Photograph by Drifting Focus Photography
In the early hours of May 10, 1775, about 80 Green Mountain Boys—a ragtag Vermont militia under the command of Ethan Allen and, temporarily, Colonel Benedict Arnold—paddled across Lake Champlain to seize Fort Ticonderoga. Within hours, and with no serious casualties, the fort was in the colonists’ hands, a gambit that secured valuable artillery for the Continental Army, as well as a strategic waterway between Montreal and Albany.
It was the first offensive victory of the American Revolution and, 250 years later, a remembrance of the raid will be one of the first celebrations of America’s semiquincentennial birthday bash. On May 9–11, Fort Ticonderoga will host No Quarter!, a three-day event loaded with demonstrations, guided tours and a nighttime reenactment of the storming of the fort and its aftermath.
A separate commemoration of the capture of Fort Crown Point, which was taken not long after Fort Ticonderoga, happens at the Crown Point State Historic Site on May 11. For details visit parks.ny.gov.
