place at the break of day, after the best disposition of the men I could
make, immediately began the attack, and in a few minutes carried the
place. I then without any loss of time detached a considerable part of
my men to the mills, where a greater number of the enemy were posted,
who also were soon made prisoners, a small number of them having taken
possession of a blockhouse in that vicinity were with more difficulty
bro’t to submission; but at a sight of a cannon they surrendered. During
this season of success, Mount Defiance also fell into our hands. I have
taken possession of the old French lines at Ticonderoga, and have sent a
flag demanding the surrender of Ty and of mount independence in strong
and peremptory terms. I have had as yet no information of Col. Johnson’s
attack on the mount. My loss of men in these several actions are not
more than 3 or 4 killed and 5 wounded, the enemy’s loss is less. I find
myself in possession of 293 prisoners, viz, 2 captains, 9 subs, 2
commisaries, non Commissioned officers and privates, 143 British, 119
Canadians, 18 artificers, and retook more than 100 of our men, total
293, exclusive of the prisoners retaken—The watercraft I have taken is
150 bateaus below the falls on Lake Champlain 50 above the falls
including 17 gunboats and one armed sloop, arms equal to the number of
prisoners. Some ammunition and many other things which I cannot now
ascertain. I must not forget to mention a few cannon which may be of
great service to us. Tho my success has hitherto answered most sanguine
expectations, I cannot promise myself great things, the events of war
being so dubious in their nature, but shall do my best to distress the
enemy all in my power,—having regard to my retreat—There is but a small
quantity of provisions at this place which I think will necessitate my
retreat in case we do not carry Ty and independence—I hope you will use
your utmost endeavor to give me assistance should I need in crossing the
lake &c—The enemy has but a very small force at Fort George. Their boats
are on an island about 14 miles from this guarded by six companies,
having artillery—I have much fear with respect to the prisoners, being
obliged to send them under a small guard—I am well informed that
considerable reinforcements is hourly expected at the lake under command
of Sir John Johnson—This minute received General Powel’s answer to my
demand in these words, ‘The garrison intrusted to my charge I shall
defend to the last.’
[Illustration: Surrender of Burgoyne. (From a painting in the
Museum.)]
“Indeed I have little hopes of putting him to the necessity of giving it
up unless by the force under Colonel Johnson.
I am &c, John Brown.”
Brown, running short of provisions for his own men and his numerous
prisoners, retreated up Lake George and made an unsuccessful attack on
Diamond Island.
Sir John Johnson, son of Sir William Johnson, of Johnson Hall, arrived
at Ticonderoga shortly before Burgoyne’s surrender at Saratoga. Numerous
deserters from Saratoga informed Powell of the situation there and he
immediately made preparations to retreat to Canada. He burned the houses
and barracks at Ticonderoga and Independence and made good his escape.
[Illustration: George Washington at Halfway Brook, 1783
From a Painting Owned by Glen Falls Insurance Company]
CHAPTER TEN
The Military History Ends
In 1781 Ira and Ethan Allen were negotiating with the British
authorities as to the feasibility of making Vermont a Canadian province.
Congress had refused to admit Vermont as the fourteenth state and were
considering dividing it between New York and New Hampshire. Rather than
submit to this the Allens and Governor Chittenden opened negotiations
with Lieutenant-Governor Haldimand of Canada, the object of which was
probably to force Congress to act in their favor, and they succeeded.
In July, 1783, General George Washington, accompanied by Governor
Clinton, Col. Alexander Hamilton and others, visited the Fort on a tour
of inspection, returning to the headquarters at Newburgh on the 5th of
August.
Shortly after the treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United
States was signed the whole country began to be rapidly settled. No
guard was kept at Ticonderoga and it provided a convenient quarry for
the early settlers. All the furniture and movable objects were taken
first, then the doors and windows, floors were ripped up and the great
beams removed, and in a short time the barracks collapsed. Even the
abandoned cannon, most of them spiked, were removed to be melted up for
their iron.
[Illustration: Stephen H. P. Pell]
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The Restoration of Fort Ticonderoga
by John H. G. Pell
After the Revolution, all crown lands reverted not to the national
government, but to the States in which they were situated. The Garrison
Grounds at Fort Ticonderoga and other pieces were designated by the
State of New York for educational purposes on March 31, 1790. On Sept.
12, 1803, the Garrison Grounds were deeded to Columbia and Union
Colleges jointly by the State.
William Ferris Pell, a New York business man, spent these years in
Burlington, Vermont. He made many trips between Canada, Burlington and
New York. While traveling up and down Lake Champlain he was struck by
the beauty of the point of land on which the Fort stands, and the
romantic interest of the ruins of the Fort. He determined to build a
house there, if ever able to do so.
Returning to New York he organized the firm of Pells and Company,
importers of mahogany and marble. This firm flourished for a hundred
years. Mr. Pell leased the property from Columbia and Union Colleges and
shortly thereafter built a house which he called “Beaumont.” The house
was situated below the Fort between the garden laid out by the French
officers in 1756 and the shores of Lake Champlain. Mr. Pell was much
interested in horticulture and he restored the old garden and imported
many plants from Europe and from the nurseries on Long Island to
embellish and beautify it.
In 1820, he undertook to secure the deeds to the Garrison grounds and
they were purchased by him from Union College on July 28, 1820 and from
Columbia College on September 4, 1820.
[Illustration: The Pavilion—Built in 1826]
In addition to building a house and replanting the garden, he tried to
stop the depredations which were occurring to the Fort. The two
buildings that were standing after the Revolution, the South and West
Barracks, were ruined by the early settlers, who removed everything
movable—doors, windows, floor boards, etc., and eventually the very
beams themselves. Thousands of loads of stone were carted away for
foundations. Some men had repaired the French lime kiln and were burning
the walls of the Fort for lime. Mr. Pell had to buy up the numerous
squatters’ rights but he eventually succeeded in stopping the
destruction. He fenced in various earthworks and redoubts to prevent
them being plowed under and did his best to preserve what was left. He
was a man of vision. Had it not been for William Ferris Pell and those
who came after him not a stone in Fort Ticonderoga would be in place
today. Every one would have been carted away or destroyed.
In 1825, “Beaumont” burned and in 1826, he built “The Pavilion” which is
still standing and occupied by his descendants. “The Pavilion” was built
on the edge of “Le Jardin du Roi,” a garden laid out by Captain de
Pontleroy, an engineer officer stationed here during the French
occupation, and renamed “The King’s Garden” by the British, which name
it has borne ever since. Mr. Pell spent his summers here. His oldest
son, Archibald, had decided to be a gentleman farmer and took over the
management of the place, but was killed by the explosion of a cannon he
was firing as a salute to his father who was coming up the Lake, April
19th, 1838. Thereafter William Ferris Pell could not bear to live at his
beloved Ticonderoga. He died intestate and no will was ever found, but
he was a good business man and it is unlikely that he failed to make a
will, but safe deposit boxes were unknown in that day and wills were
kept in desks. Family tradition is that one of his sons found and read
the will, was dissatisfied with his share, and destroyed it. At any
rate, the property then passed in equal shares to his ten children. None
of them could afford to keep up “The Pavilion,” so it was rented to
various people who ran it as a boarding house and hotel for many years.
However, seldom a summer went by without some member of the family
spending time at “The Pavilion,” James Kent Pell, son of William Ferris,
managed the property for his brothers and sisters for many years and
struggled to preserve it. He was shocked on coming up one summer to find
that the breast-high wall running from the Fort to the lake, and a large
part of the Pontleroy and Germain Redoubts had been carted to the lake
front and thrown in for a steamboat landing. The farmer in charge said
that the contractor told him he had permission. It was too late to do
anything about it.
[Illustration: Fort Ticonderoga and The Pavilion—1827]
When James Pell died, John Howland Pell, a grandson, managed it for some
time and later Howland Pell, a great-grandson, ran the property for a
great many years. Howland always hoped that some member of the family
would some day take it over and if it had not been for Howland it would
have passed out of the family. Some people offered almost as much as the
whole property was worth for fifty acres between the Fort and the West
shore of the Lake. They wished to build a hotel, but he refused to sell.
Towards the end of the century, Stephen Pell, a little boy of eight and
his brother, Howland, were sent up to visit their grandmother who was
spending the summer at Fort Ticonderoga at “The Pavilion” which was then
rented as a hotel. Filled with self importance at being intrusted with
tickets and money for such a long trip alone, the boys finally arrived
at Fort Ticonderoga. It is not hard to imagine how the Fort at once
captured their interest. Little boys of eight and ten have vivid
imaginations and with a doting grandmother who told delightfully the old
tales of capture and recapture, these imaginations soon ran riot. They
were in turn Montcalm, Allen, Arnold, Burgoyne (always a successful
officer). They ran up the hills and over the walls, demanding the
surrender, or holding the fort. Thrill of thrills came one day when
Stephen found the bronze flint box, containing a flint. It is typical of
little boys that an argument resulted—Howland claiming that it was half
his as he had dislodged the stone, under which it lay, as he climbed up
the hill. It was a beautiful little box that had belonged to a man of
means and of distinction. One can see them standing there after the
first raptures of finding it were over, eyes shining, picturing the Fort
in all its past glory, with the proud walls standing, the flags flying
and men in bright uniforms on the parade grounds. The lives of men are
swayed by seemingly unimportant things and in Stephen Pell’s life always
there was the little flint box and the youthful dream. As he grew older
the imagination became an obsession, and the obsession became reality as
stone by stone, timber by timber, wall by wall, he repaired and restored
the Fort until it stands the old Fort Ticonderoga, all built from a
flint box, a little boy’s vivid imagination and a man’s hard work,
research and intelligence.
[Illustration: SIR HENRY CLINTON’S DISPATCH.]
[Illustration: THE SILVER BULLET.]
THE SILVER BULLET
The famous silver bullet, carried by a messenger to General Burgoyne
from Sir Henry Clinton. The bullet was hollow and concealed a message.
The messenger, on being captured by American Troops, swallowed the
bullet. He was given an emetic and forced to disgorge it. Later he was
hanged as a spy. The bullet was preserved in the Tallmadge family and
presented to the Fort Ticonderoga Museum by Henry O. Tallmadge, Esq.
The important contribution of the Pell family during a period
approaching 150 years has been an appreciation of historical values and
a sense of responsibility towards them. There has always been at least
one member of the family who refused to allow any part of the property
sold, who kept up the gardens and planted trees and who, above all,
cherished and preserved the Fort.
In 1908, Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Pell decided to rehabilitate the
“Pavilion” and spend their summers in it so that Mr. Pell could
undertake the restoration of the Fort. There were legal, financial,
architectural, political and engineering problems, and just plain
problems. There was a horse living in one of the rooms of the
“Pavilion.” There was of course no plumbing, central heating or
electricity in the house. The land belonged to 17 members of the family
and the problem of locating them and arranging satisfactory terms of
purchase was a long and complicated one. There were squatters living all
along the shores of Lake Champlain, and these squatters had acquired
squatters’ rights. Nevertheless, the house was painted and
rehabilitated, plumbing was installed and Mr. and Mrs. Pell moved in.
While Mr. Pell made a complete study of fortifications before one stone
was touched at the Fort, Mrs. Pell worked incessantly on plans for the
“Pavilion” and the Jardin du Roi. From various members of the Pell
family she painstakingly gathered together pieces of furniture
originally from the “Pavilion,” and added to it her collection of
furniture from her family, Gibbs and Thompson. She purchased only the
most minor items, old hooked rugs, curtains and draperies. She was
always tremendously interested in the Fort and contributed generously
not only valuable additions to its Museum collection, but a vast
knowledge of the authenticity of relics and was a true partner in the
restoration of Fort Ticonderoga.
[Illustration: Restoration Model of Fort Ticonderoga]
Alfred C. Bossom of New York was selected to be the architect of the
restoration of the Fort. The Tercentenary Celebration on Lake Champlain
provided an occasion for getting the work under way.
At that time President Taft visited the Fort together with the
Ambassadors of France and England, the Governor of the States of New
York and Vermont and a most distinguished company. The preparations for
this were started in 1908, and with such good results that by the time
of the celebration the west barracks were ready for a preliminary
inspection.
The natives in the surrounding country had to a very large extent
appropriated for use in their own houses the stone walls that had fallen
down but by careful excavation the precise plan of the original Fort has
been entirely laid bare. To aid this, and to verify many points that
were more or less uncertain, exceeding courtesy was extended by the
British Museum. Photographs and reproductions of all the drawings there
existing were forwarded and permission was given to search the records
in both the English and French War Departments. At Ottawa the archivist
of the Canadian Government also provided all the information available
and photographs of the drawings on file. Of course in America all of the
various authorities have cooperated to the utmost of their ability, and
with this it has been possible to carry on the work of restoration
without any uncertainty.
[Illustration: Thomas Cole Painting of Fort, Early 1820’s]
One of the best maps of the Military Reservation was made by a man named
Jeffreys, who was sent out to make surveys of the forts in this country
by the Prince of Wales, who afterward became George III. His work was
conducted under considerable handicap and was not as accurate as it
might have been, but this map contains a lot of very useful information
that is not given on any other.
The engineer who laid out the Fort, de Lotbiniere, followed the plans
and specifications of the great French engineer, Vauban. When the work
of restoration was started Mr. Pell obtained from France the original
manuscript of Vauban’s “Traite des Fortifications.” The book is a
fascinating leather bound folio containing many illuminated
illustrations of bastions, demilunes, moats, and all paraphernalia of
eighteenth century fortifications. This book is one of the most
priceless possessions of the Fort library today.
The Fort itself is about 530 feet in diameter from point to point as
seen on the various plans. The wall on the north is comparatively low,
the fort on this side being approached by a glacis, but on the west
could be approached from the level along a grassy slope which ran to the
top of a wall at the Fort about 4 feet and 6 inches high, which formed a
counterscarp. To the south, a wall guarded the entrance to Lake George
and was of a very considerable height, and below this existed the French
Village. The French Village of traders and settlers had been behind a
stockaded wall, protected by the guns of the Fort. The houses were built
on either side of a center walk, and consisted of small stone dwellings,
sutler’s stores, warehouses and a blacksmith shop. On the east side a
wall approached very close to the bastions and it was from about this
point a wide covered way (which was never completed) extended through
the rock to the Grenadiers’ Battery, an outlying fort located at the
extreme end of the promontory.
The Place d’Armes in the center of the fort was surrounded on three
sides by barracks and on the fourth or north side by a bomb-proof. The
bomb proof was of arched masonry construction where the garrison kept
stores that would be damaged by weather.
Of the barracks, the most important was that located towards the west,
and it was here that Ethan Allen found Captain Delaplace at the time of
the capture. The ground floor of this building was divided up into a
mess room with a kitchen at one end and a scullery at the other. The
oven in the scullery when excavated was found to be in perfect
condition, the iron doors and dampers still being in their original
position.
[Illustration: Entrance To Place D’Armes]
In the second story a number of rooms existed which could be approached
by the exterior wooden staircase, and these are now used as a library
and office. The outer sides of the various barracks were protected by
the curtain walls and the walk behind these was generally at a level of
about 8 feet above the Place d’Armes.
The drinking water for the barracks could be obtained in the usual way
from a military well located about one hundred yards to the north of the
fort, but under the northwest bastion and under the south barracks are
two large stone cisterns about 18 feet deep to which all the rain that
fell upon the roofs of the buildings was directed by means of
underground drains. The one under the bastion was found to be in perfect
condition with its pump and plunger as good as when last used.
The accumulation of a century had to be excavated from between the walls
of the various buildings. The courtyard of the fort was between six and
seven feet below and in the west barracks, particularly under the
bastions, the excavation necessary was over 16 feet to get down to the
original surface. Everything that was found during the restoration
period was kept for the museum, and the workmen in handling this showed
particular interest, and all of the time this work of excavating
continued most interesting finds were made, such as pottery, firearms,
pieces of hardware and buttons. So many of the numbered buttons have
been found that it is possible to trace by them the name of each of the
regiments that was stationed at the Fort.
Some of these buttons belong to regiments of which no other account has
been found of their residence here, such as the Twenty-first, and in
this case it is inferred that they belonged to British prisoners of war
who were brought down from St. Johns. One of the most interesting relics
was a piece of a punch bowl of white china decorated in blue, and across
the bottom of which is inscribed, “Success to General Amherst.” This in
all probability must have been a presentation piece made either before
the General left England or at some point on his way to take up his
command at the Fort, and left behind when he departed. This has come
down to us in as good condition as it was in the day it was made.
The roof of tile had fallen in, but sufficient remained so that more
could be produced to fill out the deficiencies, though some hundreds of
different specimens of clay had to be baked before one was found that
was exactly the same form and color of those originally used.
The flooring of the first floor was also of very heavy, thick tile and
the same condition was experienced with these. Enough bricks have been
found to make it unnecessary to get any new ones, for apparently these
were of so little value to the natives that they were not purloined. In
the rebuilding of the walls the stones were replaced in their identical
positions, similar mortar was used, and heads and jambs of all openings
had remained in approximately the positions from which they fell, so
much so that with care these today occupy the same position that they
had before the walls were torn down.
[Illustration: The Place D’Armes]
The mode of procedure followed in making the excavations was to cut the
trench on either side of any walls uncovered and by this means specimens
of all the hardware, such as door handles, latches, window catches,
bolts and bars were recovered. In many cases the hinges had portions of
the old timber still attached and from this it was possible to determine
the wood used and its thickness. In some cases the larger bar hinges had
the wood so well preserved that the different pieces that were joined
together to form the doors were very readily discernible. The timber
used was largely local chestnut and oak, which have since almost
disappeared from the locality, but enough trees have been found to
enable the restored work in all cases to be of the same material as that
originally employed. The ceiling of the first floor was composed of
rough hewn logs with a heavy double floor on top. The walls throughout
the first and second stories were of rough plaster and in many cases the
stones projected right through and showed on the face.
The fireplaces resembled the construction on the outside being of rough
stones with cut stone jambs and heads.
The four bastions at the corners of the fort were used respectively for
powder magazine, bakery and two for stores, and under these were
unearthed a very considerable quantity of cannon balls, picks, shovels,
china and glass, cutlery, bar shot and complete material such as a
fortress of this kind would require. Upon excavating these the form of
construction originally employed was quite apparent. The floor was built
up from rock with a complete system of drains beneath to carry off any
surface water, and the roof was carried upon heavy wooden beams and
posts, crowned by flagstones forming the deck of the bastion itself. The
drains beneath the floor had outlets leading to the moat or ditch, which
in the usual way was dry, but when an attacking force was anticipated it
was possible to dam the outlet from this and the moat could be flooded
by the melting of the winter snows, as several months’ advance
information in those days could readily be obtained before an attack was
likely to take place.
[Illustration: Fort Ticonderoga in 1959]
SHOWING:
SECTION THROUGH A-B (ENLARGED)
GLACIS
COVERED WAY
DITCH
NORTH DEMI-LUNE
NW BASTION
NE BASTION
COVERED WAY
PARADE GROUND
BRIDGE
WEST DEMI-LUNE
WEST BARRACKS
RAMP
SOUTH BARRACKS
RAMP
RUINS OF EAST BARRACKS
ENTRANCE TO FORT
DUNGEON
SW BASTION SE BASTION
ENTRANCE ARCHWAY
SOUTH WALL
The job of repairing and restoring Fort Ticonderoga has consisted mostly
of putting stones back in place. At least ninety per cent of the walls
are built from the original stone, which had fallen or slipped into the
moat. (The floor tiles were originally made on the place from a blue
clay from the lake shores by French potters. The same clay was used in
the restoration, and the same methods, and it is impossible to tell
today which are the originals and which the copies.) Every bit of iron
work used in the restoration was copied from an example found in the
ruins. The great oak beams came from a half dozen jobs in the
Adirondacks and were rough-hewn as were the originals. The carriages
upon which the guns are mounted, if not original, are exact copies and
the cannon themselves are all French, British and American of the
period, presented by the American, British, Dutch, Haiten, San Dominican
and Nicaraguan Governments, or presented by individuals (notably
DeLancey Kountze) or purchased whenever they were found on the market.
An immense amount of material has been found on the place itself—a
cannon, thousands of cannon balls, hand grenades, swivel balls and grape
shot, barrels of bullets and barrels of flints, tomahawks, hatchets,
axes, hoes, gun barrels, gun locks, bayonets, sword blades, keys,
hinges, door locks and every kind of tool—everything that an army could
use—dug up wherever a spade is put in the ground and only a couple of
years ago one of the rarest finds we have ever made—the breast plate of
a suit of half-armor, French, early 18th century.
First restorations actually were carried out a wall a season. The first
wing completed (the officers’ mess and quarters) was filled with relics
which Mr. Pell and other members of his family had been accumulating
through the years. This was accomplished just in time to lock it for
protection of its contents when he went off to World War I.