Evacuation of Fort Ticonderoga

# The Evacuation of Fort Ticonderoga, 1777

Fort Ticonderoga had loomed large in the American imagination since the earliest days of the Revolution. In May 1775, just weeks after the battles of Lexington and Concord, Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold had seized the fort from a small British garrison in a daring surprise attack, capturing valuable artillery that would later be hauled across the wilderness to Boston, where it helped force the British evacuation of that city. In the years that followed, Ticonderoga became a symbol of American defiance — a stronghold perched on the narrows between Lake Champlain and Lake George, guarding the critical invasion corridor that connected British Canada to the Hudson River Valley. Many Americans considered it the "Gibraltar of America," a fortress so formidable that it could never be taken. That belief would be shattered in the summer of 1777, when the fort's garrison slipped away in the night rather than face certain destruction.

The crisis began with a bold British strategy. General John Burgoyne, an ambitious and theatrical officer, had persuaded the British government to approve a grand campaign to split the American colonies in two. His plan called for a powerful army to march south from Canada through the Lake Champlain corridor, capturing Ticonderoga along the way, and ultimately linking up with other British forces in the Hudson Valley. By severing New England from the rest of the colonies, the British hoped to crush the rebellion decisively. In June 1777, Burgoyne set out from Canada with a formidable force of over 7,000 troops — British regulars, German auxiliaries, Loyalists, and Native American allies — along with a substantial train of artillery.

Standing in his path was Major General Arthur St. Clair, a veteran officer of Scottish birth who had been given command of the Ticonderoga garrison. St. Clair's situation was far more desperate than the public understood. Although the fort's name inspired confidence, its defenses were deeply flawed. The works were extensive but deteriorating, and St. Clair's garrison numbered only around 3,000 men, many of them poorly equipped militia rather than seasoned Continentals. Worse still, there was a glaring vulnerability that the Americans had recognized but lacked the resources to address: Mount Defiance, a steep, heavily wooded height that rose approximately 750 feet above the water just south of the fort. Military engineers, including the Polish volunteer Thaddeus Kosciuszko, had warned that artillery placed on its summit could rain fire down on the fort and the adjacent works at Mount Independence. Yet the Americans had concluded — incorrectly, as it turned out — that the slope was too steep for cannon to be dragged to the top, and they lacked the manpower to fortify it regardless.

When Burgoyne's forces arrived in early July, British engineers under Lieutenant William Twiss quickly determined that Mount Defiance could indeed be scaled. Working with remarkable speed, they carved a rough road up the slope and began hauling guns to the summit. When St. Clair learned on July 5 that British artillery now commanded his position from above, he faced an agonizing choice. He could stand and fight, which would almost certainly mean the destruction or capture of his entire garrison, or he could abandon the fort and preserve his army to fight another day. On the night of July 5–6, St. Clair ordered a hasty evacuation, sending supplies and the sick across the water by boat while the bulk of the garrison marched out overland toward Hubbardton and eventually south.

The fall of Ticonderoga without a shot being fired sent shockwaves through the young nation. Congress was outraged, the public was dismayed, and St. Clair was subjected to a court-martial for his decision. He was ultimately acquitted of any wrongdoing, as the court recognized that his choice had been militarily sound even if it was politically devastating. King George III reportedly greeted the news with jubilation, exclaiming that he had "beat all the Americans."

Yet the evacuation of Ticonderoga proved to be a turning point in a way no one anticipated. Burgoyne's easy victory bred overconfidence, and the troops St. Clair had saved from destruction went on to reinforce the Continental forces gathering in upstate New York. That autumn, those combined American forces surrounded and defeated Burgoyne's army at the Battles of Saratoga — a triumph that convinced France to enter the war as an American ally and fundamentally altered the course of the Revolution. St. Clair's painful retreat, despised in the moment, had helped make that victory possible.