today we're looking at the capture of fort ticonderoga
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the questions down in the description after the first shots of the american revolution were fired
at lexington and concord in april of 1775. the next major action would take place less than a
month later at fort ticonderoga fort ticonderoga is a fort located at the point where lake george
and lake champlain meet in northern new york it was built by the french in 1755 and was originally
called carillon before being captured by the british during the french and indian war in 1759.
the british renamed it ticonderoga which is an iroquois word meaning at the junction of two
waterways immediately following the battles of lexington and concord the massachusetts militia
had surrounded boston and were laying siege to it with the british trapped inside there
in the militia camp appeared benedict arnold from connecticut arnold was a veteran of the french and
indian war and a member of the sons of liberty but he saw this coming revolution as an opportunity
to make a name for himself unfortunately as we will find out arnold eventually makes a name for
himself as a traitor to the american cause but for now in late april of 1775 arnold convinces
the massachusetts congress to allow him to go on a mission to fort ticonderoga ticonderoga had a
large supply of desperately needed weapons ammunition and most importantly artillery
that could be used by the americans furthermore at the time the fort was only being guarded by
less than 50 soldiers arnold had traveled through the area where the fort was located several times
and knew the defenses and what supplies were there on may 3rd 1775 arnold along with two others
were given instructions to ride north and recruit men along the way to aid in capturing the fort
within a few days of riding north arnold learned that he was not the only one with his eyes on
capturing ticonderoga even allen was the leader of the green mountain boys and no they're not a
bluegrass band they were a militia that had formed in 1770 to protect property rights in northern new
york and present-day vermont ethan allen was known as being basically a brawler or a hard fighter
and would go on to be considered a hero during the american revolution benedict arnold and his
force of about 40 men that had been recruited encountered ethan allen and his force of about
100 green mountain boys arnold insisted that he be put in command of the operation while the green
mountain boys said they would not fight under anyone but ethan allen it was a rather tense scene
before allen and arnold made an agreement that they would jointly command the attack on the fort
at dawn on the morning of may 10 1775 the combined american forces crossed the lake champlain
and surprised the sleeping british soldiers inside the fort with little to no gunfire the americans
were able to get inside the fort and quickly began to fan out securing all the buildings
ethan allen found the quarters of the commander of the fort captain dela place
allen threatened to kill everyone in the fort and then said something to the effect of
come out of there you old rat as he banged on the door of the commander's room
captain delaplace then came out and surrendered his sword to allen and fort ticonderoga this is
considered to be the first major victory of the war for the americans as now they had control
of the strategic fort but more importantly had captured all of the guns and ammunition inside
for the green mountain boys however the most important item they captured was 90 gallons of rum
inside the fort they basically began to party and kind of trash the fort in the meantime ethan allen
wrote a letter to the leaders of massachusetts and in the letter he takes all of the credit
for capturing the fort and leaves benedict arnold completely out of it this is a major insult for
benedict arnold but this would not be the last time arnold would not get credit for his efforts
and of course that leads him down the road of becoming a traitor to the american cause at the
same time as ticonderoga was captured colonial leaders were coming together in philadelphia
for the second continental congress to decide what to do after the opening shots at lexington
and concord and so just as they're meeting they get news of the fall of fort ticonderoga and it's
not necessarily a welcome i guess message because many of the delegates wanted to find a way to keep
peace with britain but for now the fort was under american control and the artillery and weapons
inside remain there as well and would eventually play an important role in the war but i'll get
to that in another bell ringer so hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching