Fort Ticonderoga Grand Encampment

[jwint76]

the Americans did get a cannon up there during the Rev War ... mostly psychological effect --- I believe something like one Hessian was killed

[honeyroastpenut]

"Where a goat can climb, a man can climb too. And where a man can climb, he can drag a cannon with him! Carry on, gentelmen!" British general telling his men to drag cannons up a rocky and steep plateau before bombarding ticonderoga and capturing it (not the attack involving the Black Watch)

[Bullettube]

I read somewhere that when the Continentals took over Ticonderoga the first thing they noticed was that there was a very large hill overlooking the fort. The hill was no problem when all the French had faced were Indians, but it was a disaster for The Americans that the British arrived before the Americans could fortify the hill.

[honeyroastpenut]

Possibly, i know that when the continentals captured it, it had been rather forgotten, as it wasn't really needed since the fighting had moved away from the area. None the less, it was an important capture for the continentals, as it had stores of canon and powder.

[Bullettube]

Were any of the captured guns sent to Washington? It would be interesting to have a gun and a history of it's assignments. Too often I see guns mounted at parks etc. without any info as to where they came from.

[honeyroastpenut]

Dunno. Apparently the guns were dragged 300km to support the siege of Boston, maybe looking there would be a start, if you wanted a gun from ticonderoga? Still, i guess if you look in the washington museums, you'd most probably find a field gun with its history. I couldn't really say though, I live in England.

[Bullettube]

I've reacquainted myself with a few books I hadn't read in a while. Example: "1775" a book about the Boston siege, clearly states that the guns used came from Ticonderoga. Also, it appears that Ticonderoga has one of the nations largest collections of cannons! I'll have to visit!

[honeyroastpenut]

Awesome! It'd be nice to visit the fort, although i'm not sure it'd be worth crossing the drink specifically to see it, there are plenty of castles and Forts in England!

[Bullettube]

It was originally a Verdun inspired star shaped fort, with two extensions on the landward side. It fell into ruin because it was useless after 1780 and was only saved by the Pell family which bought the land. That's right, it's a privately owned fort!

[honeyroastpenut]

Nice! I thought it'd be your national heritage organisation or something. (we have the national trust and english heritage, a company that looks after old sites, buildings etc, maintains them, and lets people view them etc.)

[Bullettube]

Most of our revolutionary,(thee misunderstanding to you) and Civil War battlegrounds are national parks. Most of the old forts are also, such as Governor Island, but some sites are administered under State control. Since some battlegrounds can be huge, like Gettysburg, there is inevitably some private property involved.

[honeyroastpenut]

Fair enough, i was never sure.

Ever been to Gettysburg? I haven't, but i can't understand what made Lee order that charge... I mean, it was the same as Fredericksburg but the armies had swapped sides. He must have seen that it wouldn't have worked..

[LordTharrion]

@honeyroastpenut what's even worse is that the year before, Lee had made the exact same mistake at Malvern hill (amlost exactly a year before) and made the charge...

[jacobdp21]

yeah its called mount defiance and if you could get cannons up it you could blow the fort to pieces

[Sunspotbaby69]

Blech. I HATE the battles at Ti. They're so boring. William Henry is farby anyways. It's made of frikkin telephone poles.

It's the events you guys DON'T see that are amazing.

[bayruun]

Ah, the 78th yelling as they charged. Good times.

[trevstryder20]

fort william henry was amazing is right i saw it too

[trevstryder20]

i saw the siege of fort william henry sept 2007 in NY what a reenacment let me tell you it was awsome

[hollywoodwerewolf]

one day I'll wear red and charge into a reenacted battle by the skirl of the pipes.