This Week, Celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the Historic ‘Noble Train of Artillery’ Beginning at Fort Ticonderoga
This week, beginning December 5 and running through December 7, Fort Ticonderoga will celebrate the 250th anniversary of one of the most ambitious and successful military operations of the American Revolution. Henry Knox’s expedition to bring a “Noble Train of Artillery,” featuring nearly 60 tons of vital military equipment on a 300-mile journey from Fort […]
Henry Knox Gets Good News From Boston: The Capture of the Nancy
250 years ago today—November 30, 1775—Henry Knox was just south of Albany, traveling north towards Fort Ticonderoga. The mission with which he had been entrusted, transporting captured British artillery from Ticonderoga to Boston, was an urgent one. The instructions given to Knox by George Washington on November 16 stressed that “the want of them is […]
Lead Mines and Long Journeys: The Continental Army’s Quest for Ammunition
In the first year of the Revolution, military leaders were desperate for supplies. Officials struggled to buy, beg, borrow, or sometimes steal enough arms to equip soldiers being called into service, and the army also needed ammunition to fire those arms. On August 4, 1775, George Washington wrote to Connecticut governor Jonathan Trumbull, “Our Necessaties […]
Fort Ticonderoga Brings History Home in a One-Time Only Virtual Learning Program, Celebrating the 250th Anniversary of the “Noble Train of Artillery”
On December 5th, the date of Henry Knox’s historic 1775 arrival at Fort Ticonderoga, Fort Ticonderoga will present a one-of-a-kind in-person and virtual program, “Ticonderoga’s Treasures: Knox Edition.” This afternoon event will feature archival texts, rare Revolutionary-era books, prints and actual artifacts only found at Fort Ticonderoga, dating back to the 1775 journey that changed […]
“Major Brown Is in Posession of My Horse”: Managing Prisoners from St. Jean
When Fort St. Jean fell to American forces on November 2, 1775, the terms of surrender that British Major Charles Preston was forced to accept stated that “The Garrison must go to Connecticut, or such Other Province as the Hon’ble the Continental Congress shall direct, there to remain till our Unhappy Differences shall be compromised, […]
One Month Countdown to the 250th Anniversary of the Historic Noble Train of Artillery Beginning at Fort Ticonderoga
“Noble Train Begins” commemorates the transport of artillery from Fort Ticonderoga to General Washington’s army that ultimately drove the British from Boston Beginning on December 5 and running through December 7, Fort Ticonderoga will celebrate the 250th anniversary of one of the most ambitious and successful military operations of the American Revolution. Henry Knox’s expedition […]
“The Garrison Has Capitulated”: Fort Saint-Jean Surrenders
In mid-October 1775, bogged down in a swampy siege of Fort Saint-Jean, General Richard Montgomery’s American army revived their Canadian campaign by capturing Fort Chambly. The capture raised morale and provided supplies for the hungry army. The siege of Saint-Jean continued, and the tide began to turn as a new American battery with large cannons […]
Daniel Shays: From Continental Army Officer to Namesake of a Rebellion
250 years ago this month, Ensign Daniel Shays was serving in Cambridge, MA as part of the force besieging Boston, risking his life for the American cause. While he served for more than four years, the end of the war was not the end of his story. Over the winter of 1786-1787, he rose up […]
Robert Aitken Maps the War
In the early months of the Revolution, much of the military action happened in the north, with American troops besieging the British in Boston and beginning a campaign in Canada. But the Revolution wasn’t confined to the northern colonies. The Continental Congress oversaw the war from Philadelphia, then the largest city in America. People throughout […]
Stealing Meat and Striking Officers: Even More Court-Martials at Ticonderoga
250 years ago today—October 26, 1775—another court-martial sat in judgment at Fort Ticonderoga. Earlier in October, we highlighted a court-martial led by Colonel James Holmes that tried soldiers for violations of military code. Courts-martial were temporary, with the officers that made up the panel of judges released to their regular duties after several days of […]