Special 250th Conference “Arnold’s Defeat or Ultimate Victory? Perspectives on the 1776 Campaign”

On the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Valcour Island Fort Ticonderoga will host a distinguished panel of scholars to reflect on the campaign of 1776 on Lake Champlain. The failure of the British to seize Ticonderoga in the fall of 1776 was a critical, vital victory for the Americans in the early years of the Revolutionary War—acknowledged even at the time. But who gets the credit for the year’s victory? Benedict Arnold and his lake fleet? Horatio Gates and the defenses of Ticonderoga and Mount Independence? Sharing new perspectives and new research from a variety of disciplines, our panelists will detail, and debate, the critical actions of the campaign to better understand the impact of October 1776.