Siege of Fort Ticonderoga, engagement in the American Revolution from July 2–6, 1777, resulting in a British victory that failed to end the rebellion, as its commander had believed it would. The summer after their success at Valcour Island, the British opened their renewed invasion plan with a three-pronged effort to split the northern American colonies. Accordingly, Major General John Burgoyne sailed with 9,100 British and German troops and Indians down Lake Champlain to seize the American-held Fort Ticonderoga (in New York), which Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen’s Green Mountain Boys had famously captured on May 10, 1775, giving a boost (and much needed artillery, taken from the British) to the early American war effort. It henceforth became a symbol of American might.

　　Fort TiconderogaBarracks at Fort Ticonderoga, New York.(more)Fort Ticonderoga was a strong fortification and occupied a strategic position. The British had experience with it, for they suffered heavy losses when trying to wrest it from the French in 1758. Even so, Fort Ticonderoga was vulnerable to artillery attack from three nearby hills, one unguarded and the others fortified but thinly manned, sinceproper defense was beyond the capability of the estimated 3,000–4,000 Americans under Major General Arthur St. Clair. His plan was to hold out as long as possible, then use a pontoon bridge to cross the narrows of the lake and withdraw a safe distance.

　　American Revolution Events keyboard_arrow_left

　　Battles of Lexington and Concord April 19, 1775

　　Siege of Boston c. April 19, 1775 - March 1776

　　Battle of Bunker Hill June 17, 1775

　　Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge February 27, 1776

　　Battle of Long Island August 27, 1776 - August 29, 1776

　　Battle of White Plains October 28, 1776

　　Battles of Trenton and Princeton December 26, 1776 - January 3, 1777

　　Siege of Fort Ticonderoga July 2, 1777 - July 6, 1777

　　Battle of Oriskany August 6, 1777

　　Battle of Bennington August 16, 1777

　　Battle of Brandywine September 11, 1777

　　Battles of Saratoga September 19, 1777 - October 17, 1777

　　Battle of Germantown October 4, 1777

　　Battle of Bemis Heights October 7, 1777

　　Battle of Monmouth June 28, 1778

　　Wyoming Massacre July 3, 1778

　　Capture of Savannah December 29, 1778

　　engagement between Bonhomme Richard and Serapis September 23, 1779

　　Siege of Charleston 1780

　　Battle of Camden August 16, 1780

　　Battle of Kings Mountain October 7, 1780

　　Battle of Cowpens January 17, 1781

　　Battle of Guilford Courthouse March 15, 1781

　　Battle of the Chesapeake September 5, 1781

　　Siege of Yorktown September 28, 1781 - October 19, 1781

　　Gnadenhütten Massacre March 8, 1782

　　Battle of the Saintes April 12, 1782 keyboard_arrow_right Burgoyne with his main body landed on the western lakeshore near the fort on June 30. His Hessians marched on the opposite shore, threatening to cut off the American escape route. On July 4 St. Clair observed British artillery emplaced on the heights, ruining the British hope for a sneak attack. But St. Clair deemed his position impossible. As he framed the predicament, he could either “save his character and lose the army” by defending the increasingly vulnerable fort or “save the army and lose his character” by ordering a retreat. He opted for the latter, and under cover of darkness on July 5, he evacuated his sick and wounded by boat and then marched his men away, eventually crossing the lake.

　　The British were unaware that the Americans had left until July 6, whereupon they followed in hot pursuit. Small skirmishes occurred over the next two days (called the Battle of Hubbardton and the Battle of Fort Anne), but there were few casualties. By far the worst casualty was to St. Clair’s reputation and American pride. Congress and George Washington were outraged; they found it inconceivable that America’s most famous fortress could be abandoned by their defenders and overrun by the British without firing a shot, with no sustained siege, with no pitched battle. St. Clair was removed from his command and court-martialed, along with his superior, General Philip Schuyler, in late 1778. Both men were exonerated from any wrongdoing, but their reputations had been permanently tarnished.

　　Most of the American troops who fled Fort Ticonderoga would soon face Burgoyne at the Battles of Saratoga, where he was decisively defeated. After American victory the fort lost most of its strategic value as the Revolutionary War moved to the south; British troops retreating to Canada destroyed large sections of it, and when George Washington visited it in 1783 much of it lay in ruins.

　　Losses: American, about 40 dead, 40 wounded, 234 captured; British and Hessian, 35 dead, 150 wounded.

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