Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1820-09-27

boat, and the chill OF the air, and could
at my leisure. catch every variety a.
images, and all the changes of scenery
that we're passing befnre me. 1t v5s'
with very great regret, that I found We
could not stop, even FOR moment, NJ
Ticonderoga and Crown Point; and i
was not till ] had devised and dsmis
ed several abortjve plans for lcayipr
the boat ard getting on afterwards. op
in some other way, that | submitted fo
pass tlese interesting places.
The sun, setting in splendor, Shotbis
lost beams over Mount Defiance, as W.
came in sight of it, and the commcncn,
twilight, softened by the first approach
es Of evening, which was not yet SO "a,
advanced, as to throw objects into ob-
security, cast a pensive veil over the
scite and ruins of
TiC0NDER0GA.
/" The remains of this celebrated for.
tress, once SO highly important, but no
longer, an object either of hope or fear.
are still considerably conspicuous. As
we cane up with. aud, from the mar.
rowness of the lake, necessarily passed
near them, | was gratifed as much as
| could be. without landing, by view
of their ruins, still imposing in their.
appearance, and possessing with all
their associations, high degree of he.
roic grandeur.
They stard on a tongue of land, of
considerable elevation, projecting south
between Lake Champlain, which winds
around and passes on the east. and the
passage into Lake George, which is on
the west.
The remains of the old works arc
still conspicuous, and the old stone bar
racks erected by the French, arc in
part standing.
This fort was built by the French;
and Lord Howe, and many other gal.
liant men, lost their lives in the attempt
to storm it, in 1888.
From this fortress, issued many Of
those ferocious incursions of French Il
Indians, which formerly distressed the
settlements; and its fall in
1859, when on the approach of General
Amherst with powerful army it was
abandoned by the French, without
filled the northern colonies
with joy.
In l777, great hopes were reposed
upon this fortress, as barrier against
it was regarded as being en-.
the strong hold of the North;
aud when general Bursoyne, with as
effort dragged cannon up the
precipices of Mount Defiance, and
Showed them on its summit, Ticondero-
ga, no longer tenable, was prcCipitate-
ly abandoned.
Mount Defiance stands on the outlet
of Lake George, and between that and
Lake Champlain, and most completely
commands Ticonderoga, which is far
below, and within fair cannon shot
On the slightest glance at the scene, itI
is matter of utter establishment, even
to one who is not military man, how
so important point came to be over
looked by all preceding commanders:
probably it arose from the belief, which
ought not TO have been admitted till the
experiment had been tried, that it wa,
to convey cannon to its sum
NIT. On the right is Mount IndePen'
denCc, where there was Formidable
fort at the time Of General BurgOyneS
invasion.
The shadows of the night were de'-
cending on the venerable TicondcrOS%
as we left it. and wien looked upon
its walls and cnvirons, so long and 50
often clustering with armies--formId3,
bic for SO great length of time in all
tho apparatus and preparations OF WaF'
and the object of so many campaigns
and battles but now exhibiting only
one solitary smoke, curling from stone
chimney in its half fallen barracks
with not one animated being in SIg!I;
while its MASSEY ruins, and the beautiful
green declivilies, sloping on all sides
The water, were still and motionless
death, felt indeed that | was behoo'
ing striking emblem of the mutaOHIE
of power, and of the fluctuations OF en-
pire. Ticonderoga, no longer witDlD
the confines of hostile county,"
longer a ralIying point for icrocIOu'
sayages and for formidable armleS-"'
more barrier against invasion, or !"