FORT TICONDEROGA

Fort Ticonderoga was built in 1755 by Michael Chartier de Lotbinère. Governer-General Vaudreuil, whose idea it was to build a fort, thought that it would protect the water highways that served their fur trade network. Construction on the new fort began in the fall of that year. Through the years to come Fort Ticonderoga would serve as a major asset to the outcome of the Revolutionary War.

In the spring of 1775 as the British pushed north into what was formerly known as French Territory, Governer-General Vaudviel anticipated an attack on the French settlements in the Champlain Valley. To prevent this from happening, the Governer-General hired Michael Chartier to begin constructing a fort that would protect the valley. The fort was to be built between Lake Champlain and Lake George. Construction began in the fall of that year and wasn't completed until nearly two summers later. The new fort, which the French called Carillon, was a star shaped building with wooden walls that were filled with dried mud. It was then covered with stone quarried from a nearby valley. Inside the fort were several buildings including barracks, which could hold up to 400 men, and a large powder magazine.

In 1757 French General Montcalm used Fort Carillon as a base for his siege of Fort William Henry. Although the French won the battle they had little time to celebrate, for only a few months later British General Abercromby led an army of 16,000 British troops north towards Carillon. After seeing the invading British, the French army of 3,500 blew up the magazine and fled the Fort. General Abercromby then took over the fort, rebuilt the magazine, and renamed it Fort Ticonderoga meaning land between two waters. The British only kept hold of the fort for a few months. Soon after, a band of green mountain boys lead by Ethan Allen siezed the fort on the night of May tenth. The British gave up without a single shot being fired.
Attacked six times in two wars, Fort Ticonderoga never suffered a direct assault on its walls. Three times the outer defenses held against enemy troops. Twice, the Fort fell when it proved impossible to maintain the supply lines that flowed along the wilderness waterways.
Within the protective walls of Fort Ticonderoga, barracks surround the Place of Arms where soldiers practiced their drill. Four bastions sheltered the basic necessities of life in the event of a siege. The northeast bastion housed a bakery, whose ovens could provide the entire garrison with bread. The powder magazine occupied the southeast bastion, along with a deep ice storage room. The secure storage area in the southwest bastion could double as a dungeon when needed. The cistern in the northwest bastion still serves its original function. Imposing stone demi-lunes reinforce the bastions, creating an additional layer of the defense on the landward sides of the Fort.
Touchstones to the past within the walls include one of the gun barrels hauled from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston in Henry Knox's "noble train of artillery" in the winter of 1775-76 and a shattered mortar hauled from Lake Champlain — years after it exploded during gunnery practice.

Rings of defense surrounded Fort Ticonderoga. Redoubts to the north and west of the fort extended the reach of artillery. A battery on Mount Hope covered the portage road down from the outlet of Lake George.
Tent cities behind the "French Lines" half a mile to the west sheltered summer garrisons numbering thousands of men. Bateaux laden with food, tools, and munitions arrived at the landings of both lakes. Beef cattle grazed on the open meadows of the peninsula. Soldiers cut marsh hay on both shores of the lake to feed their stock through winter.
During the American Revolution, Mount Independence offered a better defense against attack from the north, so the Americans fortified the ridge and built a floating bridge to connect the mount to the Fort.

The French and Americans believed Mount Defiance too steep to scale. But General Burgoyne reclaimed Fort Ticonderoga for the British simply by ordering cannon into position in July of 1777.
In the Fort Ticonderoga museum, the personal possessions of the famous and not-so-famous bring history's momentous events to life. Maps and engraved powder horns show how people saw this place more than two centuries ago. The hollow silver bullet that concealed Clinton's message to Burgoyne recalls the chill felt by a spy caught in enemy territory. Entrenching tools, ice creepers, camp stoves, and medical equipment bring to mind the grim realities of duty on this wind-swept point.
Green Mountain Boys

On August 16, 1777 the "Green Mountain Boys" fought under General Stark at the Battle of Bennington. It's green field represented their name and the thirteen white stars a tribute to the thirteen colonies. A notable victory of the Green Mountain Boys under Ethan Allen, occurred on the morning of May 10, 1775, when they silently invaded the British held Fort Ticonderoga and demanded its surrender "In the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental Congress". The captured cannon and mortars were transported across the snow covered mountains of New England and their installation on the heights over Boston Harbor enabled Washington to force the British to leave that important seaport.