Fort Ticonderoga, New York's Great Stone Fort
In northern New York, a great stone fortress sits beside the southern end of Lake Champlain. French, British, and American soldiers fought for control of this important fort in two different wars: the French and Indian War and the American Revolution.
Today, more than 90,000 people visit Fort Ticonderoga each year. Tourists can follow attack routes into the fort, or peer into the ovens where soldiers baked bread. Re-enactors show how guns were fired and march in formation on the fort's parade ground. Scientists and historians also dig for artifacts in and around the fort.
“Land Between Two Waters”
The French began construction of the fort in 1755 during the French and Indian War. They called the fort Carillon, and knew how important its location was. It sits on a narrow peninsula that juts out into Lake Champlain. From there, the French could control the trade routes between the Hudson River Valley to the south, and the Saint Lawrence River Valley to the north.
In 1759, British general Jeffery Amherst captured the fort and forced the French to retreat from the Champlain Valley. The British renamed the fort “Ticonderoga.” In the language of the Haudenosaunee, the word means “land between two waters.”
A Surprise from Ethan Allen
The British controlled the fort until May 10, 1775. American troops under the command of Benedict Arnold and Vermont's Ethan Allen scored the first American victory of the Revolutionary War at Ticonderoga. Allen's “Green Mountain Boys” surprised the British by sweeping into the fort at dawn that morning, yelling and cheering. They captured it without firing a shot.
As legend has it, Allen walked up the stairs to where the British commander was sleeping. The commander stepped out in his nightshirt, candle in hand. Allen supposedly demanded that the commander surrender the fort in the name of “the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress.”
Important Capture
The fort's capture was important for the Americans. The British had armed the fort with large cannons. At the time, General George Washington and his new Continental Army had surrounded British forces in Boston. Because the Americans lacked heavy guns, Washington ordered Henry Knox to bring the British cannons from Ticonderoga. Using the weapons, Washington was able to drive the British out of the city.
After the war, tourists began visiting this important battle site. In 1820, a private citizen named William Ferris Pell bought the fort. He restored the walls and built a museum there. Today people from all over the world visit the fort and learn about its important past.