Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1872-07-24
The Field Day at Ticonderoga.

resolved on =" new departure IN lts mdnneE
of holding meetings, and, as the readers OF
the FREExAN have been advised, determined
to enjoy field day at Ticonderoga, N. T., on
the 18th of this month. Thursday last
was the 18th, and although gentle rain was
pattering down in the morning, quite a
number of the citizens Of Montpelier and
vicinity gathered at the depot, determined to
invade L" Old IT, and participate in the
exercises proposed by the Historical Society.
The rain ceased, or rather we ran out of the
shower, before the train reached Burlington,
and we found the g Queen City bathed in
sunshine and with the thermometer above
eighty. We had been joined at Essex June
ton by fair delegation from Franklin
County and citizens of Burlington soon
began to gather on the Central wharf, await
ing the arrival of the boat which was to take
the party down the lake to the historic
grounds of Ticonderoga.
Soon the staunch and beautiful steamer
Vermont came up to her landing, and we
all found comfortable and delightful quarters
on her spacious deck, in her beautiful parlors
quota of the fair sex in the party, and, with
the dignifed but genial Captain Flagg and
his attentive subordinates to look after our
safety and comfort, all felt like giving them
selves up to the full enjoyment of ride down
Lake Champlain by daylight. There were
no head winds to impede our progress, and
we made d most delightful sail till the sum
mons came for dinner The capacious dining
hall was found insufficient to seat all who
desired to dine but no more tickets were
sold than its seating capacity justified. Con-
sequently those having tickets were sure Of
a seat at the first table. The dinner was
excellent, and the serving quite as good as
could be expected considering the large crowd
to be attended to.
During the dinner hour a smart shower
sprang up, and the open decks of the steamer
were not in great demand again till we
passed Port Henry landing, lying opposite
Chimney Point on the Vermont side. The
lake here is hardly a stones throw in width,
and we should fear fierce wind would be
likely to strand boat in passing this point.
across the lake from Ticonderogl to Larabee's
Point in Shoreham, and witnessed the
wonderful ease and facility with which the
immense draw to allow the passage of boats
was opened and closed. Rounding the boat 5
head toward the New York shore, Captain
Flagg in five minutes more made the landing
at Ticonderoga.
The landing is some two miles from the
village of Ticonderoga proper, but is in the
immediate vicinity of the old Fort grounds,
and has near it very fine summer hotel, on
the grounds in front Of which the exercises
of the Historical Society were to take place.
At the landing we found Col. Calklns, the
chairman of the local committee, with fine
Brass Band and a large concourse Of citizens
as well as Vermonters, who had come in
ahead Of US on the new Addison Railroad
A procession was formed and we marched up
the hill to the grounds fronting the hotel,
making rather more noise and a more mpos-
ing parade, we conclude, than did Allen and
his eighty veterans as they marched up
the same grounds in the dusky dawn OF that
memorable morning when he demanded a
surrender in - the name of the Great JehO-
yah and of the Continental Congress, both
powers little known or recognized in a British
,.arrisnu uuzt uuy. ru-5ing an vuvarIY'iuetu
of Indians, fully equipped with bows and
arrows, canes, baskets, &c, for sale, We
marched under large American hag, sus-
pended IN a bower near the hotel, and found
a nice platform for the speaker and ample
seats for the audience erected beneath the
shade of the wide-spreading locusts and
trees of the grounds connected with the
hotel. Evidently we had not taken 4" Old
Ii - by surprise this time, and we were the
surprised ones, that so fine and cordial a
welcome was accorded US.
After a few stirring and patriotic airs from
the band, Henry Clark, ESD, of Rutland,
called the assemblage to order, and Rev. Mr.
Lord of Montpelier made brief but pithy re-
marks, touching wittily upon this new taking
of Ticonderoga, and gravely ting tina. for
this as well as every other blessing he re-
cognized the wisdom and goodness of the
Heavenly Conqueror, and would therefore
invite the Rev DR.. Child of Crown Point to
invoke the Divine blessing upon the people
assembled, and upon the cause which had
brought them together.
After the prayer, Hon l.. f. Chittenden,
Of New York, a lineal descendant of the
Chittendens so famous in the early record OF
Vermont, was introduced as the orator OF the
day. Mr.. Chittenden has given much time
and attention to the early history of his
native State, and we were prepared for an
interesting and instructive address but we
were not expecting such an able, exhaustive
and conclusive a paper upon the heretofore
mooted question of - who took TicOnderOga.
as the one read by Mr.. Chittenden. 1t
traversed the entire ground, and proved be-
yond hardly shadow of doubt that the
idea of surprising and capturing this British
fortress had it's inception in the councils of the
famous Vermont Committee of Safety, and
was carried out by the Vermont boys lead
up to Old Ii by Col. Allen. The address
was mastery production, and showed a
research among the publications and dOcu-
ments Of that day such as out few men have
the courage or time to make. 1t is at pres
ont withheld from pu blication, but at an early
day we may expect it to be given to the
public in permanent form for preservation.
Till then we can only give our readers a
meager and imperfect abstract OF it which
we find in the Free Press:
In opening, the speaker alluded to the sur
passing historical interest of the region round
about Tlconderoga. From it's earliest discov-
cry by Champlain in 1909, when he took