The Revolutionary War, pt. 2: America's First Victory at Ticonderoga, and the First American Warship on Lake Champlain
- Timothy Dusablon
- 16 minutes ago
- 14 min read
Lake Champlain: April 1775
In April 1775 two forts from the previous war loomed over Lake Champlain. Dilapidated and in desperate need of repair, Fort Ticonderoga and His Majesty’s Fort at Crown Point were manned by skeleton crews. The nights were long and cold. But at least the lake was open from ice once again. The crews at Ticonderoga and Crown Point must have wondered what they did to deserve a station at these lonely and haunted grounds. Chills in the air reminded those few there of the deadly day on July 8th, 1758, where 3,000 casualties were suffered in Abercromby’s disastrous attack on Fort Carillon. She was known as Fort Carillon to the French when they built this storied fortress during the French and Indian War just two decades prior. As the small British garrison settled in for another cold and stormy night, they had no idea a new nation gathered forces on the opposite shore ready to capture the famed fort in America’s first large-scale victory. 83 Green Mountain Boys, under the joint command of Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen were about to change the world.
We left off the previous episode with the aftermath of the Battles of Lexington and Concord. As news of these battles reached Connecticut, it was clear the conflict had reached a new stage. There a would-be famous man had a plan. This man, a resourceful and strong-willed personality, would become the hero of a nation. His heroics in multiple battles made him a household name, almost single-handedly saving the Revolutionary War from disaster in the Northern Theater. There was no American military leader who was more enterprising and naturally gifted at military command than he was. He also had a fatal flaw of character in which his pridefulness led to irascibility during any actual or perceived slight of character. This flaw would lead the hero to become the arch villain. We are, of course, talking about Benedict Arnold. He is one of the main characters in the episodes to follow.
Benedict Arnold was a resident of New Haven, Connecticut. His family was one of the wealthiest in the colony. “Was” being the important word. His father suffered from an addiction to alcohol. A young Benedict Arnold had to, on many occasions, help his drunk father stagger home. With his addiction the family fortune disappeared. In colonial Connecticut at this time, class and social standing were everything. His family became the joke of the town, something Benedict resented more than words could describe. This led to his desire to be someone, and to restore the Arnold family name to its proper place.
Arnold became a very successful merchant and apothecary who travelled all over the world. He followed along in disgust with the events in Boston, suggesting most of his fellow countrymen were asleep while their liberties were disappearing. After the news of Lexington and Concord, he organized an infantry company and even led the charge to gain the stores of a nearby powderhouse from David Wooster, a man who Arnold would later command with in Canada.
He led his infantry unit, as the elected captain, towards Cambridge. As he arrived in Cambridge he met Dr. Joseph Warren, a highly influential leader for the rebellion in Massachusetts. The two talked business and strategy, contemplating aloud how the continentals could remove the British from Boston. It was impossible without heavy artillery. Benedict Arnold offered up the perfect solution.
As a merchant, Arnold frequently traveled to Montreal, and often did so through the Champlain Valley. He knew very well the old forts from the French and Indian War and also knew they were in a ruinous condition. Crown Point in particular was described by others as a useless mass of earth after an explosion in 1773 leveled the fort. Fort Ticonderoga was also in bad shape, and guarded by a very small garrison that could be easily overwhelmed.
As they discussed this venture, there were several factors to consider. Going on the offensive to capture these two forts would be a marked escalation of the conflict from the side of the colonials. Up to this point, Lexington and Concord could easily be described as a defensive measure if peace talks were to ever start. But going on the offensive in a manner like this could not be described as such. Then there was the issue that the forts were in the jurisdiction of the Colony of New York, which of all of the northern colonies was the most averse to war and independence owing to the large torie population of the colony.
After some deliberation, Dr. Joseph Warren fully supported Benedict Arnold’s plan to capture Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and made it a priority to push the commission through the Massachusetts Committee of Safety. Before long, Benedict Arnold had a physical copy of this commission from Massachusetts in his hand. He had a chance at what he craved - glory. But he heard some concerning rumblings that another group had the same idea of capturing Fort Ticonderoga. This confusion actually stemmed from a chance meeting that Benedict Arnold had just a few days prior.
This chance meeting was with Samuel Holden Parsons of Connecticut. Arnold had been discussing the usefulness of the artillery at the Lake Champlain forts with Parsons, who liked the idea so much he advanced the plan through Connecticut. In turn, Connecticut would borrow money to pay a militant group in the Champlain Valley to capture the two forts. That militant group, or borderline lawless mob, was the Green Mountain Boys headed by another famed Revolutionary War hero, Ethan Allen from Connecticut, now living in the New Hampshire Grants.
A Clash of Two Gigantic Egos: Allen and Arnold
Arnold saw his chance at glory slipping away and rode north by himself, with none of the troops that were supposed to accompany him. On horseback, he made his way to the New Hampshire Grants to investigate. At Castleton Vermont, he met up with some of the Green Mountain Boys, or as they were known in New York, the Bennington Mob. There are conflicting reports about whether he actually met up with Ethan Allen at a tavern in Castleton. One report states Allen was already making his way to Shoreham, on the Vermont side of the lake opposite Fort Ticonderoga.
Either way, a clash of two enormous egos took place, as an argument ensued over who would lead the capture of the fort. Arnold appeared in an official blue uniform with his commission paperwork in hand. Arnold had aspired to be upper class again, as means of restoring his family’s name. In this manner though, he appeared very similar to the land-holding elite that the Green Mountain Boys were at war with from New York. The animosity was about to boil over, as Arnold’s brash and unpolished nature had a tendency to rub many people the wrong way. Arnold demanded to lead, but had no men. And the Green Mountain Boys were not going to help unless Ethan Allen was in command.
Just as tensions were about to erupt, the two men struck a compromise. They would have joint command of the capture.
In Ethan Allen’s planning, or lack thereof, he forgot to account for transportation of the men across the lake. He sent out Samuel Herrick to the property of his friend and recent acquaintance - Philip Skene. Skene had a thriving community at Skenesborough, present-day Whitehall, NY at the southern tip of Lake Champlain. Ethan Allen had been working closely with Philip Skene on a plan to resolve the land-ownership conflict in the New Hampshire Grants, with both New York and New Hampshire issuing titles for the same land. Skene had a plan that had its roots at the end of the French and Indian War that proposed a new “buffer colony” along Lake Champlain to protect the colonies to the south. Skene was in London at this time formalizing these plans with the Crown, for which Ethan Allen was fully supportive of.
But the tide of the conflicts in the grants and in Massachusetts had changed everything, and Allen was ready to abandon his would-be business partner. Samuel Herrick was sent to capture the settlement, but more importantly to capture his sailing supply vessel, the Katherine. This vessel would be used to transport the men across the lake.
Meanwhile in Shoreham, the group of 200 plus men was led by an uneasy truce by Arnold and Allen organized at Hand’s Cove. It was a cold, windy, rainy night. The lake was choppy, even at this location where the lake is only about a mile wide. Allen had failed to account for the fact that Skenesborough was over 20 miles away. There was just no way Samuel Herrick would arrive in time to transport all the men over to the other side of the lake.
Although it was not the ideal solution, there were two flat-bottomed scows nearby. They secured the vessels and loaded up both boats with as many men as they could fit. Altogether, they squeezed 83 men into both vessels and proceeded across the choppy lake in the middle of the storm. It took an hour and a half to cross the mile-long width of the lake to the other side. The men were drenched from the venture across. Allen and Arnold regrouped on the New York shore and made the decision that waiting for the vessels to cross and recross the lake with more men was impossible with daylight soon approaching. The decision was made to proceed with the 83 men they had.
America's First Victory
Quietly crouching along a narrow and steep path towards the fort, the men looked to the sky and were glad to see the weather clearing. The sound of rattlesnakes, numerous at the time in the area, kept the men on their toes. As they neared the fort, the excitement was palpable. They neared the famed gates of Fort Ticonderoga, whose battles she had witnessed during the French and Indian War had made the fortress a household name on both sides of the Atlantic.
Near the gate was a sentry box with one lone soldier - fast asleep. As the men approached, the sentry was startled awake. In a panic, he raised his musket towards the men and pulled the trigger. The damp conditions caused the gun to misfire. The sentry entered the fort’s gates and sounded the alarm. Another British soldier approached the men from the side, and Allen with his sword turned the blade and smacked the soldier in the face with the flat side of his weapon.
The rush of excitement took over - the men let out Native American-style war whoops and huzzah’s. Ethan Allen shouted “No Quarter!” repeatedly. They stormed the gates into the parade ground and startled the 40 men and over a dozen women and children present. Arnold, right beside Ethan Allen, was in his glory.
In the two-story stone barracks inside the fort, a man emerged barely clothed and demanded to know more information. Allen and Arnold demanded the fort’s immediate surrender, but they did not know the man was not the commander of the fort, but rather one of his aids, Lieutenant Jocelyn Feltham. He asked by who’s order he was capturing the fort. The traditional story is that Ethan Allen responded with his famous phrase “By the order of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress”. Although this account from Allen happened after the fact and is not corroborated by third-hand accounts available.
Once they found out that Captain Delaplace was still in his quarters, Allen shouted “come out of there you damned old rat!” Ethan Allen continued his shouting, stating loudly that if he did not surrender immediately, they would kill every man, woman and child at the fort. Benedict Arnold took a more gentlemanly approach, and stated that if they were to surrender, they could expect to be treated as gentleman. Captain Delaplace surrendered soon after. The Americans had their first large-scale victory. Fort Ticonderoga was an American Fort!
Shortly thereafter, the Green Mountain Boys lived up to their reputation as a ruthless mob of lawless men by breaking into the rum stores and getting piss drunk. Arnold did all he could to try to maintain order, but the Green Mountain Boys had none of it, and began plundering private property with no semblance of military order whatsoever. Benedict Arnold would go on to describe Ethan Allen as the perfect man to lead his “own wild people” but was severely lacking in military experience. When Arnold confronted Allen about the behavior of his men, Allen replied to Arnold that the joint command was over, and that he alone was now in charge of the fort. Allen allowed the drinking and plundering to continue.
Two days later, Seth Warner, another Green Mountain Boy who would soon be in command of the group a few months later, led a group of 50 men north to capture the other Lake Champlain fort, Crown Point. Crown Point had a garrison of only 8 men, along with other women and children. The fort was captured without incident. Seth Warner responded that it was impossible to tell how much artillery was at the fort, considering it had sunk into the earth in its dilapidated state. At the same time, another group had gone to Fort George at the head of Lake George to capture the stores and ammunition there.
America's First Warship
Back at Fort Ticonderoga, Benedict Arnold saw a sight for sore eyes. Eleazer Oswald, one of the men recruited by Arnold back in Massachusetts, approached the fort with Philip Skene’s two-masted supply sloop, the Katherine. The Green Mountain Boys may have known how to drink and plunder, but Benedict Arnold knew how to operate a sloop better than any man there.
The Katherine was equipped with four medium sized cannon and six swivel guns. She was renamed The Liberty and was America’s First Warship! The very first naval vessel in our country’s history was right here on Lake Champlain!
But Benedict Arnold was just beginning. He realized that capturing Ticonderoga was very different from keeping Ticonderoga. To the north at fort St. Jean along the Richelieu River, the British had many more naval vessels and men, and if Arnold did not act quickly, the British would merely sail down the lake and take back Crown Point and Ticonderoga.
Arnold organized his provisions, armed the Liberty, and loaded up two additional bateaux to move north with 50 men. As they sailed north, they intercepted a sailing postal vessel for which Arnold confiscated the contents. Among the contents were detailed communications indicating there were only 700 men to defend Canada should the continentals make a move north.
Sailing north on Lake Champlain, Benedict Arnold aboard the Liberty was becalmed around Point au Fer, just south of the border. This point on the west side of Lake Champlain in the present-day town of Champlain saw an important battle involving Robert Rogers and his Rangers during the French and Indian War in 1760. Without the benefit of the wind, the men boarded the two bateaux and rowed into the Richelieu River. In what was a clear escalation of the conflict, the continentals had entered Canada.
The Enterprise
They reached land just a few hundred yards south of Fort St. Jean and the naval yard. There they watched from an inlet the movement of the men, who were completely unsuspecting. The place was festering with insects. The men were in a very uncomfortable position, but did not alert those stationed at the fort. Arnold made the decision to move forward, just in the nick of time as he would later find out.
Only twelve men emerged to confront Arnold and his force. They surrendered quickly. The real prize was the large sloop of war, called the Betsy. The 70 ton single-masted warship was boarded and untied. The crew of seven was fast asleep and surrendered immediately. The Betsey was a fine vessel. She was built in 1771 and had six cannon and twelve swivel guns.
In addition to the Betsey, Arnold and his men also captured four additional bateaux and burned five others. Without hesitation, Arnold and his naval fleet were proceeding south with some prisoners. One of those prisoners told Arnold that many reinforcements from Montreal were in route to Fort St. Jean. Had Arnold arrived just a few hours later, the ordeal may have had a very different outcome.
As they sailed back into the waters of Lake Champlain, Arnold’s lookouts spotted four vessels sailing north towards them. They soon realized they were continental forces. As they approached, they fired the cannon in appreciation and celebration. Leading the flotilla northbound was none other than Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys. Allen was not going to let Arnold get the glory of this venture by himself, and led his own group towards St. Jean.
Ethan Allen boarded the Betsey. Benedict Arnold had renamed her the Enterprise, the first in a very long line of storied American naval vessels (and fictional spacecraft) with the same name, including the first nuclear powered aircraft carrier. As Allen boarded the newly christened Enterprise, the two men had several toasts to Continental Congress. Ethan Allen resolved to continue north and occupy Fort St. Jean. Arnold warned him vehemently that that was a bad idea, and that reinforcements were on the way from Montreal. The strong-willed Ethan Allen decided to continue north despite Arnold’s warnings.
In Ethan Allen’s haste to catch up with Arnold and share the glory, he forgot to load provisions with his men, who were starving and thirsty. Arnold ordered provisions from the Liberty loaded into Allen’s vessels for his trek north. Arnold continued south, while Allen foolishly continued towards St. Jean. Allen’s ventures ended in a dismal failure just as Arnold had warned of. Allen and his men were lucky to escape back to Lake Champlain. This foolish move by Ethan Allen would cost him his command of the Green Mountain Boys just weeks later.
As Benedict Arnold sailed south, he was doing so with America’s first naval fleet. You can argue semantics and state that the official American Navy was not founded until later in 1775, but whether you call them the Navy or not, this was America’s first fleet of warships, right here on Lake Champlain.
Arnold’s forward thinking in capturing the Enterprise and taking that valuable vessel from the British has been severely overlooked by many historians. The fact is, had he not done this, the British would have simply sailed south and recaptured the two forts. The Revolution would have likely been over, as at this time in 1775 the majority of Continental Congress did NOT support complete independence. Only a small minority were in favor of independence. That changed drastically just a year later. In fact, after the capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, Congress debated giving forts back to the British! That would be done without the artillery of course. That idea was squashed quickly by those who remembered how important Lake Champlain was during the French and Indian War.
But that move to capture the vessels in Canada ensured the Americans controlled Lake Champlain, even if just for the time being. But Benedict Arnold was just beginning. Canada seemed ripe for the taking, and the Americans were about to invade Canada in our first “War of Liberation”.
This is Part Two of the Revolutionary War series. For Part One, Click Here.
Sources:
Beck, Derek. "Igniting the American Revolution: 1773-1775"
Bellico, Russell. "Sails and Steam in the Mountains: A Maritime and Military History of Lake George and Lake Champlain"
Cohen, Eliot A. “Conquered Into Liberty: Two Centuries of Battles Along the Great Warpath That Made the American Way of War”
Duffy, John, H. Nicholas Muller III, and Gary C. Shattuck. "The Rebel and the Tory: Ethan Allen, Philip Skene, and the Dawn of Vermont"
Duffy, John, and H. NIcholas Muller III. "Inventing Ethan Allen"
Gadue, Michael. "The Liberty: First American Warship, Among Many Firsts" https://allthingsliberty.com/2019/06/the-liberty-first-american-warship-among-many-firsts/#:~:text=The%20Liberty:%20First%20American%20Warship,Journal%20of%20the%20American%20Revolution
Kelly, Jack. "God Save Benedict Arnold: The True Story of America's Most Hated Man"
Laramie, Michael G. “By Wind and Iron: Naval Campaigns in the Champlain Valley, 1665-1815”
Millard, James P. "Lake Passages: A Journey Through the Centuries Volume 1, 1609-1909"
Morton, Doris B. "Birthplace of the U.S. Navy"
Randall, Willard Sterne. "Ethan Allen: His Life and Times"