WEBVTT NOTE 4. The Seizure of Fort Ticonderoga 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.960 Volume 4, Chapter 4, The Seizure of Fort Ticonderoga 2 00:00:04.960 --> 00:00:12.640 Massachusetts, a few days after Concord, had little time to ponder its choices. 3 00:00:12.640 --> 00:00:18.360 Twenty thousand individualists were keeping the British penned in Boston, but the twenty 4 00:00:18.360 --> 00:00:24.000 thousand, seeing little or nothing for them to do, began to drift home. 5 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:29.400 In truth, the taking of major cities is the final stage of a guerrilla war. 6 00:00:29.400 --> 00:00:34.680 If the Americans were not yet strong enough to crush the British force of four thousand 7 00:00:34.680 --> 00:00:40.800 within Boston, there was little point in maintaining the huge besieging force. 8 00:00:40.800 --> 00:00:47.440 Besides, Boston's geography as a peninsula with a very narrow neck and General Gage's 9 00:00:47.440 --> 00:00:55.600 panicky evacuation of the Charlestown Peninsula, immediately after Concord, ensured the immobility 10 00:00:55.600 --> 00:00:57.720 of the British Army. 11 00:00:57.720 --> 00:01:04.320 Here Joseph Warren took a large step away from liberty by pressing for a formal army 12 00:01:04.320 --> 00:01:11.720 organization to replace the individual militiaman, and by insisting on terms of enlistment to 13 00:01:11.720 --> 00:01:19.920 last until the end of the year, and so destroying the freedom of action of the individual soldier. 14 00:01:19.920 --> 00:01:26.120 Massachusetts radicalism was beginning to be tempered by conservatism and liberty diluted 15 00:01:26.120 --> 00:01:27.960 by Power. 16 00:01:27.960 --> 00:01:34.200 On April 23, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress voted to raise over 13,000 men for 17 00:01:34.200 --> 00:01:39.920 the siege, and the other New England colonies offered to supply a quota of several thousand 18 00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:41.240 each. 19 00:01:41.240 --> 00:01:47.160 Although these quotas were never filled, in little over a month 15,000 men of an organized 20 00:01:47.160 --> 00:01:49.880 army surrounded Boston. 21 00:01:49.880 --> 00:01:56.000 Occupying the center at Cambridge with 9,000 men was General Artemis Ward, in command 22 00:01:56.000 --> 00:02:01.280 of the Massachusetts Army and acknowledged as commander by the forces of the other New 23 00:02:01.280 --> 00:02:03.480 England colonies. 24 00:02:03.480 --> 00:02:09.800 On the right, at Roxbury in front of Boston, was General John Thomas of Massachusetts, 25 00:02:09.800 --> 00:02:11.800 commanding 5,000 men. 26 00:02:11.800 --> 00:02:18.380 On the extreme left, at Chelsea and Charlestown Neck, were over 1,000 New Hampshire men, headed 27 00:02:18.380 --> 00:02:22.500 by Colonels John Stark and James Reid. 28 00:02:22.500 --> 00:02:30.300 The Americans had settled down to an expensive and unrewarding and standard sitzkrieg, and 29 00:02:30.300 --> 00:02:37.180 collecting goods to continue to feed and supply this inert and continuing army soon began 30 00:02:37.180 --> 00:02:38.980 to prove difficult. 31 00:02:38.980 --> 00:02:45.380 Meanwhile, British reinforcements swelled Gauges Force to over 6,000 men, giving him 32 00:02:45.380 --> 00:02:48.700 a greater potential for mischief. 33 00:02:48.700 --> 00:02:54.540 While the New England and British troops were thus stalemated, bolder souls began to dream 34 00:02:54.540 --> 00:03:01.540 of American irregulars taking the offensive and striking a vital blow against England. 35 00:03:01.540 --> 00:03:07.780 In particular, Ethan Allen had, at least as early as February, been stressing the importance 36 00:03:07.780 --> 00:03:13.900 of the American seizure of Fort Ticonderoga should hostilities break out with England. 37 00:03:13.900 --> 00:03:19.780 Ticonderoga, on the northern frontier of New York and at the border of the New Hampshire 38 00:03:19.780 --> 00:03:27.580 Grant country, was the vital gateway to Canada, whether for offense or defense against any 39 00:03:27.580 --> 00:03:34.040 possible British attempt to march from Canada down the Hudson Valley, splitting the colonies 40 00:03:34.040 --> 00:03:41.300 in two. Furthermore, Ticonderoga was known to have by far the largest store of cannon 41 00:03:41.300 --> 00:03:46.900 and Other Heavy Artillery in the Colonies. If the Americans could possibly manage to 42 00:03:46.900 --> 00:03:55.900 transport the big guns to the heights around Boston, they could compel the British to evacuate. 43 00:03:55.900 --> 00:04:02.500 Shortly after Lexington and Concord, Ethan Allen proposed to seize Fort Ticonderoga. 44 00:04:02.500 --> 00:04:07.900 The bulk of his force was to consist of his Green Mountain Boys, to which were to be added 45 00:04:07.900 --> 00:04:16.060 One Troop from Connecticut and one from Pittsfield, Massachusetts. All in all, approximately 65 46 00:04:16.060 --> 00:04:23.220 men from Connecticut and western Massachusetts joined a hundred Green Mountain boys at Bennington, 47 00:04:23.220 --> 00:04:30.300 now in Vermont, on May 9, and the leaders unanimously chose Allen as their commander, 48 00:04:30.300 --> 00:04:37.780 with Seth Warner and James Easton as his lieutenants. The same idea had also occurred to the outspoken 49 00:05:07.780 --> 00:05:13.780 and Ammunition by Force when the town authorities tried to block him from taking any, he also 50 00:05:13.780 --> 00:05:20.060 persuaded the Massachusetts Committee of Safety to grant him a colonelcy and authorize him 51 00:05:20.060 --> 00:05:24.580 to raise man and take Fort Ticonderoga. 52 00:05:24.580 --> 00:05:30.260 Hearing of the Allen-Easton expedition, he rushed to the Green Mountain country and, 53 00:05:30.260 --> 00:05:36.460 with characteristic gall, brandished his Massachusetts commission and insisted on taking absolute 54 00:06:06.460 --> 00:06:13.580 Before launching the surprise assault on the Fort Allen, true both to his libertarian beliefs 55 00:06:13.580 --> 00:06:21.160 and to the individualistic framework of guerrilla war, reminded his troops that no one, even 56 00:06:21.160 --> 00:06:27.100 at this late day, would be forced against his will to embark on the attack. 57 00:06:27.100 --> 00:06:29.780 The blow was swift and sure. 58 00:06:29.780 --> 00:06:32.200 The surprise was complete. 59 00:07:02.200 --> 00:07:14.840 The great task of the Massachusetts and New England radicals was to line up firm military 60 00:07:14.840 --> 00:07:22.040 support for and unity with the Massachusetts cause, a difficult task in the face of stubborn 61 00:07:22.040 --> 00:07:27.140 conservatism and middle-of-the-road confusion among their colleagues. 62 00:07:27.140 --> 00:07:32.900 The New England rebels found they were forced to temper their radicalism and individualism 63 00:07:32.900 --> 00:07:39.340 in order to appeal to the far more oligarchic leaders in the other colonies. One of the 64 00:07:39.340 --> 00:07:44.820 early orders of business of the Congress was how to handle the news of Ticonderoga, and 65 00:07:44.820 --> 00:07:52.500 the dubious temper of the Congress was revealed in its reaction to the happy news. After Ticonderoga, 66 00:07:52.500 --> 00:07:59.500 In May 16, Arnold, reinforced by men from Western Massachusetts, had raided and occupied 67 00:07:59.620 --> 00:08:06.620 Fort St. John's in Canada, north of Lake Champlain, and he was preparing to occupy Ticonderoga 68 00:08:06.740 --> 00:08:13.260 permanently. Moreover, both Arnold and Allen were proposing to help keep up the momentum 69 00:08:13.260 --> 00:08:20.020 by pressing onward to capture Montreal and even all of Canada from the British. Allen 70 00:08:20.020 --> 00:08:24.700 Washington asserted that all they would need was more men, but instead of rejoicing at 71 00:08:24.700 --> 00:08:31.700 the news, that alone encouraging further victories, Congress was horrified at the entire exploit. 72 00:08:32.940 --> 00:08:39.400 In contrast to Lexington and Concord or even to the siege of Boston, here was a frankly 73 00:08:39.400 --> 00:08:46.400 offensive action against the British Armed Forces. To welcome Ticonderoga would be to 74 00:08:46.400 --> 00:08:52.400 and Congress, beset by timidity and conservatism, was unwilling to do this. 75 00:08:52.400 --> 00:09:06.400 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. 76 00:09:06.400 --> 00:09:13.120 Abandon Fort Ticonderoga and retreat to the south end of Lake George. Congress's only 77 00:09:13.120 --> 00:09:18.040 slight acknowledgement of the victory was to concede that the Americans might take the 78 00:09:18.040 --> 00:09:23.920 guns and ammunition back with them, but an accurate account must be kept of them, in 79 00:09:23.920 --> 00:09:29.440 order that they may be safely returned when the restoration of the former harmony between 80 00:09:29.440 --> 00:09:35.160 Great Britain and these colonies shall render it prudent. 81 00:09:35.160 --> 00:09:40.240 Arnold protested bitterly to the provincial Congresses of New York and Massachusetts as 82 00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:46.160 well as to the Continental Congress. Alan, too, was willing to swallow his old hatred 83 00:09:46.160 --> 00:09:51.600 of New York and appealed to that colony for aid in keeping the forts and pressing onward 84 00:09:51.600 --> 00:09:57.880 to Canada. The New England colonies kept up a drum fire of protest and finally persuaded 85 00:09:57.880 --> 00:10:04.880 Congress to change its mind and keep the captured forts. Neither Alan nor Arnold were to gain 86 00:10:34.880 --> 00:10:41.000 Arnold was so disgusted that he resigned and went home. A scintillating guerrilla conquest 87 00:10:41.000 --> 00:10:49.640 had lost its momentum and deteriorated into an orthodox, idle and squabbling army of occupation 88 00:10:49.640 --> 00:10:50.920 at Ticonderoga.