Once again we tip our hats to Cannonmn. There are four reasons to buy this book. One, artillery subject with lots of details. Two, It is published by an excellent small publisher whose quality is high, (we have purchased two other books from them so we know). Three, the cost is very low for a "short run" book with it's small, niche subject. Four, reading the excerpt from Chapter Six, we can see quite a bit of military history of this conflict is included within these pages. It appears to be written in a lively style, not boring at all. We are ordering a copy today.
At just about this time last summer, Mike and I took a bunch of photos around Fort Ticonderoga and it's pretty interesting to see what the various places named in this book look like from the vantage point of Mount Defiance. Family errand to run; will post pics this evening.
Tracy and Mike
The history of Ft. Ticonderoga is fascinating. Very briefly, it was built by the French who originally explored this area in 1609, the Champlain Expedition and it was the French who realized the significance of this natural "choke-point" and a fort called Carillon was built between 1755 and 1759.
On July 8, 1758 the Fort was successfully defended by a French army of 3500 soldiers under the command of Louis-Joseph le Marquis de Montcalm despite being severely outnumbered by an attacking British army of 16,000 troops under the command of General James Abercromby. This was France's greatest victory in the Seven Years' War, ( The French and Indian War). About a year later the persistent British came back, and, with an overwhelming force, caused the French to flee blowing the cannon powder magazine as they left. It remained in British hands until a ranger force of 60 men, The Green Mountain Boys from Vermont, led by Ethan Allen and accompanied by, then loyal, Continental Commander, Benedict Arnold surprised the Fort's defenders on the very dark night of May 10, 1775, the first major victory of the Revolutionary War up to that time. Not a shot was fired. In July of 1777 the fort changed hands again as those pesky British returned with some German mercenaries, the Hessians.
A view of Ft. Ticonderoga from Sugar Loaf Hill, renamed Mount Defiance by British General John Burgoyne in 1777 as his troops gained the summit and began emplacing the artillery they dragged up there. The LaChute River, (the Falls) named by the French who built Fort Carillon connects Lake George with Lake Champlain and you can see it's channel into Lake Champlain in several of our photos; it looks like a canal carved through the shallow water and marshlands in the bay near the fort.
This map atop Mt. Defiance shows some geography, East Creek, which essentially prevented the Hessians, under British control, from outflanking the Americans at Mt. Independence on the Vermont side of Lake Champlain.
The northern end of the American fortified, Mt. Independence a strongpoint on the Vermont side of Lake Champlain South South East of Ft. Ticonderoga. The bay beyond the point is the entrance into unfordable East Creek. Boats and Batteaux had to be procured to ferry the Germans across. Cannon fire from Lakeshore artillery batteries slowed the German progress as well.
South is at the top of this map which has the view you see from the front of Ft. Ticonderoga with Lake Champlain trailing off into the distance toward Whitehall, NY.
