“Confusion Reigns”: Philip Schuyler Wakes Up Ticonderoga’s Garrison

Posted on July 24, 2025

“Confusion Reigns”: Philip Schuyler Wakes Up Ticonderoga’s Garrison

General Philip Schuyler arrived at Fort Ticonderoga on July 18, 1775, charged by the Continental Congress with leading an expedition from Ticonderoga to Quebec. This was likely Schuyler’s first sight of the fort that had been a key to operations in the region for twenty years. His first impressions were harsh, but the fault lay not with the fortifications, but the men guarding them.

In a letter written 250 years ago today—July 24, 1775—to George Clinton, a New York Congressional delegate, Schuyler laments, “Your friendly feelings would be hurt to see the difficulties I labour under, the Chagrin I… experience from the Confusion that reigns amongst these people, and all this has Its source in the want of subordination and discipline.”

He describes his arrival to the landing on the north end of Lake George, “a post of Importance” which he had ordered to be heavily guarded. When Schuyler arrived at about 11 pm, one sentry greeted him, but the rest of the guard were “closely embraced in the downy arms of sleep”, as were the guard of a nearby barn. “I am Confident that I might have run my Bayonet into every man of both guards, set fire to the Block house… destroyed a large boat that was building, and all the stores and provisions”, Schuyler writes gloomily.

However, the garrison had promise. “They are not disorderly, and do not appear to be unwilling to Obeey”, Schuyler reports; “they only want discipline, subordination and an Eradication of [their] non-challance… they are good looking men and I have the fullest Confidence that they will fight”. He states wryly that the task ahead of him and other army administrators is difficult: “if Exercise is conducive to health,” they “will have a good share of It, as Indeed I have, having never been better In my life”. With officers willing to put in the work, though, Ticonderoga’s garrison could become a disciplined force.

View the Schuyler letter (object ID 2000.0034.002) on the Ticonderoga Online Collections database: https://fortticonderoga.catalogaccess.com/archives/29404

Learn more about Schuyler’s arrival, and how he described it to both friends and superiors, in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHC9KzjbXso