Fort Ticonderoga

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Fort Ticonderoga recently announced the creation of the Northern Department, a major new tourism initiative connecting partners in New York, Vermont, and Canada, including Tribal partnerships. This new tourism initiative, as part of America’s 250th national commemoration, is being celebrated from 2025-2027. The historic Northern Department was created by Continental authorities in 1775 and was established to manage the war against the British in the vast northern part of New York, New England, and Canada.

Today, this initiative is inspired by the region’s defining role in the War for American’s Independence from the rivers, lakes, and mountains between Saratoga and Montreal, the Northern Department will promote historic sites and museums during the commemorative period.

A new interactive website highlights 18 historic destinations across New York, Vermont, Québec, and tribal nations connected to the American Revolution. Additionally, Northern Department brochures are available at the partnering historic sites and museums. The Northern Department will also be featured in an upcoming video production in 2025 and social media channels during the 250th commemorative period, which will place the region at the center of the conflict which shaped our nation. Visit the website here: https://northerndepartment.org/.

READ MORE: https://www.fortticonderoga.org/news/fort-ticonderoga-launches-major-new-tourism-initiative-for-americas-250th/

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Happy #ManuscriptTUESDAY! While major military activity around Lake Champlain and Lake George came to an end at the close of the Saratoga Campaign in 1777, that did not mean that the area was safe. Northern New York was still the American frontier, sharing its border with British Canada. The years after 1777 saw a series of raids and skirmishes across New York’s northern frontier. In response to this threat, the American army sent small groups of soldiers to garrison forts in the Lake George area, including Fort George, Fort Edward, and Fort Anne.

Today’s document, 2003.0074.006, a letter from Fort Edward’s commander Colonel Henry Livingston dated October 12, 1780, is a report from the middle of a British raid. Fort George, he writes, “surrendered yesterday… to Eigh[t] Hundred British troops and two Hund’d Indians and two Comp’y of Torys.” After hearing of a party of about 25 British soldiers in the woods near the fort, its commander, “immaging that the Party consisting of only a small scout of the Enemy[,] sent out all his Garrison except fourteen men”. The skirmish turned into a rout when more British troops arrived, and the 14 men remaining in the fort could not hold off the British siege. The tiny garrison at Fort Anne, meanwhile, surrendered without firing a shot. Livingston’s Fort Edward, though, was left untouched, to his confusion: “by which means they avoided me I cannot conjecture Unless it was owing to a man that was going up the very morning that the Enemy took Fort Ann by whom I wrote to Capt Sherwood that I was very strong and that I would support him in case of attack[,] expecting the Enemy would take the man.” In reality, the garrison consisted of only 60 militiamen.

Whether Fort Edward was spared because of Livingston’s ruse or because it was not deemed important enough to attack, it escaped unscathed; the rest of the area was not so lucky. Fort George and Fort Anne were both burned, and so were many of the area’s farms, forcing their residents to flee south until the war ended.

This document can be found on our online database in the link in bio. #TiconderogaCollections #OpeningTheVault

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September 2, 1774 General Orders for the British Army in America required regiments to plan ahead for winter clothing.

"The Regiments will look out for leggings and mittens, against the severity of the winter, the General gives them this timely notice, that they may send to New York or Philadelphia for them if necessary."

Following General Thomas Gage`s orders, we have our wool leggings ready for the crisp #fall days ahead!

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Fort Ticonderoga is thrilled to announce the opening of the British Powder Magazine in the Southwest Bastion, open to visitors for the first time in 50 years!

Visitors can descend into this interactive space, passing through the oak door that secured this magazine. Inside this vaulted stone room, examine reproduction cannon shot and wracks of powder kegs. Young visitors will be able to roll their own cartridge and learn about the production of ammunition and the long lines of supply that made the fight for independence possible.

This space has been opened as part of Fort Ticonderoga’s multi-year programmatic initiative REAL TIME REVOLUTION™, an innovative real-time experience bringing Ticonderoga’s history to life during America’s 250th celebration. REAL TIME REVOLUTION™ captures in real- time, the events, personalities, and peoples that led to American independence from 1774 through 1777. As this captivating narrative of nationhood unfolds, day by day through living history programs from 2024 to 2027, the Powder Magazine is more than a stage, it’s part of the story.

Thanks to generous support from Americana Corner, and additional support from the Massachusetts Society of Colonial Wars, and the National Society of Colonial Wars, Fort Ticonderoga is able to make this new space accessible to the public and expand its immersive interpretive experiences and programs.

READ MORE: https://www.fortticonderoga.org/news/fort-ticonderoga-announces-opening-of-british-powder-magazine-interactive-space-open-to-visitors-for-the-first-time-in-50-years/

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Happy #ManuscriptMonday! In fall 1776, the garrison at Fort Ticonderoga was hard at work. Soldiers stationed at the fort and atop Mount Independence across Lake Champlain worked to repair old fortifications and build new ones, preparing for a potential attack from General Guy Carleton’s British forces. Farther south, in Skenesborough at the southern tip of Lake Champlain, more soldiers were at work, building and maintaining a fleet that would soon attempt to challenge the British for naval superiority on the lake. Farther from the field of battle, others were busy as well, doing work of their own to support the army and make a defense of Ticonderoga possible. Today’s document, 2014.0195.001, is a resolution passed by the Connecticut General Assembly on October 10, 1776 in response to a letter from General Horatio Gates, then in command at Fort Ticonderoga. Gates had made several requests for supplies, including iron spades and shovels to be used at Ticonderoga, flour to feed the troops at Skenesborough, and shingle nails. In response, the assembly ordered that “Majr Ebenezer Gay be appointed and directed to pay for 200 Spades and Iron Shovels and send them forthwith to General Gates at Tyconderoga… and also to purchase ten Tons of Wheat Flour and transport the same forthwith to Skenesborough”. Connecticut’s treasurer would provide the money for Gay to make these purchases. Meanwhile. Dr. John Dickinson was ordered to “employ a proper number of Nail Makers forthwith to manufacture Shingle Nails” while Governor John Trumbull was to ask Gates how many nails were needed. Thanks to all these people—the artisans who manufactured the nails and shovels, the people who grew the wheat and milled the flour, the carters who transported the goods between states, the men who coordinated their purchase and transport, and the assembly members who set the purchase in motion—the soldiers at Ticonderoga and Skenesborough were kept fed, supplied, and able to do the work of war.
This document can be found on our online database in the link below.
#TiconderogaCollections #OpeningTheVault https://fortticonderoga.catalogaccess.com/archives/29516