Desertion and Drunken Threats: More Court-Martials at Ticonderoga
Court-Martial Minutes
Posted on October 10, 2025
Desertion and Drunken Threats: More Court-Martials at Ticonderoga
250 years ago today—October 10, 1775—a court-martial met yet again at Fort Ticonderoga. We recently posted about some of the crimes that had been tried by court-martial at Ticonderoga from October 7-9, 1775. Three days was not enough time to judge and punish all of the crimes committed and rules broken in the garrison. This set of minutes in the hand of Captain Richard Varick records the actions of the court-martial between October 10 and 11.
While many of the cases dealt with from the 7th-9th were minor offenses like petty theft or falling asleep on duty, the cases tried on the 10th and 11th were mostly for more serious crimes committed by very dissatisfied men. Sixteen men were tried for desertion, with one man trying to enlist for naval service on a man-of-war instead and several claiming that they intended to serve in the siege of Boston; others likely intended to leave service entirely and return home.
One deserter, Peter Yearnall, confessed to his crime and testified in the case of Sergeant Ernest Wessells of the 1st New York Regiment. Yearnall claimed “that Serjt. Wessells was laying in his Bed in the Hospital—that [Yearnall] came to him asked him to go with him over the River & to go to the Camp at Boston, the Serjt. said he would go tho he had about £6- – Pay due to him, that Serjt. declared he would go to the Camp at Boston…rather than Sleep in Such a Cold Place.” After the two were caught, one of their guards reported that “the Prisoner confessed he was going off, for…his Capt. or Officer would give him no money…for Clothes.”
With the weather getting colder and pay in short supply, life was difficult for the garrison’s soldiers. Some warmed themselves with alcohol, which caused its own problems. One prisoner, George Duncan, was charged with disobeying and threatening his company’s lieutenant in a drunken rage. A witness described the scene: “Prisoner made many Threats—none of which Witness could understand.” Duncan’s drunken escapade would cost him: he was sentenced to receive 21 lashes.
Learn more about the minutes (object ID MS.2063) on the Ticonderoga Online Collections database: https://fortticonderoga.catalogaccess.com/archives/30073