Ticonderoga: Provincials Seize the Fort, May 1775

Colonel Allen Describes the Strategic Value of Fort Ticonderoga

Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, The New York Public Library.

Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, The New York Public Library. "A survey of Lake Champlain" New York Public Library Digital Collections.

Detroit Publishing Co., Copyright Claimant, and Publisher Detroit Publishing Co. Fort Ticonderoga and vicinity from Mt. Defiance. George New York State Fort Ticonderoga United States Lake New York George, Lake, ca. 1903. Photograph. Library of Congress.

Detroit Publishing Co., Copyright Claimant, and Publisher Detroit Publishing Co. Fort Ticonderoga and vicinity from Mt. Defiance. George New York State Fort Ticonderoga United States Lake New York George, Lake, ca. 1903. Photograph. Library of Congress.

Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, The New York Public Library.

Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, The New York Public Library. "Ticonderoga and its dependencies, August, 1776" New York Public Library Digital Collections.

In his 1779 memoir, Allen argued that Continental control of Fort Ticonderoga and the Lake Champlain region would allow the American colonies to eventually annex the British territories in Canada.

"“We were now masters of lake Champlain, and the garrison depending thereon. This success I viewed of consequence in the scale of American politics; for, if a settlement between the then colomes and Great Britain, had soon taken place, it would have been easy to have restored these acquisitions; but viewing the then future consequences of a cruel war, as it has really proved to be, and the command of that like, garrisons, artillery, &c., it must be viewed to be of signal importance to the American cause, and it is marvellous to me that we ever lost the command of it. Nothing but taking a Burgoyne with a whole British army, could, in my opinion, atone for it; and notwithstanding such an extraordinary victory, we must be obliged to regain the command of that lake again, be the cost what it will; by doing this Canada will easily be brought into union and confederacy with the USA."

Ethan Allen
Sources
  • Ethan Allen, p. 10.