Fort Ticonderoga presents “New Perspectives on the Last Argument of Kings: A Ticonderoga Seminar on 18th-Century Artillery,” August 5-6, 2017, in the Mars Education Center. This special weekend symposium features visiting scholars and members of the Ticonderoga Curatorial and Interpretation Departments exploring the various aspects of 18th-century artillery in the Atlantic World.
This special symposium complements the award winning exhibit “The Last Argument of Kings: The Art and Science of 18th-Century Artillery” which runs through October 29 in the Mars Education Center Gallery. Both the Symposium and exhibition were funded in part by a prestigious federal grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Featured presenters from the Fort Ticonderoga Curatorial and Interpretation Departments include: Stuart Lilie, Vice President of Public History and Operations, with “Artillery at This Post—Three Case Studies of Artillery at Ticonderoga,” Matthew Keagle, Fort Ticonderoga’s Museum Curator, with “Lost in Boston: The Artillery of Carillon/Ticonderoga” and “Pell’s Citadel: The Ticonderoga Artillery Collection,” and Nicholas Spadone, Assistant Director of Interpretation, with “Green Wood and Wet Paint: American Traveling Carriages at Ticonderoga.”
Other presenters include:
- Christopher Bryant, an independent researcher and dealer of historical portraits and artifacts, “Ultima Ratio Regum- A Pair of Vallere 4-Pounders at Yorktown and Beyond.”
- Richard Colton, a retired Historian at Springfield Armory National Historic Site, “The American Foundry-Springfield Arsenal, Massachusetts, 1782-1800: Assuring Independence.”
- Andrew De Lisle, a wheelwright and carriage-maker, “If you are satisfied with the methods the workers have found… then so am I: Reproduction as a method of understanding Eighteenth-century Artillery.”
- Eric Schnitzer, Park Ranger/Historian at Saratoga National Park, “Pack Horses, Grasshoppers, and Butterflies reconsidered: British light 3-pounders of the 1770s.”
- Robert A. Selig, an independent historian and consultant, “The Politics of Arming America or: Why are there still more than 50 Vallere 4-pound cannon in the United States but only 3 in all of Europe?”
- Christopher Waters, an archeologist and a Ph.D. candidate in anthropology at Syracuse University, “When the King’s Last Argument is but a whimper: Artillery Deployment in Antigua’s Colonial Fortifications.”
Registration for the Seminar is $155 per person, $135 for Fort Ticonderoga Members. Registration forms can be downloaded from the fort’s website at www.fort-ticonderoga.org under the “Education” tab 
by selecting “Workshops and Seminars” on the drop down menu. A printed copy is also available upon request by contacting the Fort at 518-585-2821.
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Photo: New Perspectives on the Last Argument of Kings: A Ticonderoga Seminar on the 18th-Century Artillery will take place August 5-6, 2017 in the Mars Education Center at Fort Ticonderoga.