page_title: Mount Independence (Vermont)
section_title: Spring 1777
hierarchical_section_title: Mount Independence (Vermont) / History / American Revolution / Spring 1777
caption_attribution_description: English: The map of the Lake Champlain forts used at the court-martial of General Arthur St. Clair following his decision to abandon Ticonderoga and Mount Independence.
context_page_description: Mount Independence on Lake Champlain in Orwell, Vermont, was the site of extensive fortifications built during the American Revolutionary War by the American army to stop a British invasion. Construction began in July 1776, following the American defeat in Canada, and continued through the winter and spring of 1777. After the American retreat on July 5 and 6, 1777, British and German troops occupied Mount Independence until November 1777.
  After the American Revolution, Mount Independence was farm land, used for grazing sheep and cattle. It is now a state historic site, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1972 for its historical significance.
context_section_description: The pace of work increased in late March with the return of engineer Jeduthan Baldwin. The Great Bridge connecting Mount Independence and Ticonderoga was the first of many projects. Caissons – log cabin-like structures – were begun on the ice and then dragged into holes cut in the frozen surface. Later, the caissons were started close to shore and then floated into place where work continued. Eventually 22 caissons stabilized with stone ballast rose 10 feet (3.0 m) above the water.
  Mount Independence and Ticonderoga had a series of commanders during the spring, but finally on June 12 Major General Arthur St. Clair of Pennsylvania took charge. In mid June 1777, an American army of only 2000 healthy enlisted men defended fortifications that stretched 3.5 miles (5.6 km) from the batteries on the southeast of Mount Independence, across Lake Champlain to numerous redoubts on the flats north of old Fort Ticonderoga, the extensive French Lines, and a fort built on the high ground called Mount Hope.  St. Clair was to write later, "Had every man I had, been disposed in single file on the different works and along the lines of defence [sic], they would have been scarcely within the reach of each other's voices."
  When he returned to overall command in the Northern Department in early June, General Schuyler considered abandoning the Ticonderoga side of the lake where the lines were overextended. After a Council of General Officers on June 20, work intensified on Mount Independence. Cannon and supplies were also moved to the Mount in preparation to withdrawing from Ticonderoga.
  By the end of June the Americans were certain that the British were advancing in force. In fact, Lieutenant General John Burgoyne had 8000 British and German troops and 138 cannon for the attack on the forts.
  On July 2, the American position on the Ticonderoga side of the lake began to crumble as the British mounted cannon on the high ground to the north facing the American lines. Fighting for the British, German troops from the Duchy of Brunswick under command of Major General Friedrich Adolf Riedesel marched east with a goal of cutting off Mount Independence by seizing the narrow land between East Creek and Lake Champlain.
  On July 5, British gunners began to construct a battery on Sugar Hill or Mount Defiance, a mountain on the west side of the lake that dominated both Mount Independence and Ticonderoga. Historians continue to debate how decisive the British cannon on Mount Defiance were in the American decision to retreat, but a council of war held that afternoon agreed unanimously to abandon first Ticonderoga and then Mount Independence.
caption: The map of the Lake Champlain forts used at the court-martial of General Arthur St. Clair following his decision to abandon Ticonderoga and Mount Independence.
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