Capture of Fort Ticonderoga - Background

Background

In 1775, Fort Ticonderoga's location did not appear to be as strategically important as it had been in the French and Indian War, when the French famously defended it against a much larger British force in the 1758 Battle of Carillon, and when the British captured it in 1759. After the 1763 Treaty of Paris, in which the French ceded their North American territories to the British, the fort was no longer on the frontier of two great empires, guarding the principal waterway between them. The French had blown up the fort's powder magazine when they abandoned the fort, and it had fallen further into disrepair since then. In 1775 it was garrisoned by only a small detachment of the 26th Regiment of Foot, consisting of two officers and forty-six men, with many of them "invalids" (soldiers with limited duties because of disability or illness). Twenty-five women and children lived there as well. Because of its former significance, Fort Ticonderoga still had a high reputation as the "gateway to the continent" or the "Gibraltar of America", but in 1775 it was, according to historian Christopher Ward, "more like a backwoods village than a fort."

Even before shooting started in the American Revolutionary War, American Patriots were concerned about Fort Ticonderoga. The fort was a valuable asset for several reasons. Within its walls was a collection of heavy artillery including cannons, howitzers, and mortars, armaments that the Americans had in short supply. The fort was situated on the shores of Lake Champlain, a strategically important route between the rebellious Thirteen Colonies and the British-controlled northern provinces. British forces placed there would expose the colonial forces in Boston to attack from the rear. After the war began with the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, the British General Thomas Gage realized the fort would require fortification, and several colonists had the idea of capturing the fort.

Gage, writing from the besieged city of Boston following Lexington and Concord, instructed Quebec's governor, General Guy Carleton, to rehabilitate and refortify the forts at Ticonderoga and Crown Point. Carleton did not receive this letter until May 19, well after the fort had been captured.

Benedict Arnold had frequently traveled through the area around the fort, and was familiar with its condition, manning, and armaments. En route to Boston following news of the events of April 19, he mentioned the fort and its condition to members of Silas Deane's militia. The Connecticut Committee of Correspondence acted on this information; money was "borrowed" from the provincial coffers and recruiters were sent into northwestern Connecticut, western Massachusetts, and the New Hampshire Grants (now Vermont) to raise volunteers for an attack on the fort.

John Brown, an American spy from Pittsfield, Massachusetts who had carried correspondence between revolutionary committees in the Boston area and Patriot supporters in Montreal, was well aware of the fort and its strategic value. Ethan Allen and other Patriots in the disputed New Hampshire Grants territory also recognized the fort's value, as it played a role in the dispute over that area between New York and New Hampshire. Whether either took or instigated action prior to the Connecticut Colony's recruitment efforts is unclear. Brown had notified the Massachusetts Committee of Safety in March of his opinion that Ticonderoga "must be seized as soon as possible should hostilities be committed by the King's Troops."

When Arnold arrived outside Boston, he told the Massachusetts Committee of Safety about the cannons and other military equipment at the lightly defended fort. On May 3, the Committee gave Arnold a colonel's commission and authorized him to command a "secret mission", which was to capture the fort. He was issued £100, some gunpowder, ammunition, and horses, and instructed to recruit up to 400 men, march on the fort, and ship back to Massachusetts anything he thought useful.