News
Lead Mines and Long Journeys: The Continental Army’s Quest for Ammunition
Posted on November 21, 2025
In the first year of the Revolution, military leaders were desperate for supplies. Officials struggled to buy, beg, borrow, or sometimes steal enough arms to equip soldiers being called into service,...
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What’s In a Name?
Posted on November 20, 2025
Mr., Esquire, Colonel, General, Secretary… Henry Knox was known by many titles over his life, but what he was called during his monumental expedition to Ticonderoga can be a bit confusing. That is...
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“Major Brown Is in Posession of My Horse”: Managing Prisoners from St. Jean
Posted on November 11, 2025
When Fort St. Jean fell to American forces on November 2, 1775, the terms of surrender that British Major Charles Preston was forced to accept stated that “The Garrison must go to Connecticut, or...
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Daniel Shays: From Continental Army Officer to Namesake of a Rebellion
Posted on October 31, 2025
250 years ago this month, Ensign Daniel Shays was serving in Cambridge, MA as part of the force besieging Boston, risking his life for the American cause. While he served for more than four years,...
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Robert Aitken Maps the War
Posted on October 29, 2025
In the early months of the Revolution, much of the military action happened in the north, with American troops besieging the British in Boston and beginning a campaign in Canada. But the Revolution...
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Stealing Meat and Striking Officers: Even More Court-Martials at Ticonderoga
Posted on October 26, 2025
250 years ago today—October 26, 1775—another court-martial sat in judgment at Fort Ticonderoga. Earlier in October, we highlighted a court-martial led by Colonel James Holmes that tried soldiers...
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“To Surrender Themselves Prisoners of War”: The Surrender of Fort Chambly
Posted on October 18, 2025
By mid-October 1775, the American army in Canada had been bogged down in a siege of Fort Saint-Jean on the Richelieu River for over a month. Just over 10 miles downriver from Saint-Jean was another...
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“Lately Taken in Canada”: Making Arrangements for British Prisoners in the Northern Department
Posted on October 17, 2025
As the American army dug in in Canada, the number of prisoners taken there grew; after their capture, Northern Department commander Philip Schuyler had to figure out what to do with them. On October...
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“My Disorders Are Inflexibly Stubborn”: Philip Schuyler Soldiers on Through Sickness
Posted on October 14, 2025
250 years ago today—October 14, 1775—the American army in Canada was at work besieging British forts at Saint-Jean and Chambly. Within several days, Chambly would fall to the Americans, marking...
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Desertion and Drunken Threats: More Court-Martials at Ticonderoga
Posted on October 10, 2025
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...
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From Stealing to Sheep-Shooting to Scandalous Behavior: Court-Martials at Ticonderoga
Posted on October 8, 2025
Soldiers who were stationed at Fort Ticonderoga over the fall of 1775 had a less eventful season than soldiers serving in the invasion of Canada, but life at the garrison wasn’t sleepy. Enlisted...
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“Being in Want of Money”: Cash Flow Problems in the North and Canada
Posted on October 4, 2025
In October 1775, life at Fort Ticonderoga was quieter than it had been in August and September. Most of the thousands of troops who had gathered at or passed through Ticonderoga on their way to...
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