News | Fort Ticonderoga Northern Department

Two pay orders from Connecticut’s Pay Table to Captain John Bigelow.

Connecticut’s Prisoner Problem: What to Do with Captured Noncombatants?

Posted on June 5, 2025

After the capture of Fort Ticonderoga, Fort Crown Point, and Skenesborough, NY, the American colonies faced new challenges. One of those challenges was caring for the prisoners they had taken. 250...

Left: Arnold’s letter to the Massachusetts Committee of Safety. Right: Arnold’s memo of “Sundry Necessary’s”.

From Ticonderoga to Boston: Arnold Plans an Artillery Train

Posted on May 26, 2025

One of the primary attractions of Fort Ticonderoga to its American attackers in 1775 was its artillery. The fort held nearly 100 artillery pieces and other military stores guarded by only 44 British...

Left: Arnold’s list of men wanted for the sloop Enterprise. Right: Arnold’s letter to Massachusetts.

Arnold Plans at Lake Champlain: “Masters of the Lake”, But for How Long?

Posted on May 23, 2025

250 years ago this week—May 22 and 23, 1775—Benedict Arnold was making plans. After capturing the British sloop Betsey at Fort St. Jean, the Americans were ”masters of the Lake”, but Arnold...

Left: Benedict Arnold’s letter to John Stevens. Right: John Stevens’ response.

Together Again: Reuniting Benedict Arnold’s and John Steven’s Letters

Posted on May 21, 2025

On this day 250 years ago—May 21, 1775—Benedict Arnold sent a letter from Ticonderoga to Captain John Stevens, commander of the American garrison to the south at Fort George. On May 23, Stevens...

Phelps letter to Connecticut General Assembly

“Scheems and Plans”: Skenesborough After the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga

Posted on May 16, 2025

250 years ago today—May 16, 1775—Ticonderoga and Crown Point had been in American hands for nearly a week. Farther south, so was Skenesborough, a prosperous settlement founded by career British...

Letter from Ethan Allen to Jonathan Trumbull

What’s Next After Taking Ticonderoga? Ethan Allen Plans Ahead

Posted on May 14, 2025

About 250 years ago today—between May 13 and May 15, 1775—Ethan Allen penned another letter to Connecticut governor Jonathan Trumbull. We recently shared a letter that Allen wrote to Trumbull on...

“At Present Commander of Ticondaroga”

Posted on May 12, 2025

On this day 250 years ago—May 12, 1775—Ethan Allen was in command at Fort Ticonderoga, but few people knew it. News of major events could move quickly through the colonies on horseback, but...

Who’s in Command at Fort Ticonderoga?

Posted on May 10, 2025

On this day 250 years ago—May 10, 1775—a party of soldiers led by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold captured Fort Ticonderoga. The victorious Americans then faced the question of what to do next....

News of the capture spread directly from the fort to the governments of Massachusetts and Connecticut as well as the Continental Congress which learned just a week later of the fall of Ticonderoga Broadsides like this helped spread the word more broadly throughout the American population Fort Ticonderoga Museum Collection MS6015

The Fall of Ticonderoga and the Beginning of the Revolutionary War

Posted on May 8, 2025

Literally overnight, the capture of Fort Ticonderoga changed the course of the Revolutionary War. The seizure of the British fort was the first victory of the American Revolution, opened a new front...

Benedict Arnold bill to the Massachusetts Committee of Safety

The Road to Ticonderoga: Enter Benedict Arnold

Posted on May 4, 2025

On this day 250 years ago—May 4, 1775—a party authorized by the colony of Connecticut was traveling towards Fort Ticonderoga as part of a daring plan to surprise and capture the fort and its...

The Road to Ticonderoga: Epaphras Bull’s Journey Begins

Posted on May 1, 2025

On this day 250 years ago—May 1, 1775—Epaphras Bull was traveling north through Stockbridge, MA, on his way to Fort Ticonderoga as part of what some in his party believed was a long-shot plan to...

Benedict Arnold's proposal to capture Ticonderoga reached the Massachusetts Committee of Safety on April 30, and the Massachusetts Provincial Congress commissioned Benedict Arnold as Colonel of this expedition on May 3, 1775. Despite this rapid action and Arnold's speed crossing Massachusetts, he was already days behind Connecticut's expedition to do the same.

The Expedition to Ticonderoga

Posted on April 30, 2025

April 28, 1775: Captain Edward Mott arrived in Hartford, Connecticut to discuss with merchant and miller, Christopher Leffingwell, how to relieve the siege of Boston. Edward Mott believed that cannon...