On October 24 and 25, Fort Ticonderoga will mark the 250th anniversary of one of the most consequential and least told American victories of the Revolution: the October 1776 stand at Ticonderoga that turned back a British invasion from Canada and carried the fight for independence into 1777.
The two-day event, Hold the Line for Liberty, is the culminating Signature Event of Fort Ticonderoga’s 2026 REAL TIME REVOLUTION® season, bringing visitors onto the ground where American soldiers held the line, in the same season they held it, 250 years later.
The 250th anniversary of the stand itself falls on October 28, the same day in 1776 that George Washington’s army was defeated at the Battle of White Plains in New York. As one American army was driven from the field, another held the line for liberty.
“The story of October 1776 reminds us just how uncertain the American Revolution was at that moment,” said Beth L. Hill, Fort Ticonderoga President and CEO. “There was no guarantee of independence and no way for the soldiers standing here to know what would happen next. They knew only that a powerful British force was moving toward them and that they had to be ready. What they did here in late October is the reason there was a 1777. We bring visitors onto the very ground where it unfolded, in the same season, 250 years later. No other historic site in America is telling the Revolution this way, in sequence and in season.”
During Hold the Line for Liberty, visitors will experience the sights and sounds of the Continental Army preparing for battle, with demonstrations and programs interpreting the weapons, tactics, fortifications and people behind the American stand. An event schedule can be accessed here.
October 1776: Holding the Line
In October 1776, the American Revolution was losing. Washington’s army was in retreat around New York City, and a British army was moving south up Lake Champlain toward Ticonderoga. The soldiers waiting there had no way of knowing whether independence would survive its first year.
Earlier that month, on October 11, Benedict Arnold’s outnumbered American fleet had engaged a larger British force at the Battle of Valcour Island. The Americans lost most of their fleet, but the fight cost the British precious time as winter closed in.
Waiting at Ticonderoga was an army of nearly 13,000 soldiers and militia, a force that rivaled some of the largest cities in the colonies. Many had retreated from the failed invasion of Canada earlier that year, sick, undersupplied and overstretched. Under General Horatio Gates, they rebuilt themselves into a fighting force in a matter of months, constructing fortifications at Ticonderoga and on Mount Independence across the lake, mounting cannon, building a fleet and preparing to defend the Lake Champlain corridor between Canada and the Hudson Valley.
On October 28, British vessels advanced within range of the American guns to test those defenses. The Americans held. Facing a determined, heavily defended position and the approach of winter, the British withdrew north to Canada, and the invasion of 1776 was over.
From Valcour Island to Ticonderoga
This fall, visitors can also explore the larger Lake Champlain campaign through Fort Ticonderoga’s commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Valcour Island.
Fort Ticonderoga has conserved seven artifacts recovered from the wreck of Benedict Arnold’s flagship, the Royal Savage, including two six-pound cannon carriages, three iron shot, a curved ship’s timber and a small gun-carriage wheel. A selection of the artifacts, including the cannon carriages, will be on display in a new exhibit next month.
Together, the Battle of Valcour Island and the stand at Ticonderoga tell one story. Valcour bought the Americans time, and Ticonderoga made it count. Between them, they turned back the British invasion of 1776 and carried the fight for independence into another year.
About REAL TIME REVOLUTION®
REAL TIME REVOLUTION® is Fort Ticonderoga’s commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, following the story arc of the fight for Independence Day by day and season by season, 250 years to the moment, on the ground where it happened. Drawing on primary-source research, Fort Ticonderoga presents the people of 1776 not as figures who knew the outcome, but as individuals confronting genuine uncertainty and making choices that shaped the nation’s future.
The story continues into Winter Quarters. On December 19, Riot! recreates the moment regional tensions within the Continental Army boiled over at Ticonderoga, as Pennsylvania soldiers turned on their New England comrades in a clash between “Yankees” and “Buckskins.”
In 2027, REAL TIME REVOLUTION® carries the story into 1777, when British forces return to Ticonderoga, take the heights above the fortress in July and set in motion the campaign that ultimately ends at Saratoga. The 250th of the fight for independence continues at Fort Ticonderoga.
In 2026, Fort Ticonderoga was named a “Best Living History” site for the nation’s 250th anniversary by USA TODAY 10BEST and served as a primary filming location for Netflix’s The American Experiment and Ken Burns’s The American Revolution on PBS.
Visitor Information
Hold the Line for Liberty takes place Saturday and Sunday, October 24–25, 2026, at Fort Ticonderoga. Signature Event programming is included with general admission and tickets are valid for two consecutive days. Visitors are strongly encouraged to purchase tickets online in advance. For more information and tickets, visit FortTiconderoga.org.
About Fort Ticonderoga: Welcoming visitors since 1909, Fort Ticonderoga is a major cultural destination, museum, historic site and center for learning. As a multi-day destination and the premier place to learn more about North America’s military heritage, Fort Ticonderoga engages more than 70,000 visitors each year with an economic impact of more than $16 million annually. Presenting vibrant programs, historic interpretation, boat cruises, tours, demonstrations and exhibits, Fort Ticonderoga is open for daily visitation May through October and special programs during Winter Quarters, November through April. Fort Ticonderoga is owned by The Fort Ticonderoga Association, a 501c3 non-profit educational organization, and is supported in part through generous donations and with some general operating support made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts. To view Fort Ticonderoga’s electronic press kit, click here.
© The Fort Ticonderoga Association. 2026 All Rights Reserved.