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How American Patriots Seized The Greatest Fort In North America
And stunned the British and conservatives alike
Fort Ticonderoga was one of the largest and most impressive forts in the world in 1775. It stood along the banks of the Lake Champlain and Lake George, where the waters met. The fort was designed and built to control access between the north and the south. Fort Ticonderoga overlooked the waterways that linked Albany, New York, to Montreal. It was a vital and strategic waterway at the time and a main thoroughfare of British information and supplies.
When the Revolutionary War broke out in 1775, the British did not believe that the Americans had the capability or, frankly, the willpower to capture their forts. Ticonderoga had stood for two decades and was a vital part of the French and Indian War. The British had to deploy over 11,000 troops, equipped with heavy artillery, to capture the fort during the war. How could the Americans manage to muster such a force?
In 1775, the British began a campaign to disarm their colonies. They emptied the towns and local arsenals of powder and small arms, hoping to dissuade the colonists from using the supplies against them. It was during this period that the Americans struck one of the most decisive blows of the war.
