From Stealing to Sheep-Shooting to Scandalous Behavior: Court-Martials at Ticonderoga
Court-Martial Minutes
Posted on October 8, 2025
From Stealing to Sheep-Shooting to Scandalous Behavior: Court-Martials at Ticonderoga
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 men had duties ranging from guard duty to scouting to construction to keep them busy. And whether they were working or on free time, they found plenty of ways to get themselves into trouble.
This set of minutes of a court-martial held at Ticonderoga from October 7th-9th, 1775—250 years ago this week—illustrates some of the many rules broken by soldiers during the slower fall months. A court-martial is an instrument of military justice that tries soldiers for violations of military code and assigns appropriate punishments. The accused and any witnesses would speak in front of a panel of judges made up of commissioned officers. Colonel James Holmes of the 4th New York Regiment served as president of this panel, while Captain Richard Varick likely served as the judge-advocate, a role combining the duties of a prosecutor and a legal advisor.
Soldiers were tried for crimes ranging from minor to serious, including stealing shirts, sleeping on duty, deserting a guard post, promoting mutiny, defrauding the public by skimming public money, shooting at a civilian, and killing a sheep. Less specific charges were also laid, including “behaving in a scandulous [sic] manner unbecoming the Character of an Officer & a Gentleman”.
Punishments varied almost as widely as crimes did, ranging from fines to demotion to imprisonment to lashes. Those judged guilty of the same crime would not always receive the same punishment. For instance, three prisoners, Samuel Smith, William Orr, and Michael McKee, were charged with sleeping at their posts. All three admitted to sleeping on duty but offered their fatigue from previous duty as a response. Smith and Orr, who were tried together, were fined; McKee, however, was sentenced to ten lashes as punishment, likely because conflicting testimony from witnesses made his excuses less convincing.
Learn more about the minutes (object ID MS.2062) on the Ticonderoga Online Collections database: https://fortticonderoga.catalogaccess.com/archives/30072