On July 13, 1776—250 years ago today—streams of supplies and troops were flowing towards Fort Ticonderoga. The troops were coming from the north, as soldiers fresh from the invasion of Canada evacuated Fort Crown Point to dig in at Ticonderoga. Supplies traveled in the opposite direction, with goods being shipped north from Albany and points south. […]

250 years ago today, Dr. Jonathan Potts was beginning his time in the army medical department. Potts had a medical degree and several years of experience as a local physician, but no experience in military medicine. The newly appointed physician and surgeon for the Canadian Department was about to get an early lesson in the realities of caring for soldiers in […]

250 years ago this week, thousands of American troops were encamping at Fort Ticonderoga. Most of the soldiers arriving here had served in Canada and were sent to Ticonderoga after retreating from Crown Point, but not all of them. This spring we’ve followed the movements of Colonel Anthony Wayne’s 4th Pennsylvania Battalion. Three companies of the battalion, led by Wayne, were sent north to Canada; the other […]

General James Wilkinson lived a life full of power and scandal, serving as the senior officer of the US Army, governor of Louisiana Territory, and envoy to Mexico. He was also a paid spy for the Spanish Crown, although proof of his double dealings was not discovered until decades after his death. In 1776, though, […]

250 years ago today—July 5, 1776—as the Continental Congress made plans for the future of an independent United States, the Northern Army was licking its wounds at Crown Point. Among them was a Massachusetts soldier named John Shepard, who had served in the reinforcements that had marched north that spring and arrived in Canada just in time to join the […]

In July 1776, the Continental Army needed ships. After its attempts to make Quebec the fourteenth colony had collapsed, the Northern Army had retreated to the relative safety of Crown Point. Their troubles were far from over, though. General Guy Carleton, head of the newly reinforced British army in Canada, was just past the northern border and planning an attack […]

John Harper, quartermaster of the 4th Pennsylvania Battalion, spent the spring of 1776 at home in Pennsylvania, outfitting his battalion with uniforms and supplies. On May 27, he began his journey north to the field. Just over a month later, on June 28, 1776—250 years ago today—he arrived at Crown Point, where the vanguard of the […]

This commission issued to Edward Wigglesworth by the Massachusetts Governor’s Council is dated June 27, 1776—250 years ago today—but its written date is misleading. On June 25, the colony passed a resolution raising 5,000 militia troops to serve in the defense of New York City and in Canada. It chose officers, who received their commissions on June […]

Dr. Jonathan Potts was no stranger to travel. The 31-year-old doctor, born in southwest Pennsylvania, had crossed the ocean to study medicine at Edinburgh University, then returned home to open his own practice in Reading, PA. In the spring of 1776, he embarked on his biggest, and most dangerous, adventure yet.  Potts was a fervent […]

On June 20, 1776—250 years ago today—Ebenezer Conant received a long-awaited commission. Conant, a miller from Ashburnham, MA with four children, was not new to military service. He had responded to the Lexington Alarm in April 1775, serving for 10 days in Cambridge. He had been chosen on March 14, 1776 as adjutant of the 8th Worcester County Militia Regiment, but had waited 3 months for this commission […]