American Revolution Podcast: New York in the Revolution

Showing posts with label New York in the Revolution. Show all posts

Sunday, August 16, 2020

ARP162 Raid on Fort Ticonderoga

Last week I talked about the battle of Freeman’s Farm, where the Americans fought General Burgoyne’s army to a draw in upstate New York. The British were struggling to advance, but their real problem was a lack of good supply lines.

General Horatio Gates had taken command of the northern army, replacing General Philip Schuyler in late August. He had lobbied for the command in Philadelphia for months before the loss of Ticonderoga convinced Congress that it was time for a new leader. Once in command, Gates traveled to Albany and contacted General Lincoln and General Stark who were still in what is today Vermont and asked them uh, so what do you guys think we should do?

Fort Ticonderoga (from Wikimedia)

Lincoln and Stark developed a plan to harass Burgoyne’s rear and disrupt his supply lines from Canada. As I mentioned in an earlier episode, Lincoln originally wanted Stark’s militia army to join up with the Continentals further south. Stark’s refusal meant that his men were in place to contest the battle of Bennington. Rather than continue to fight with Stark, Lincoln got on board with the idea of keeping these local militia separate and tried to find another use for them.

In September, before the battle of Freeman’s Farm, Lincoln came up with a plan to create more havoc behind British lines. General Burgoyne’s forces had captured Fort Ticonderoga in July. After that, they had then sailed down Lake Champlain to Skenesboro, marched through the forest to force the Americans out of Fort Ann and Fort Edward, and by mid September had crossed the Hudson river and were marching south toward Albany.

General Burgoyne had asked General Carlton in Canada to deploy some of his forces to garrison Fort Ticonderoga. Carleton pointed out that Ticonderoga was in New York, not Canada, and that it was Burgoyne’s problem, not his. In fact, Lord Germain had given precise orders on what regiments were to go to New York under Burgoyne and which would remain in Canada under Carlton. The general would not deviate from those instructions. So Burgoyne left one regiment of British regulars and one regiment of German Brunswickers to garrison the fort and hold Mount Independence, or what the British still called Rattlesnake Hill.

Rather than continue to try to maintain a supply line from Skenesborough through the forest to the Hudson River, the British reverted to their original plan to move supplies down Lake George to Fort George. From there, an existing road allowed easier transport to the army that was now moving down the Hudson River.

The American General Lincoln planned to disrupt the British supply lines by deploying militia against the British outposts that were relatively small and isolated. Lincoln had accumulated about 2500 soldiers ready for duty. From this force, he developed a plan to deploy 500 soldiers each under three different commanders. One division would take and hold Skenesborough. Another would assault Mount Independence. It was hoped that these two divisions would distract the British as a third group assaulted Fort Ticonderoga.

John Brown

To lead the assault on the Fort, General Lincoln turned to Colonel John Brown. Colonel Brown is an interesting character who deserves a little background. We have already crossed paths with Colonel Brown several times in our story already.

Brown was born in Massachusetts in 1744, no relationship to the famous abolitionist of the same name, He attended Yale College and studied law in Rhode Island under his brother in law, Oliver Arnold, uncle of Benedict Arnold. He then moved to upstate New York where he took a position as the king’s attorney, essentially what we would call today a government prosecutor. Shortly before the war began, he moved to Pittsfield in western Massachusetts and won election to the colonial legislature.

Benedict Arnold
(from Wikimedia)

Brown was active in committees of correspondence before the war and even when on a mission to Quebec to see if there was any interest in getting them involved in the revolution. Brown found the Quebecois unreceptive, but did note that Fort Ticonderoga in early 1775 was a valuable prize that the British had left relatively unguarded.

When fighting broke out at Lexington and Concord, Brown worked with Samuel Parsons to assemble a raiding party to capture Fort Ticonderoga. As a member of the Pittsfield militia, Brown met with the local militia commander James Easton to combine their forces with the Green Mountain Boys under Ethan Allen to take the fort. As they were preparing to do so, Colonel Benedict Arnold showed up and tried to take command. Brown, along with Easton, Allen, and just about everyone else, seemed to take an immediate dislike to Arnold and were among his first haters.

After they captured the Fort, Brown was given the honor of delivering the news to Congress. His refusal to acknowledge Arnold’s role in his message to Congress put him on Arnold’s personal enemies list. Brown took a commission as major in the Continental Army and spent the rest of 1775 under the command of General Richard Montgomery, first scouting enemy positions in Canada and also engaging in several skirmishes with the enemy.

In late 1775, Colonel Arnold made his famous wilderness march to Quebec that I discussed back in Episode 76. Arnold and Brown, once again, had to work with each other. During the New Year’s Eve attack on Quebec, Brown was given command of the attack on the main gates, which was designed to divert attention as Mongomery and Arnold launched the real attack on the other side of the city.

During the retreat, Arnold accused Brown of stealing property from captured British officers. Brown demanded a court martial to clear his name, but never got one. Brown, in turn, brought thirteen charges against Arnold, which likewise were never brought to a hearing. After Arnold’s success and Valcour Bay in late 1776, Arnold’s reputation nationally had made him a hero once again. A frustrated Brown published his pamphlet where he famously wrote of Arnold "Money is this man's God, and to get enough of it he would sacrifice his country."

There is a story that shortly after that, Arnold threatened to attack Brown if he ever saw him. Brown got word of this and went to a dinner party that Arnold was attending and confronted him. At the party, Brown got right in Arnold’s face and called him a scoundrel, the same sort of language that had led to the MacIntosh-Burnett duel in Georgia. Arnold, however, did not take the bait, and simply ignored Brown.

Congress promoted Arnold to brigadier general in early 1777, and swept away Brown’s charges without a hearing. Brown, by this time a Lieutenant Colonel, resigned his commission and returned to Pittsfield. It is not certain why Brown resigned. It seems likely that his resignation was related to Congress’ decision to promote Arnold and dismiss Brown’s charges against the new general. Whatever the reason, by spring 1777, Brown was back to practicing law in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

Whatever ill-will Brown harbored, over the military politics, when Burgoyne invaded New York in the summer of 1777, Brown as a Massachusetts militia colonel, made his services available to General Lincoln.

The Mission

General Lincoln tasked Colonel Brown with the attack on Fort Ticonderoga. On September 13, 1777 Brown departed Pawlet, Vermont with 500 hand-picked men. Among his men were portions of the Seth Warner’s regiment, the former Green Mountain Boys who had taken Fort Ticonderoga with Brown over two years prior.

Benjamin Lincoln
(from Wikimedia)

Colonel Johnson led another 500 militia for the assault on Mount Independence. One source for the account identifies him as Colonel Thomas Johnson of the Vermont militia. Another source identifies him as Colonel Samuel Johnson of the Massachusetts militia. Since General Lincoln’s account only calls him Colonel Johnson, I’m not sure I have a definitive answer as to who this guy was. But a guy named Colonel Johnson led the attack on Mount Independence.

Colonel Benjamin Ruggles Woodbridge of the Massachusetts militia led another 500 men to secure Skenesborough. After the three colonels departed with their troops, General Lincoln personally took another 600 soldiers on September 17, leaving only about 400 in Pawlet. Lincoln set out to join up with Colonel Woodbridge near Skenesborough.

The mission required speed. The men left behind tents and any other heavy baggage. They carried what food and ammunition they could use, with only a little extra carried in the saddlebags of some of the cavalry that went with them.

Once all the men were in the field, General Lincoln received orders from General Gates to recall all of the soldiers and move south to meet up with the main army, which was about to fight the battle of Freeman’s Farm that I discussed last week. Lincoln turned around and began to head back to Pawlet. He also dispatched messengers to the three divisions to do the same. However, they did not get these messages in time.

Raid on Ticonderoga

Brown marched his men south, crossing Lake Champlain at a narrow area, then marching north to Ticonderoga. According to Brown’s report. The men marched all night, launching a dawn attack on the morning of September 18th. Other reports indicate they were in the area for at least two days observing the British garrison. It is likely that Brown, a former scout himself, did at least send an advance team to get intelligence on the British defenses before his attack.

Brown deployed Captain Ebenezer Allen and a group of twenty rangers to retake Mount Defiance. That is where the British had famously deployed cannons to force the American abandonment of Fort Ticonderoga. The Rangers used knives and tomahawks to kill or capture the enemy company, most of whom were asleep on the mountaintop. His men retook the mountain without a shot fired and without raising any alarm.

There were nearly 1000 British and German defenders at the fort. Brown was attacking with only 500 men. So even ignoring the fort walls and artillery, the British had a numerical advantage. Brown, however, had surprise on his side. Nearly half of the garrison was outside the fort walls, not expecting any sort of attack. When the Americans approached, the pickets mistook them for returning Canadian militia. The Americans captured the guards without a shot fired.

The Americans rounded up over 300 prisoners as the stunned garrison could not react to the attack before the Americans had them. Most of the prisoners were taken at the Lake George landing where the British maintained a fleet of batteaux and small ships for transporting men and supplies.

The British did manage to close the doors of the fort and keep the attackers at bay from behind the fort walls. Colonel Brown sent an officer to demand the fort’s surrender. The commander Brigadier General Henry Watson Powell refused to surrender. I think his response was something like this. Actually, Powell responded much more professionally, and not nearly as funny saying: "The Garrison invested to my charge, I shall defend to the last."

The Americans fired on the fort with some of the field cannons they had captured, but did not have nearly enough firepower to knock down any walls. Even if they did, they did not have the overwhelming numbers to storm the defensive artillery and take the fort from the garrison. With enemy forces still occupying artillery on top of Mount Independence, even taking the fort could lead to the attackers putting themselves in a vulnerable position. Brown had orders from Lincoln only to harass and not to attempt to recapture the fort unless an easy opportunity presented itself.

Instead, Brown’s attackers satisfied themselves by destroying or carrying away everything around the fort, all the outbuildings, ships, food, supplies, and prisoners. The men ran off all the horses and cattle, denying transport and provisions to the enemy. British General Powell could only watch with frustration from behind the fort walls.

In addition to taking over 300 enemy prisoners, the Americans also recaptured more than 100 American prisoners held by the British, most of whom were being held after their capture at the Battle of Hubbardton. Brown reported he had two or three men killed during the attack and less than five wounded. The British also suffered two or three dead and a few wounded.

Across the river, Colonel Johnson’s attack on Mount Independence did not catch the defenders by surprise. The German defenders were ready for him and Johnson opted to call off the attack. Brown’s force remained in the area for four days before they withdrew. Brown turned over most of his prisoners to Colonel Johnson, who marched the unlucky British and German soldiers back to Pawlet.

Diamond Island

After he had completed his work at the fort, Brown boarded a fleet of captured ships and sailed south down Lake George. He hoped to seize a British supply depot on Diamond Island. Brown’s men left late in the day on September 22. Although the island was only 25 miles away, poor weather and adverse winds prevented them from reaching the island the next day.

Brown had with him several suspected loyalists who his men had collected during the raid. Several of these men were held aboard ship. However, one officer allowed a loyalist parole to sail his own ship behind the fleet. This man made his escape on the night of September 23, and sailed to shore. He walked down to the bank across from Diamond Island. There, he shouted until he got the attention of guards on the island and was transported across. He warned the garrison commander, Captain Thomas Aubrey, of the imminent attack.

When Brown’s fleet arrived the next morning, the 24th, the two or three companies of German and British soldiers were ready to contest the attack. They had canons and were in position behind entrenchments.

Thomas Aubrey
(from 47th Regiment)

Brown fired on the defenders from his small ships, which had mounted cannons of their own. He attempted to find a place to land his troops where they would not be under enemy fire, but found the defenders had covered the whole island. After a brief firefight, it became clear that he could not mount a successful attack against the defenders. Brown reported two men mortally wounded and a few more with lesser wounds.

Brown also reported that there were about 300 defenders at Diamond Island, although 100-150 seems to be a more probable number. He reported another 40 men still at a garrison at Fort George further to the south.

Brown then sailed away, found a landing point, burned his ships and all the supplies that the men could not carry, and marched to overland to Skenesborough. The original plan had been to meet up with Colonel Woodbridge and five hundred reinforcements there. However, General Lincoln had already recalled Woodbridge back to Pawlet. The Americans had expected to encounter more enemy soldiers in the area. Instead, General Burgoyne had ordered almost all units to join his main army, leaving almost no one in his rear. Brown was able to return to Pawlet and rejoin Lincoln's main army.

Aftermath

John Brown’s raids on Ticonderoga and Diamond Island did not get much attention at the time since the much larger armies under General Gates and General Burgoyne were already engaged further to the south.

However, the raids ensured that Burgoyne’s army was cut off from any supplies, not only from Canada, but even from the stores he had left at Fort Ticonderoga. Many regiments had left much of their baggage at Diamond Island so that they would not have to carry it on their march. Even though the American raids did not capture the island, the British were afraid to transport anything from there, fearing additional raids on transports.

Such fears were well-founded. After Colonel Brown rejoined General Lincoln at Pawlet, Lincoln redeployed him with several hundred men to patrol the area between Fort Edward and Fort George and to attack any enemy parties on the move that he could find. Meanwhile, General Lincoln took the bulk of his army south to join up with General Gates and the main Continental army near Saratoga. On September 29th Lincoln took command of the right wing of Gates’ army and prepared for Burgoyne’s attack.

General Stark also moved south, although he still refused to put himself and his militia under Gates’ command. He continued to operate as an independent entity. He and Gates did communicate regularly. Stark’s militia continued to be an obstruction to any attempt Burgoyne might make to retreat north, or make a move east toward New England in order to get away from Gates’ Continentals.

Brown sent a report to General Gates indicating that he believed that Burgoyne’s army only had enough food for the next four weeks, and was cut off from any more supplies. This may have encouraged Gates in his belief that all he had to do was keep the British contained until the army ran out of food. Burgoyne would either have to surrender or make a desperate attack against the American entrenchments.

In Canada, General Carlton was alerted to the new danger against Fort Ticonderoga. He finally relented and sent several regiments of regulars to reinforce the fort’s garrison. Also by this time, Barry St. Leger’s army, which had retreated from Fort Stanwix and had returned to Canada, was making its way south toward Ticonderoga in an effort to join up with General Burgoyne’s army. His forces finally arrived at the fort on September 27, a few days after Brown had completed his raid.

St. Leger, however, was reluctant to continue his journey to link up with Burgoyne. He was concerned that Fort Ticonderoga would fall under attack again. There was also the danger that his army would suffer an ambush in an area that a week or two earlier the British had considered perfectly secure. As a result, Burgoyne would find himself without St. Leger’s reinforcements as he prepared to make his final stand.

Brown’s raid proved a great success in helping to isolate General Burgoyne’s army and keep critical supplies from reaching his men at this critical time.

Next week, while Burgoyne and Gates take a pause before their final showdown, we head south again as General Washington threatens General Howe’s control of Philadelphia with his attack at Germantown.

- - -

Next Episode 163 Battle of Germantown

Previous Episode 161 Battle of Freeman's Farm

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Sunday, September 2, 2018

Episode 060: Securing Lake Champlain

Last week, we left Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen in control of Fort Ticonderoga, fighting with each other, and neither really knowing what to do next. Fort Ticonderoga sits at the southern tip of Lake Champlain. British troops in Montreal or Quebec could move down the St. Lawrence River, then down the Richelieu River to arrive at the Lake for an assault to retake Ticonderoga.

Raid on St. Jean

Arnold and Allen were both men who did not like to sit on their laurels. They quickly decided that the best defense was a good offense, that they needed to control all of Lake Champlain in order to prevent an attack on Ticonderoga. They also did not want British troops threatening the settlement on the eastern banks of the Lake, where most of the Green Mountain Boys lived. They needed to act before the British under Gen. Carleton in Quebec could arrange any sort of counter attack.

Within days of the capture of Ticonderoga on May 10, the patriots secured a decent sized ship named the Betsy which they promptly renamed the Liberty. The sloop had belonged to a well known Tory named Richard Skene.

Both Arnold and Allen claim credit for its capture. Neither of them were personally involved, but troops under both of their commands were present at the seizure. By May 14, four days after the capture of Ticonderoga, Arnold had 100 soldiers under his command. These were the volunteer militia from Western Massachusetts that his Captains had been recruiting for him while he rushed ahead to join Allen. More men were arriving each day, while Allen’s force was shrinking. The Green Mountain Boys left to go home with their booty, having considered their mission accomplished. A week out, Allen still had a larger command than Arnold, but both knew Arnold would soon surpass his men in numbers.

For the moment, Allen remained in command of Fort Ticonderoga while Arnold took command of the Liberty, which made sense. Arnold had spent years as captain of various merchant vessels, while Allen and his men had no experience on the water. Arnold mounted four cannon on the ship as well as six swivel guns, selected a crew of about 35 men and set sail northward up Lake Champlain. Both men knew it was best to separate their commands to avoid continued fighting over who was in charge.

The George became the Enterprise
(artist's conception) (from The Sextant)

At the northern tip of the Lake, Actually just past the lake up the Richelieu River, the British had an outpost at St. Jean. Some documents referred to this as St. John’s. However, since there is another St. John in Nova Scotia, I try to avoid confusion by using the alternate name of St. Jean. This was about 25 miles north of the Canadian border. At the Outpost, the British maintained a much larger sloop of war the George, with 12 cannons and 10 swivel guns. It was not big by British Navy standards, but it dominated anything else on Lake Champlain.

On the morning of May 16, Arnold sailed the Liberty north toward St. Jean, arriving at the northern tip of the lake late on the evening of the 17th. Because winds were against them, and to maintain the element of surprise, Arnold’s crew anchored the Liberty at the northern end of the Lake and rowed long boats up the Richelieu River to St. Jean that night.

Early on the morning of the 18th, Arnold’s men surprised the 15 man garrison at St. Jean, capturing them without any loss of life. The garrison had heard about the attacks at Ticonderoga and Crown Point, but were still unprepared for the raid. After capturing the garrison, Arnold’s men rushed the shipyard, surprising the seven man crew of the George. They also captured several batteaux, which are basically small flat bottom boats used for transporting supplies. Because they did not have enough men, they destroyed the batteaux that they could not take with them.

Arnold renamed the George the Enterprise, and transferred his command to the larger ship, leaving the Liberty with a subordinate. After interrogating his British prisoners, Arnold learned that a contingent of several hundred regulars was moving on St. Jean from Fort Chambly and Montreal. Without enough men to defend St. Jean from so large a force, Arnold decided it best to take his new fleet, his prisoners, and several field cannon, and retreat south. By noon, he was back on Lake Champlain heading south back to Ticonderoga.

Fort St. Jean, 1775 (from Wikimedia)

Allen, however, was not content to leave all the action to Arnold. He took a contingent of about 100 men in smaller rowboats and headed north up the Lake toward St. Jean. Arnold, who was returning from his raid aboard the Enterprise, met with Allen’s logboats out on the northern part of the open lake.

The commanders met aboard the Enterprise and toasted Arnold’s success. Allen then said he intended to continue his advance on St. Jean where his men would fend off any enemy force and then organize an invasion of Montreal.

Arnold thought this was folly. He told Allen that he believed hundreds of regulars were advancing on St. Jean and might already be there. Allen, however, decided to proceed. Arnold could not stop him, and probably would be secretly happy to see him fail.

Allen’s men made camp about a mile south of St. Jean, sending out scouts to assess the situation. The Scouts reported about 200 British regulars advancing on the town. Not ready to engage in a night battle against a superior force, Allen pitched camp for the night, only to have the British wake them up near dawn with cannon fire. The Regulars had seen that St. Jean had been plundered, and advanced south, finding Allen’s men.

Outnumbered, outgunned, and caught by surprise, Allen’s men jumped into their boats and rowed away before the British could reach them. No one was killed or wounded. They evacuated so quickly that they left three men behind. The British captured one. The other two walked back through the woods over the next few days.

It took Allen’s force two days to row back to Ticonderoga where Arnold essentially said “I told you so.” Arnold then turned his attention to the making a closer inventory of artillery at the forts, improving fort defenses in case of a British attack, and making sure his ships were ready for battle as well.

With their ships captured, the British did not attempt to move down the Lake, but remained at the north end. Most of the Green Mountain Boys had returned home by now. Allen now turned to the local Mohawks to join the cause. They expressed sympathy, but said they were bound not to get involved as members of the Iroquois Confederacy. The Iroquois were nominally neutral, but still had a heavy pro-British bias. Allen’s command was by this time almost completely gone, while Arnold continued to receive reinforcements from Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Although they heard rumors of a British attack, with Indian assistance, nothing ever materialized. The British regulars pulled back from St. Jean and awaited further orders and reinforcements before attempting to advance down Lake Champlain.

The Battle of PR

Following the capture of Ticonderoga, Allen sent Captain John Brown to Philadelphia with a report to the Continental Congress. Allen also wrote letters to the Massachusetts and Connecticut Provincial Congresses. In each report, he said that he commanded the expedition, with Col. James Easton as his second in command and Captain Brown next in line. His account completely ignored Arnold and gave him no credit for anything.

Arnold wrote a report for the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, claiming he and Allen had joint command, but that Allen had no commission and had no ability to command troops as a professional soldier.

Region around Lake Champlain (from Wikimedia)

Despite the differing accounts of who did what, officials in Congress and in New England all received word of the capture within days. Congress was not sure this was a good thing. New York delegates were not completely on board with the war yet and were not happy about New Englanders, particularly Allen, invading New York and capturing British property there.

No one seemed sure who was in charge at Ticonderoga, who should be in charge, or what anyone should do next. Arnold and Allen both received contradictory instructions over the next few weeks, both praising their action and calling for them to give back everything they had just captured. Some moderates wanted everything returned to the British. Others wanted it turned over to New York. They also fought over whether Arnold, Allen, or some other officer should take command of the situation.

Arnold and Allen both thought they should get reinforcements so that they could take Montreal and eventually Quebec before Britain sent reinforcements from England. That way, they could deny the British a launching point from which they could move down the Hudson River to New York thus cutting off New England from the rest of the colonies.

At the end of May Congress sent instructions that the army should pull back to the south end of the Lake, leaving all the patriot towns along the east coast, the homes of the Green Mountain Boys, undefended against a British assault. Congress further instructed the men to keep an accounting off all arms and supplies they had captured so that they could be returned to the British, or reimbursed after they had reestablished peace. Congress also said they were not to attack any other British garrisons that were not taking provocative actions. Finally they had to turn over all their captured ships and cannon to New York.

Now, you have to remember, as we discussed about twenty episodes ago, that Allen and the Green Mountain Boys had essentially been at war with New York for years over the ownership of their land in the Grants. You might as well have asked them to hand it back to the British.

Because Arnold had invaded Canada without orders and captured British prisoners and equipment there, many moderates saw him as a dangerous loose cannon, who was making it harder to make peace with Britain. The fact that all the other officers making reports, Allen, Easton, Brown, and Mott all belittled, ignored or condemned Arnold’s actions, civilian leaders in Congress and New England began to develop a poor opinion of this new officer.

Arnold and Allen still did not trust each other and badmouthed one another at every opportunity. But both men agreed that they were not going go give up their vital occupation of the Forts and the Lake based on idiotic political directives from civilians who clearly did not understand what was going on.

Congress takes Charge

Allen continued to hold command at Fort Ticonderoga while Arnold assumed command of Lake Champlain, patrolling it with his new fleet. Fortunately for both men, the decision to ignore Congress’ initial order to pull back did not hurt them. By the time they received the orders, Congress reversed itself and decided that they should hold onto the forts and control the Lake.

Lake Champlain May 1775 (from AWIATSEA.com)

With Massachusetts putting all of its resources into the Siege of Boston, Congress asked New York to provide food and supplies for the forces in and around Lake Champlain. It also requested that Connecticut supply more troops to secure the region from any potential attack.

Connecticut Governor Jonathan Trumbull agreed with the assessments that they needed reinforcements at Ticonderoga. But he did not want to leave Arnold or Allen in charge of anything. Instead, he sent 1000 troops under the command of Col. Benjamin Hinman.

Hinman, a veteran of Connecticut militia during the French and Indian War, had experience in theater. He participated in the capture of Fort Ticonderoga, Crown Point and Quebec during against the French twenty years earlier. One of his junior officers during the War was Maj. Israel Putnam, now serving as a General outside of Boston. His experience and political connections inspired far more confidence in political leaders than the unknown Arnold.

Although Arnold was from Connecticut and started as a Connecticut militia Captain. Massachusetts had given him his Colonelcy and authorized his command at Ticonderoga. Now Massachusetts wanted other colonies to deal with Ticonderoga so that Massachusetts could focus its men, money, and resources on Boston. They only wanted Ticonderoga to send them the cannons they had been promised in the first place.

Fighting for Command

Massachusetts dispatched its own Colonel, William Henshaw, to evaluate the Massachusetts troops at Lake Champlain and to determine whether Arnold should remain in command or be discharged. They sent Arnold a copy of these orders. Rather than travelling to Ticonderoga, Henshaw went to Connecticut, where he conferred with Gov. Trumbull and learned that Hinman was on his way to Ticonderoga with 1000 troops. Henshaw then sent written orders to Arnold that Hinman would take command of Ticonderoga.

That order only caused more confusion. Arnold was no longer in Ticonderoga. He was commanding a fleet on Lake Champlain. Arnold chose to interpret the order as meaning Hinman was in charge of the Fort, but Arnold continued to be commander of the Lake Champlain region.

William Henshaw
(from Find-a-Grave)

Arnold is to be forgiven for interpreting orders in his favor. He seemed to receive new orders every day. First the Massachusetts Committee of Safety ordered him to return with the promised artillery. Then they ordered him to take orders from Henshaw, which meant turning over command to Hinman, then they sent him a message saying how much they admired what he had done and begging him not to leave his command. Arnold simply continued his work on the Lake, shoring up defenses and doing what he thought best.

When Hinman arrived at Ticonderoga in early June, Allen and Easton turned over the Fort to his command. They then went up river to Arnold’s command at Crown Point. Allen attempted to claim command from Arnold. Arnold, however, refused. Allen had no commission or authorization to take command. The troops at Crown Point were loyal to Arnold and Allen realized he had to back down. If that had been the end of the matter, it probably would not have been a big deal to anyone.

The following morning though, Allen and Easton tried to leave camp when a sentry demanded to see their pass. Indignant, the officers demanded they be allowed to leave. Instead the sentry sent them back to Arnold to get a pass. Now, with everyone in particularly bad mood, the conversation grew heated. Arnold blamed Easton for bad mouthing him in Massachusetts. He grabbed Easton by his lapels and dared him to draw a sword or pistol. When the surprised Easton demurred, Arnold kicked and assaulted the officer, telling him to get out of Crown Point and stay out. The officers who had always disliked Arnold now grew to hate him.

Arnold continued to push for more reinforcements and approval for an invasion of Canada. Allen returned to Ticonderoga to push for his own command of an invasion of Canada.

About a week later, Col. Hinman came to Crown Point to meet Arnold. Hinman demanded that Arnold turn over command, but Arnold refused saying Hinman had nothing that authorized the Connecticut Colonel to take command away from a Massachusetts Colonel. Hinman simply returned to Ticonderoga and requested further orders on how to handle the Arnold situation.

Arnold Resigns

The members of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress seemed to decide they had no idea what was really going on out there on Lake Champlain. They sent a three man delegation to to to Ticonderoga and figure out the best solution. The delegation first met with Col. Hinman and was upset to hear that Arnold had refused to accept his command. They then traveled to Crown Point to confront Arnold directly. Arnold demanded to see their authorization. Upon reading it, he decided it was now clear that Hinman was replacing him as theater commander

The delegation said that they were there to evaluate Arnold’s conduct and that if they deemed him worthy, he could continue to serve under Col Hinman. Arnold was not going to turn over his command to some officer who just showed up after Arnold had conquered the whole region. Instead, he opted to resign his commission and leave.

Benedict Arnold
(from Wikimedia)

The soldiers under his command grew concerned. Arnold still owed them a great deal of back pay. When they asked him about it, Arnold basically told them not my problem - talk to your new commander. The men took Arnold hostage aboard the Enterprise and sent their demands to Hinman and the delegation now at Ticonderoga. The delegation defused the situation by paying off the men’s back pay, dismissing those who wanted to go home and reenlisting those who would continue. No one on the scene blamed Arnold for the mutiny. But that did not stop Col. Mott from publishing a report blaming Arnold for the mutiny and falsely accusing the mutineers of firing on the Massachusetts delegation. No one took the report seriously, but it indicates how much just about every other officer who had served with or near Arnold now considered him an enemy.

To add further insult to Arnold, they offered command to his enemy Col. Easton and promoted John Brown to Major under Easton’s command. Arnold’s other great frustration as he prepared to leave was over money. Massachusetts had permitted him to borrow on credit for the supplies necessary to complete his mission. The delegation refused to pay off his debts. Arnold had to send for personal funds from home to pay off his debts then beg Congress to repay him.

Although Arnold had enemies, there were others who were impressed with his accomplishments. Philip Schuyler of New York was one of them. Schuyler had recently received a commission as Major General in the new Continental Army and took command of all forces in New York. In early July, Arnold headed to Albany to see if he could find a command under Schuyler. The general requested that he be appointed Deputy Adjutant General.

The two men seemed to hit it off. Then news arrived for Arnold that his wife had died back in Connecticut. His three sons, ages 3-7 were now in the care of his sister. Arnold decided to return home to settle affairs with his family. He would then have to settle his financial affairs with officials in Cambridge and also meet the new Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, George Washington.

- - -

Next Episode 61 Battle of Chelsea Creek

Previous Episode 59: Taking Fort Ticonderoga

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American Revolution Podcast is distributed 100% free of charge. If you can chip in to help defray my costs, I'd appreciate whatever you can give. Make a one time donation through my PayPal account.
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Mike Troy

Click here to see my Patreon Page

Beck, Derek, Igniting the American Revolution 1773-1775, Naperville, Ill: Sourcebooks, 2015.

Borneman, Walter American Spring: Lexington, Concord, and the Road to Revolution, New York: Little, Brown & Co. 2014.

Hatch, Robert Thrust for Canada, New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1979.

Martin, James Benedict Arnold: Revolutionary Hero, New York: NYU Press, 1997.

Nelson, James L. Benedict Arnold's Navy, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006

Phillips, Kevin 1775: A Good Year for Revolution, New York: Penguin Books, 2012.

Randall, Willard Benedict Arnold: Patriot and Traitor, New York: William Morrow & Co., 1990.

Randall, Willard Ethan Allen: His Life and Times, New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1992.

Smith, Page A New Age Now Begins, Vol. 1, New York: McGraw-Hill 1976.

Sunday, August 26, 2018

Episode 059: Taking Fort Ticonderoga

In the weeks that followed Lexington and Concord, neither side seemed to know what to do next.

Gen. Gage’s regulars entrenched themselves in Boston. Worried that they would be unable to defend an assault, they pulled their soldiers out of Charlestown. However, they warned the Patriot militia surrounding Boston that if the militia attempted to occupy Charlestown, they would burn it down. So, for the time being, Charlestown became a no man’s land between the two armies.

Benedict Arnold

As word spread after Lexington and Concord, militia from neighboring colonies converged on Boston. Some rushed to the scene, like Israel Putnam, who literally walked away from plowing his field in Connecticut heading straight to Boston on April 20th. His son had to put away the plow and oxen left in the field. Putnam had been an outspoken Patriot leader, who had herded a flock of sheep to Boston the year earlier, to feed the residents after the Boston Port Act had effectively ended all food imports by sea. Now, Putnam, who would serve as a Major General, was there to fight.

Fort Ticonderoga (postcard, from Sutori)

Others took a little longer to arrive. When word reached New Haven Connecticut, a young apothecary named Benedict Arnold decided it was time for decisive action. A month earlier, the men of New Haven formed a new militia company and elected Arnold as their captain.

Benedict Arnold is going to be a major player in the war, so we might as well introduce him now. In the spring of 1775, Arnold was 34 years old, married with three children. He came from a prominent Connecticut family. His great-grandfather, also named Benedict Arnold had been the Governor. Arnold’s father had been a merchant. He also became an alcoholic, leading to financial problems for the family.

Arnold had started life attending the best schools in the colony. But his father’s business failures forced him to leave school early and take an apprenticeship as an apothecary.

At the outbreak of the French and Indian War, 14 year old Arnold attempted to enlist as a drummer, though his mother prevented him. At 16, he finally joined a relief force to help relieve the British and Militia at Fort William Henry. The Fort surrendered before they arrived, resulting in the Indian massacre of colonists at the Fort. On hearing the news, Arnold’s regiment returned home without seeing any combat.

Arnold’s mother died in 1759, and his father two years later in 1761. In 1762, Arnold borrowed money from some cousins to start a pharmacy and bookstore in New Haven. His business prospered and he soon repaid his loans. He even bought back the house his father had been forced to sell years earlier.

Benedict Arnold, 1776
(from Wikimedia)

A few years later, he formed a partnership to buy three merchant vessels. Arnold personally traveled throughout the colonies, the West Indies (what we now call the Caribbean) and Central America as a Yankee trader. Things seemed to be going well for him until the Stamp Act threatened to destroy his bookstore and trade restrictions forced him to become a smuggler.

Arnold joined the Sons of Liberty in Connecticut and actively supported the Patriot cause from the beginning. He also joined the local Masonic Lodge, and married Margaret Mansfield, the 17 year old daughter of the Sheriff. They had three sons.

British restrictions on trade destroyed much of his business and he fell into debt. Arnold lived the comfortable life of a merchant trader, but always had to be on the hustle for the next deal, and regularly had to worry about debt and financial troubles. But in 1775, despite colonial trade embargos and British trade restrictions, he was doing well financially and enjoying a successful family and business.

Arnold Joins the War

When word of fighting arrived in New Haven on April 21, Captain Arnold assembled his Company to march to Boston. The problem was, the Town Council would not release any gunpowder. After several hours of bickering, Arnold had to threaten to attack the powder house and take the munitions by force before officials finally conceded and gave his company the powder they needed. The guy preventing Arnold from taking the gunpowder was David Wooster, the head of the Connecticut Militia. I mention Wooster here because soon he is going to become a general in the Continental Army and Arnold’s superior. On this first day of heading off to war, Arnold was already making enemies that would make his life difficult in the future.

On the march to Boston, Arnold met up with Connecticut militia Col. Samuel Parsons, also a member of the Connecticut legislature. Parsons was returning from Cambridge where he spoke with Arnold about the siege now underway. The two men discussed the fact that the Provincial Army was going to need cannons if it wanted any chance of taking Boston by force. Arnold told Parsons that there was a large number of cannons at Fort Ticonderoga in New York, which the British kept under only nominal guard. Arnold had travelled to Ticonderoga on multiple occasions as a merchant. He frequently visited the fort when heading to Montreal or Quebec for trade. Through his visits had become quite familiar with the fort, its assets and its defenses.

Samuel Parsons
(from Journal of Am. Rev.)

Parsons continued on his way to Hartford. There he met with Silas Deane, another legislator, who had served in the First Continental Congress. On their own, the two men decided to allocate £300 to finance an attack on Ticonderoga. They named Captain Edward Mott to lead the expedition, and recruited Heman Allen, brother of Ethan Allen to involve the Green Mountain Boys in fight. As we discussed back in Episode 38, Allen was a well respected militia leader who had been fighting against New York for years. He was living in what was then eastern New York, today Vermont, only a few miles from Ticonderoga.

Back in Hartford, Parsons and Deane ordered this force to take Fort Ticonderoga and acquire the cannon for the Provincial Army. Parsons apparently decided on this course after leaving Arnold, as he did not discuss it with him.

Arnold and a company of the Connecticut Guard, marched on to Cambridge, where Arnold witnessed the chaos and confusion there. Officers and men camped around the city with little purpose or direction. Within a few days, Arnold sought out Joseph Warren to discuss the idea of taking Fort Ticonderoga. Arnold told Warren about the cannon and how poorly defended they were.

Massachusetts had already received intelligence and a similar recommendation from John Brown, a member of the Massachusetts Committee of Correspondence who had visited Ticonderoga and Montreal a few months earlier. He had been there in an attempt to get Canadians to join the Patriot cause. Unknown to the men now discussing the capture of Ticonderoga, Brown was already headed toward the Fort under Col. James Easton of the Pittsfield Massachusetts militia, as part of Parsons’ plan to take the fort.

Green Mountain Boys (from Britannica)

Unaware of the planned attack, the Massachusetts Committee of Safety considered Arnold’s proposal. Despite the state of war, Arnold’s plan was still pretty controversial. It was one thing for colonists to defend themselves against a British column bent on attacking them and seizing their property. It was quite another to attack a distant British fort and seize British property. Some colonial leaders still hoped that events would play out much like the Stamp Act Riots a decade earlier. The colonists would show a little violence to prove they were serious, and the British would back down and compromise. They were reluctant to do more than sit and wait to get a response from London before embarking on all out war against their King.

The other big issue was that fort Ticonderoga was in New York. They would have to invade another colony that had not sent any support troops to the army surrounding Boston. Such an invasion might convince New York to support the Loyalist side and send troops against the New Englanders.

After some debate though, the majority accepted that they were at war and that they needed take more decisive action. The Committee of Safety agreed to back Arnold’s expedition to take Ticonderoga. On May 3, they appointed Arnold as a Colonel in the Massachusetts militia and gave him £100 in hard currency, 200 pounds of gunpowder, and other ammunition, as well as 10 horses. They also authorized Arnold to draw on their credit to pay for whatever he needed to complete his mission. They did not, however, give him any soldiers. They gave him a few officers and told them to recruit soldiers in western Massachusetts, closer to the fort.

He ditched his old Connecticut Company, and set out with several other newly appointed Massachusetts Captains to raise new companies in western Massachusetts. As Arnold began recruitment, the locals told him that a planned attack was already underway. Several Connecticut Companies under Captain Mott had recently passed through town on their way to link up with Allen.

Arnold and Allen Fight for Command

By the time Arnold heard of this other group, Mott had already met up with Ethan Allen and the men were assembling local militia for the attack. On May 8, the men formed a Committee of War, naming Allen as commander of the expedition, with Massachusetts Militia Col. Easton as second in command after the Green Mountain boys refused to serve under anyone but Allen.

Disturbed that he would be left out of the assault on Ticonderoga, Arnold ditched his captains who were still trying to raise soldiers, and rushed to Castleton. On May 9th, he met up with Allen, who was still assembling his force, about a day’s march from the fort.

Map showing Ticonderoga (from U-S-History)

Arnold apparently tried to waive around his commission and demand that Allen turn over his men and serve under his command. The Green Mountain Boys, fiercely loyal to Allen, refused to serve under anyone but Allen, certainly not some stranger who showed up with no men, arms, supplies, nor anything but a piece of paper and his own uniform.

Eventually, the two reached some sort of compromise. Arnold recalled later that the two men would share command. Allen seemed to be more of the mind that, sure, you can come along with us and be there when we take the fort, but I’m running the show.

The force assembled totaled between 250 to 400 officers and men (accounts differ). Most of them were Green Mountain Boys with their allegiance to Allen. Some were Connecticut and Massachusetts Militia. The soldiers made their way to the fort, approaching it from the opposite side of Lake Champlain. They would cross the lake overnight and storm the fort before dawn.

Unfortunately, the plan ran into problems at the outset. Allen had sent ahead an advance party to acquire the ships necessary to cross Lake Champlain. On their way, the men instead found a cache of alcohol and got drunk. When the main force arrived late in the evening of May 9th, there were no boats. Finally, they found a small craft that could ferry the men over. But by then it was getting dangerously close to dawn. A daylight crossing would likely be spotted and they would lose the element of surprise.

Allen and Arnold decided to take the fort with the 83 men who had come over in the first two trips. They had no time to wait for another round if they wanted to attack before daylight.

Fort Ticonderoga

You may recall that way back in 1759, the British, after several attempts, finally defeated the French at Ticonderoga. The French blew up their Fort Carillon. Because of the key location, the British built two new forts, a smaller one called Fort Ticonderoga, and a larger one a few miles north at Crown Point.

After the French ceded Canada though, the lack of any enemy in the area made the forts unimportant. This region was home to the Iroquois, who remained close British allies, so these were now forts in middle of friendly territory. When a fire destroyed Crown Point in 1773, the British did not bother to rebuild it, simply using Ticonderoga as the primary center of British authority in the region.

Capt. William Delaplace commanded the garrison of less than 50 officers and men. Like many unimportant garrisons, many of the men were on the invalid list, meaning they were not capable of full duty. They could be sick, old, or infirm. They were capable of light work, but not hard marching and fighting that an active duty soldier might need to do. Also in the fort were several dozen women and children, families of the soldiers.

The garrison had allowed the fort to fall into disrepair. Several walls had collapsed and not been fixed. Although Gen. Gage had sent warning a few weeks earlier to the commander to be on guard against a possible raid, it appears he had not taken much of any precautions.

The Attack

As Allen and Arnold approached the Fort just before dawn on the morning of May 10, they saw that the main gates were closed. Without any artillery or scaling ladders, they had no way to enter. Fortunately, there was a smaller door built into the main gates, large enough for people, but not horses or wagons. They found the door unlocked and rushed inside.

As with many incidents, there are conflicting stories about exactly what happened. Part of the problem is that both Arnold and Allen tried to glorify their own roles in the matter. Allen wrote extensively four years later, when memory of details may have faded a little.

Just inside the gate they found a sentry, who had been asleep. He awoke as the men entered and fired a shot point blank at Arnold. Fortunately for Arnold, the shot misfired. In some accounts the sentry then dropped his gun and ran for the barracks, a second guard then appeared, whom Allen knocked down with his sword in a nonfatal blow.

The attackers forced the sentry to take them to the officers’ quarters as the rest of the raiding party moved into the Fort. As they approached, a young lieutenant Feltham, who had been at the fort for little more than a week, heard them. Rushing out of his room, he banged on the Captain Delaplace’s room to alert him. The Captain did not come out. Eventually, he forced his way into the Captain’s room, only to find the man slowly dressing himself in no particular hurry.

Feltham then rushed to confront the men moving up the stairs toward them. Just out of bed, he was still carrying his pants in his arms as he called out to demand by what authority they had entered the King’s fort.

Allen Captures Ticonderoga (from Land of the Brave)

In his recollections, Allen responded famously “by the authority of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress.” This was probably made up since at the time, Congress had not convened and they were operating under the authority of the Connecticut Provincial Army. Other witnesses reported him simply responding “come out of there you god-damned old rat,” which sounds more like something Allen would say. After a few more minutes, Delaplace exited his bedroom in full uniform, prepared to turn over his sword to the invaders without a fight. Other soldiers had gotten to the enlisted men before they could reach their guns. They too, surrendered without a fight.

The Patriots took the Fort in about ten minutes without a death on either side. The only injuries came to the British guard whom Arnold had banged on the head. One American attacker suffered a minor bayonet wound from one of the sentries. The British though had been caught completely by surprise and did not put up any sort of defense.

Eventually the rest of the invasion force under Seth Warner made it across the Lake and joined the attackers at Fort Ticonderoga. Arnold immediately set about dealing with the prisoners and securing the Fort and its contents. Allen insisted that the prisoners be sent to Connecticut since he was operating under Connecticut authority. Arnold seems to have acceded to this demand without argument. Allen also got Captain Mott, who had received the Commission from Parsons in Connecticut to conduct this raid, to name Allen as Fort Commander, thus giving Allen some authority against Arnold’s Massachusetts Commission.

Allen’s men, however, had little interest in any efforts to organize the fort.. They discovered Captain Delaplace’s personal stash of 90 gallons of rum and proceeded to get drunk for several days. They also began looting the fort for anything of value. Arnold tried to stop this, only to find the men pointing their guns at him and telling him to back down. Without any support from Allen, Arnold had no choice but to do what he could by himself and try to ignore the drunken looters all around him. Allen’s only contribution was to give Delaplace a receipt for his rum so that Connecticut officials could reimburse him for the loss of his personal property.

Neither Allen nor Arnold wanted to leave the fort in control of the other, so neither would lead an attack on nearby Crown Point or Fort George. Allen dispatched a smaller contingent of men under Seth Warner, to take Crown point, defended by only nine soldiers, and Fort George, defended by only two. Like the raid on Ticonderoga, Warner and his men caught the garrisons by surprise and surrendered without any attempt to defend their forts.

After a few days, the men that Arnold’s captains had been recruiting in Western Massachusetts began to arrive. Arnold finally had a small command independent of Allen. At the same time, many of the Green Mountain Boys decided they had accomplished their mission and began to return home. Allen’s force would remain intact for a few weeks longer, but would continue to hemorrhage soldiers as militiamen only stuck around as long as they wanted.

Still, the attack was a great success for the Patriots. The main goal had been to secure artillery. Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point housed about 200 cannons, half of which were in usable condition for the Patriot cause.

- - -

Next Episode 60: Securing Lake Champlain

Previous Episode 58: Slavery and Liberty

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Further Reading:

Websites:

Fort Ticonderoga Blog: http://www.fortticonderoga.org/blog

Ethan Allen Takes Fort Ticonderoga: http://www.historynet.com/the-first-american-victory-ethan-allen-takes-fort-ticonderoga.htm

Lake Champlain Maritime Museum: Revolutionary War,
http://www.lcmm.org/shipwrecks_history/history/history_revolution.htm

Bascom, Robert and James Holden “The Ticonderoga Expedition of 1775” Proceedings of the New York State Historical Association, Vol. 9 (1910), pp. 303-389: http://www.jstor.org/stable/42889435

Free eBooks
(from archive.org unless noted)

Allen, Ethan A Narrative of Colonel Ethan Allen's Captivity, Burlington: H. Johnson & Co, 1838 (First written in 1779).

Arnold, Benedict Benedict Arnold's regimental memorandum book, Philadelphia: Collins 1884.

Bascom, Robert O. The Ticonderoga expedition of 1775; list of men with Ethan Allen, 1910

Chipman, Daniel Memoir of Seth Warner, Middlebury: L.W. Clark, 1848 (Also in this same volume is The Life of Ethan Allen by Jared Sparks).

Gilchrist, Helen Ives Fort Ticonderoga in history, Fort Ticonderoga Museum, 1920(?).

Hall, Hiland The capture of Ticonderoga, in 1775: a paper read before the Vermont Historical Society, Montpelier: Poland’s Steam Printing, 1869.

Hill, George C. Benedict Arnold: A Biography, Boston: E.O. Libby & Co. 1858.

Lincoln, William (ed) The journals of each Provincial congress of Massachusetts in 1774 and 1775, and of the Committee of safety, with an appendix, containing the proceedings of the county conventions-narratives of the events of the nineteenth of April, 1775-papers relating to Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and other documents, illustrative of the early history of the American revolution, Boston: Dutton and Wentworth, 1838.

Mott, Edward Papers relating to the expedition to Ticonderoga, April and May, 1775, 1860.

Trumbull, J. Hammond The origin of the expedition against Ticonderoga, in 1775: a paper read before the Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford: Reprint from Hartford Courant, 1869.

Books Worth Buying
(links to Amazon.com unless otherwise noted)

Beck, Derek, Igniting the American Revolution 1773-1775, Naperville, Ill: Sourcebooks, 2015.

Borneman, Walter American Spring: Lexington, Concord, and the Road to Revolution, New York: Little, Brown & Co. 2014.

Hatch, Robert Thrust for Canada, New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1979.

Martin, James Benedict Arnold: Revolutionary Hero, New York: NYU Press, 1997.

Phillips, Kevin 1775: A Good Year for Revolution, New York: Penguin Books, 2012.

Randall, Willard Benedict Arnold: Patriot and Traitor, New York: William Morrow & Co., 1990 (book recommendation of the week).

Randall, Willard Ethan Allen: His Life and Times, New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1992 (book recommendation of the week).

Smith, Page A New Age Now Begins, Vol. 1, New York: McGraw-Hill 1976.