Volume 4, Chapter 4, The Seizure of Fort Ticonderoga
Massachusetts, a few days after Concord, had little time to ponder its choices.
Twenty thousand individualists were keeping the British penned in Boston, but the twenty
thousand, seeing little or nothing for them to do, began to drift home.
In truth, the taking of major cities is the final stage of a guerrilla war.
If the Americans were not yet strong enough to crush the British force of four thousand
within Boston, there was little point in maintaining the huge besieging force.
Besides, Boston's geography as a peninsula with a very narrow neck and General Gage's
panicky evacuation of the Charlestown Peninsula, immediately after Concord, ensured the immobility
of the British Army.
Here Joseph Warren took a large step away from liberty by pressing for a formal army
organization to replace the individual militiaman, and by insisting on terms of enlistment to
last until the end of the year, and so destroying the freedom of action of the individual soldier.
Massachusetts radicalism was beginning to be tempered by conservatism and liberty diluted
by Power.
On April 23, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress voted to raise over 13,000 men for
the siege, and the other New England colonies offered to supply a quota of several thousand
each.
Although these quotas were never filled, in little over a month 15,000 men of an organized
army surrounded Boston.
Occupying the center at Cambridge with 9,000 men was General Artemis Ward, in command
of the Massachusetts Army and acknowledged as commander by the forces of the other New
England colonies.
On the right, at Roxbury in front of Boston, was General John Thomas of Massachusetts,
commanding 5,000 men.
On the extreme left, at Chelsea and Charlestown Neck, were over 1,000 New Hampshire men, headed
by Colonels John Stark and James Reid.
The Americans had settled down to an expensive and unrewarding and standard sitzkrieg, and
collecting goods to continue to feed and supply this inert and continuing army soon began
to prove difficult.
Meanwhile, British reinforcements swelled Gauges Force to over 6,000 men, giving him
a greater potential for mischief.
While the New England and British troops were thus stalemated, bolder souls began to dream
of American irregulars taking the offensive and striking a vital blow against England.
In particular, Ethan Allen had, at least as early as February, been stressing the importance
of the American seizure of Fort Ticonderoga should hostilities break out with England.
Ticonderoga, on the northern frontier of New York and at the border of the New Hampshire
Grant country, was the vital gateway to Canada, whether for offense or defense against any
possible British attempt to march from Canada down the Hudson Valley, splitting the colonies
in two. Furthermore, Ticonderoga was known to have by far the largest store of cannon
and Other Heavy Artillery in the Colonies. If the Americans could possibly manage to
transport the big guns to the heights around Boston, they could compel the British to evacuate.
Shortly after Lexington and Concord, Ethan Allen proposed to seize Fort Ticonderoga.
The bulk of his force was to consist of his Green Mountain Boys, to which were to be added
One Troop from Connecticut and one from Pittsfield, Massachusetts. All in all, approximately 65
men from Connecticut and western Massachusetts joined a hundred Green Mountain boys at Bennington,
now in Vermont, on May 9, and the leaders unanimously chose Allen as their commander,
with Seth Warner and James Easton as his lieutenants. The same idea had also occurred to the outspoken
and Ammunition by Force when the town authorities tried to block him from taking any, he also
persuaded the Massachusetts Committee of Safety to grant him a colonelcy and authorize him
to raise man and take Fort Ticonderoga.
Hearing of the Allen-Easton expedition, he rushed to the Green Mountain country and,
with characteristic gall, brandished his Massachusetts commission and insisted on taking absolute
Before launching the surprise assault on the Fort Allen, true both to his libertarian beliefs
and to the individualistic framework of guerrilla war, reminded his troops that no one, even
at this late day, would be forced against his will to embark on the attack.
The blow was swift and sure.
The surprise was complete.
The great task of the Massachusetts and New England radicals was to line up firm military
support for and unity with the Massachusetts cause, a difficult task in the face of stubborn
conservatism and middle-of-the-road confusion among their colleagues.
The New England rebels found they were forced to temper their radicalism and individualism
in order to appeal to the far more oligarchic leaders in the other colonies. One of the
early orders of business of the Congress was how to handle the news of Ticonderoga, and
the dubious temper of the Congress was revealed in its reaction to the happy news. After Ticonderoga,
In May 16, Arnold, reinforced by men from Western Massachusetts, had raided and occupied
Fort St. John's in Canada, north of Lake Champlain, and he was preparing to occupy Ticonderoga
permanently. Moreover, both Arnold and Allen were proposing to help keep up the momentum
by pressing onward to capture Montreal and even all of Canada from the British. Allen
Washington asserted that all they would need was more men, but instead of rejoicing at
the news, that alone encouraging further victories, Congress was horrified at the entire exploit.
In contrast to Lexington and Concord or even to the siege of Boston, here was a frankly
offensive action against the British Armed Forces. To welcome Ticonderoga would be to
and Congress, beset by timidity and conservatism, was unwilling to do this.
Accordingly, on hearing the news on May 18, Congress promptly ordered Arnold and Allen to abandon Fort Ticonderoga and retreat to the south end of Lake George.
Abandon Fort Ticonderoga and retreat to the south end of Lake George. Congress's only
slight acknowledgement of the victory was to concede that the Americans might take the
guns and ammunition back with them, but an accurate account must be kept of them, in
order that they may be safely returned when the restoration of the former harmony between
Great Britain and these colonies shall render it prudent.
Arnold protested bitterly to the provincial Congresses of New York and Massachusetts as
well as to the Continental Congress. Alan, too, was willing to swallow his old hatred
of New York and appealed to that colony for aid in keeping the forts and pressing onward
to Canada. The New England colonies kept up a drum fire of protest and finally persuaded
Congress to change its mind and keep the captured forts. Neither Alan nor Arnold were to gain
Arnold was so disgusted that he resigned and went home. A scintillating guerrilla conquest
had lost its momentum and deteriorated into an orthodox, idle and squabbling army of occupation
at Ticonderoga.