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The Capture of Fort Ticonderoga Facts

The Capture of Fort Ticonderoga Facts
In the early morning hours of May 10, 1775, a force of less than 100 Patriots led by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold took control of the British fort at Ticonderoga, which was located in upstate New York on the southern shore of Lake Champlin. Although Ticonderoga was not a major fort for the British, its capture helped the American forces in a number of ways strategically and intangibly. It allowed the Continental Army to launch raids into Canada in 1775, it cut many of the supply lines between Canada and British forces in the colonies, the canons captured at Ticonderoga were sent to Boston, which eventually forced the British to fee the city, and the capture gave the Patriots a much needed morale boost.
Interesting The Capture of Fort Ticonderoga Facts:
Most of the men involved in the raid were Ethan Allen's Green Mountain Boys, which was a militia from the Green Mountains region of Vermont.
Although Arnold was the ranking officer during the operation, the Green Mountain Boys only obeyed him when Allen said so.
Since Arnold and Allen were both type-A personalities and somewhat egotistical, they often quarreled.
No one was killed during the operation.
As soon as the American Revolutionary War began, Patriot leaders started eyeing Ticonderoga as an important target.
After taking the fort, the American forces took the nearby British fort of Crown Point and then raided the fort at Saint-Jean in Quebec.
Ticonderoga was looted not just for ammunition and guns, but also for its food and alcohol. After consuming heavy amounts of alcohol taken from the fort, the Green Mountain boys staggered back to the Green Mountains.
After the Green Mountain boys left, Arnold took command of Ticonderoga and Crown Point with the help of 1,000 Continentals from Connecticut.
Allen later led an unsuccessful raid on Montreal, where he was captured and then imprisoned until 1778.
Arnold would later distinguish himself during the Saratoga Campaign in 1778, but then disgraced himself by attempting to turn West Point over to the British in 1780.
John Brown, a spy from Massachusetts, was helpful in relating troop numbers at the fort to Arnold before the raid.
Arnold was able to sail to Saint-Jean with a hastily assembled fleet of schooners he captured.
Once at Saint-Jean, Arnold led a stealth, amphibious assault that captured a British sloop of war without suffering any casualties.
Allen and his men arrived at Saint-Jean later and had to rush to avoid being captured by a newly arrived British force. One of Allen's men was captured.
Only one American was injured by a bayonet during the capture.
Because the capture of Ticonderoga dealt a serious blow to the British north-south communication lines, they decided to assign two commanders - north and south - in North America for the remainder of the war, which caused problems later in the British high command.
After the capture of Ticonderoga, the Continental Congress drafted the second "letter to the inhabitants of Quebec" urging the predominantly French speaking population to join the American rebellion.
The British were able to briefly recapture the fort in 1777, but lost it again later that year.


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