Stealing Meat and Striking Officers: Even More Court-Martials at Ticonderoga
Court-Martial Minutes
Posted on October 26, 2025
Stealing Meat and Striking Officers: Even More Court-Martials at Ticonderoga
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 for violations of military code. Courts-martial were temporary, with the officers that made up the panel of judges released to their regular duties after several days of service. The court-martial that sat from October 26-29 was a new body made up of different officers and led by Lieutenant Colonel Philip Van Cortlandt of the 4th New York Regiment.
This court tried a variety of crimes ranging from petty to severe. Several soldiers were tried for minor crimes, like Jacob Reader, who was fined four shillings for leaving guard duty. John Smith was charged with stealing beef from the public stores; he denied the crime, but admitted when pressed that he had instead stolen a piece of pork. He was sentenced to seven days’ confinement.
Not all the crimes tried at this court-martial were simple. The minutes are filled with descriptions of altercations between officers and soldiers fed up with military hierarchy. One man, Alexander Graham, was charged with mutiny, disobedience, and striking officers. The incident began when Graham refused to get into a bateau. A witness swore that “Lieut. Sackett ordered him on board, he refused & the Lieut. pushed him in; that Graham Got up & Swore at & abused the Lieut; that Capt. [Richard] Varick struck him with a belt”.
Another soldier, James McCafferty, entered the fray: “McCafferty Got Up & Swore that he would not be struck by any Damned Lt. or Secretary in the Army.” Varick hit him with the belt too, and the scene degenerated into a physical struggle between the soldiers and officers. While Sackett and Varick physically struck first, Graham’s disobedience began the crisis, and such abuse and violence against officers threatened the Continental Army’s discipline. Graham and McCafferty received 39 lashes, then were drummed out of their regiment in disgrace.
Learn more about the minutes (object ID MS.2064) on the Ticonderoga Online Collections database: https://fortticonderoga.catalogaccess.com/archives/30074