
Galley WASHINGTON 3 45 Warner
(Gen. Waterbury on
board)
Galley TRUMBULL 3 45 Colonel Wigglesworth
Galley CONGRESS 3 45 Capt. Arnold
Galley CUTTER LEE 6 50 Davis
Gondola BOSTON 3 45 Sumner
” PROVIDENCE 3 45 Simmons
” NEW HAVEN 3 45 Mansfield
” SPITFIRE 3 45 Ulmer or Ustens
” PHILADELPHIA 3 45 Rice
” JERSEY 3 45 Grimes
” CONNECTICUT 3 45 Grant
” NEW YORK 3 45 Lee
[Illustration: The Attack and Defeat of the American Fleet under
Benedict Arnold, by King’s Fleet Commanded by Captain John Pringle,
upon Lake Champlain, the 11th of October, 1776.]
The British, in the meantime, had also been building a fleet. Several
ships in the St. Lawrence had been taken apart, carried around the
rapids, and rebuilt at St. Johns.
The two fleets met near Valcour Island on October 11th. After a two day
fight the American Fleet was almost entirely destroyed, but Arnold had
accomplished his object, he had held back the invaders for a whole year,
as by the time Sir Guy Carleton reached and took Crown Point it was too
late for his army to advance.
The British fleet in the battle consisted of:
Ship INFLEXIBLE 16 Guns Lt. Schank
Schooner MARIA 14 Guns Lt. Starke
(Pringle’s Flagship)
Schooner CARLETON 12 Guns Lt. Dacres
Radeau THUNDERER 14 Guns Lt. Scott
Gondola LOYAL CONVERT 7 Guns Lt. Longcroft
Twenty Gun or Artillery Boats with one gun each.
Four Long Boats—one field piece or howitzer each.
But three of the American Fleet escaped, the “Revenge,” “Trumbull” and
“Enterprise.”
[Illustration: General Schuyler]
[Illustration: Major-General Arthur St. Clair]
[Illustration: Major-General Horatio Gates]
[Illustration: Ticonderoga and Its Dependencies, August 1776]
[Illustration: The Massacre of Jane McCrea
(From a painting in the Museum.)]
CHAPTER NINE
Burgoyne Takes the Fort and Brown Fails to Retake It
The winter of 1776-1777 was a terrible one. The sufferings among the
troops at Ticonderoga exceeded anything at Valley Forge. Men were frozen
to death in their tents, smallpox broke out in the spring and altogether
it was almost unbearable. General Gates succeeded General Schuyler as
commander-in-chief of the Northern Army. Anthony Wayne was succeeded by
Arthur St. Clair as commander at Ticonderoga, in the spring of 1777 and
took command of 2500 Continental troops and 900 militia. General John
Burgoyne had succeeded Sir Guy Carleton as commander-in-chief of the
British Army in Canada.
With the destruction of the American Fleet at Valcour Island the autumn
before, there was nothing to stop the advance of the British, and their
army moved south up Lake Champlain in a great flotilla of bateaux and
little sailing vessels. A large part of the American army was
concentrated at Mount Independence directly across the lake from
Ticonderoga and a floating bridge had been built connecting the two
posts.
[Illustration: General John Burgoyne]
Early in July Burgoyne invested the defenses on the New York side of the
lake. John Trumbull in 1776 had suggested the fortifying of Mount
Defiance which commanded the Fort, but it was never done. On July 5th
the British succeeded in drawing a battery of guns to the top and opened
up on the Fort. General St. Clair decided to retreat by way of the
bridge and Mount Independence, the only road open. The retreat was well
conceived, but someone set fire to General de Fermoy’s house and the
British outposts discovered the American army retreating. A rear guard
had been left at the Mount Independence end of the bridge, but
unfortunately, they found a cask of wine and when the British succeeded
in repairing and crossing the bridge, the whole guard was hors de
combat. Part of the Americans retreated toward Skenesborough, the
Whitehall of today, in the few gondolas and row galleys that had escaped
the defeat at Valcour Island the year before. Most of the army, however,
marched east toward Castleton. The British soon cut the boom which had
been thrown across the lake from Willow Point to the Vermont shore and
part of their army went on up the lake by water after the fleeing
Americans. General Fraser pursued the retreating army and overtook the
American rear guard under Seth Warner near Hubbardton. A sharp
engagement took place and the Americans were defeated, losing 324 in
killed and wounded. It was the German troops under Baron Riedesel, who,
coming into the action a little late, forced the Americans from the
field. On July 6th some of the British ships pursued the American
galleys as far as Whitehall, then Skenesborough, and captured two of
them, forcing the Americans to blow up the remainder. Burgoyne left a
garrison at Ticonderoga under General Powell and proceeded to follow out
his plan of taking northern New York and meeting General Howe at Albany.
St. Clair was courtmartialed for retreating but was exonerated as it was
the only thing he could have done under the circumstances. In the
meantime the army from Ticonderoga formed the nucleus that eventually,
having received an enormous number of recruits from New York, Vermont
and New Hampshire, forced the capitulation of Burgoyne and the surrender
of his whole army at Saratoga late in the autumn. It was Burgoyne’s
bombastic proclamation to the settlers to be loyal to the King, or he
would unloose his Indians, coupled with the unfortunate murder of Jane
McCrea by some of his Indians, which aroused the countryside.
A determined attempt to recapture the Fort was made by Colonel John
Brown, the same Brown who probably was the originator of the capture by
Allen two years before. He was supported by Colonel Johnson whose duty
it was to take Mount Independence and by Captain Ebenezer Allen, whose
job it was to capture Mount Defiance. The attack was by way of the foot
of Lake George and his own account reads as follows:
[Illustration: The Battle of Saratoga. (From a painting in the
Museum.)]
Colonel Brown to General Lincoln:
“North end of Lake George landing.
thursday Sept. 20 1777