page_title: Fort Ticonderoga
section_title: Saratoga campaign
hierarchical_section_title: Fort Ticonderoga / Military history / Saratoga campaign
caption_attribution_description: Photograph of Fort Ticonderoga, August 2006
context_page_description: Fort Ticonderoga, formerly Fort Carillon, is a large 18th-century star fort built by the French at a narrows near the south end of Lake Champlain, in northern New York, in the United States. It was constructed by Canadian-born French military engineer Michel Chartier de Lotbinière, Marquis de Lotbinière between October 1755 and 1757, during the action in the "North American theater" of the Seven Years' War, often referred to in the US as the French and Indian War. The fort was of strategic importance during the 18th-century colonial conflicts between Great Britain and France, and again played an important role during the Revolutionary War.
  The site controlled a river portage alongside the mouth of the rapids-infested La Chute River, in the 3.5 miles between Lake Champlain and Lake George. It was thus strategically placed for the competition over trade routes between the British-controlled Hudson River Valley and the French-controlled Saint Lawrence River Valley.
  The terrain amplified the importance of the site. Both lakes were long and narrow and oriented north–south, as were the many ridge lines of the Appalachian Mountains, which extended as far south as Georgia.
context_section_description: During the summer of 1776, the Americans, under the direction of General Schuyler, and later under General Horatio Gates, added substantial defensive works to the area.  Mount Independence, which is almost completely surrounded by water, was fortified with trenches near the water, a horseshoe battery part way up the side, a citadel at the summit, and redoubts armed with cannons surrounding the summit area.  These defenses were linked to Ticonderoga with a pontoon bridge that was protected by land batteries on both sides.  The works on Mount Hope, the heights above the site of Montcalm's victory, were improved to include a star-shaped fort.  Mount Defiance remained unfortified.
  In March 1777, American generals were strategizing about possible British military movements and considered an attempt on the Hudson River corridor a likely possibility.  General Schuyler, heading the forces stationed at Ticonderoga, requested 10,000 troops to guard Ticonderoga and 2,000 to guard the Mohawk River valley against British invasion from the north.  George Washington, who had never been to Ticonderoga (his only visit was to be in 1783), believed that an overland attack from the north was unlikely, because of the alleged impregnability of Ticonderoga.  This, combined with continuing incursions up the Hudson River valley by British forces occupying New York City, led Washington to believe that any attack on the Albany area would be from the south, which, as it was part of the supply line to Ticonderoga, would necessitate a withdrawal from the fort.  As a result, no significant actions were taken to further fortify Ticonderoga or significantly increase its garrison.  The garrison, about 2,000 men under General Arthur St. Clair, was too small to man all the defenses.
  General Gates, who oversaw the northern defenses, was aware that Mount Defiance threatened the fort.  John Trumbull had pointed this out as early as 1776, when a shot fired from the fort was able to reach Defiance's summit, and several officers inspecting the hill noted that there were approaches to its summit where gun carriages could be pulled up the sides.  As the garrison was too small to properly defend all the existing works in area, Mount Defiance was left undefended.  Anthony Wayne left Ticonderoga in April 1777 to join Washington's army; he reported to Washington that "all was well", and that the fort "can never be carried, without much loss of blood".
  General Burgoyne led 7,800 British and Hessian forces south from Quebec in June 1777.  After occupying nearby Fort Crown Point without opposition on June 30, he prepared to besiege Ticonderoga.  Burgoyne realized the tactical advantage of the high ground, and had his troops haul cannons to the top of Mount Defiance.  Faced with bombardment from the heights (although no shots had yet been fired), General St. Clair ordered Ticonderoga abandoned on July 5, 1777.  Burgoyne's troops moved in the next day, with advance guards pursuing the retreating Patriot Americans.  Washington, on hearing of Burgoyne's advance and the retreat from Ticonderoga, stated that the event was "not apprehended, nor within the compass of my reasoning".  News of the abandonment of the "Impregnable Bastion" without a fight, caused "the greatest surprise and alarm" throughout the colonies.  After public outcry over his actions, General St. Clair was court-martialed in 1778.  He was cleared on all charges.
caption: Fort Ticonderoga as seen from Lake Champlain
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