Capture of Fort Ticonderoga

# The Capture of Fort Ticonderoga

In the weeks following the battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, the American colonies found themselves in open rebellion against the British Crown, yet they faced a dire shortage of the one thing every army needs to wage war: heavy weaponry. The colonial militias gathering around Boston had muskets and determination in abundance, but they possessed almost no artillery — no cannon to break a siege, no mortars to lob shells behind fortified walls. Meanwhile, sitting in the remote wilderness of upstate New York on the southwestern shore of Lake Champlain, Fort Ticonderoga held one of the largest stores of military ordnance in the northern colonies. Originally built by the French as Fort Carillon during the French and Indian War, Ticonderoga had long served as a strategic linchpin controlling the vital water corridor that connected Canada to the Hudson River Valley and, by extension, to the heart of the American colonies. By the spring of 1775, however, the once-formidable fortress had fallen into disrepair, garrisoned by a mere 48 British soldiers under Captain William Delaplace who had little reason to expect an attack.

Two bold and ambitious men independently recognized the opportunity that Ticonderoga presented. Ethan Allen, the charismatic and fiery commander of the Green Mountain Boys — a militia originally formed to defend the land claims of settlers in the New Hampshire Grants, the territory that would eventually become Vermont — had already been planning a raid on the fort when he learned that Benedict Arnold had arrived in the region with a commission from the Massachusetts Committee of Safety authorizing him to raise troops and seize the same target. Arnold, a prosperous New Haven merchant and captain in the Connecticut militia, was a man of considerable military ambition and tactical intelligence, and he fully expected to take command of the expedition. The Green Mountain Boys, however, were fiercely independent and loyal to Allen. They flatly refused to serve under Arnold, creating a tense rivalry between the two leaders that was only partially resolved when Allen and Arnold agreed to march side by side at the head of the column.

In the predawn hours of May 10, 1775, approximately 80 men — Green Mountain Boys and Connecticut volunteers — crossed Lake Champlain in commandeered boats and approached the fort's southern gate. They found it unguarded and in poor condition. The raiders swept into the fort so quickly and quietly that the sleeping garrison had no time to mount a defense. Not a single shot was fired. According to Allen's own account, he confronted the fort's second-in-command, Lieutenant Jocelyn Feltham, who appeared at his door half-dressed and bewildered, demanding to know by whose authority the Americans were acting. Allen reportedly thundered that they came "in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress," though historians have debated the exact phrasing and whether Allen, known for his colorful and profane language, might have expressed himself in rather earthier terms.

The capture of Fort Ticonderoga was the first successful American offensive action of the Revolutionary War, and its consequences rippled far beyond the wilderness of New York. The fort yielded an extraordinary haul of military supplies: more than 100 cannon, mortars, and howitzers, along with significant stores of gunpowder, musket balls, and other provisions. These weapons would sit in storage for months until the winter of 1775–1776, when Colonel Henry Knox undertook the remarkable feat of transporting roughly 60 tons of artillery overland by ox-drawn sleds across the frozen mountains of western Massachusetts to the Continental Army's positions outside Boston. Once those guns were placed on Dorchester Heights overlooking the city and its harbor in March 1776, the British position became untenable, and General William Howe evacuated his forces from Boston entirely — a pivotal early victory for the American cause made possible by the arms captured at Ticonderoga.

Beyond the artillery, the fort's seizure gave the Americans control of the Lake Champlain corridor, denying the British their most natural invasion route from Canada into the colonies and providing the Americans with a staging ground for their own ill-fated invasion of Canada later that year. The capture also served as a powerful symbol of colonial resolve, demonstrating that the rebellion was not merely defensive but that Americans were willing to take the fight to British strongholds. For Ethan Allen, Ticonderoga cemented his status as a folk hero of the Revolution, while for Benedict Arnold, whose contributions were overshadowed and whose authority was disputed, the experience fed a growing sense of grievance that would, years later, contribute to his infamous decision to betray the American cause — making the dawn raid of May 10, 1775, a moment that shaped the trajectories of two of the Revolution's most fascinating and contrasting figures.