Fort Ticonderoga and Mount Defiance stood at a strategic point on Lake Champlain where the surrounding terrain made the site both immensely strong and dangerously vulnerable during the American Revolution. Mount Defiance rose 853 feet high, with Lake George beyond it, while the narrow channel to the north offered an ideal place for artillery batteries to control movement on Lake Champlain. Fort Ticonderoga, built in 1755 by the French during the French & Indian War, guarded southern Lake Champlain and the mouth of the LaChute River. In July 1776, when the American Northern Army of 4,000 to 5,000 men arrived, the fort was in disrepair, and they began restoring it while building new defenses on Mount Independence. After three months, gun batteries and breastworks there were armed with cannon. On October 28, 1776, after defeating Benedict Arnold at Valcour Island on October 11 to 13, Gen. Guy Carleton approached with a British fleet of five major vessels and 28 gunboats, but the sight of Mount Independence and Fort Ticonderoga, manned by nearly 14,000 soldiers and heavy cannon batteries, and the approach of winter led him to turn back to Canada, delaying British invasion for another year. In June 1777, Lt. Gen. John Burgoyne advanced south on Lake Champlain to split New England from the other American states. Maj. Gen. Arthur St. Clair, commanding the now severely undermanned Fort Ticonderoga and Mount Independence, received reports of Burgoyne's movements as the British drew closer. By June 25 they were only 11 miles away, and the 4,000 Americans worked urgently to strengthen their defenses and bring in reinforcements. A large British detachment landed at Three Mile Point on June 30, and with nearly 8,000 British soldiers and German allies prepared to attack, the Americans knew they were outnumbered two to one. On July 3 the British were repelled in a minor attack west of Ticonderoga, but on July 4 British engineer William Twiss recognized that Mount Defiance was undefended and commanding ground. The British cut a road, hauled up two cannons, and placed troops on the summit. At dawn the next morning, St. Clair saw British artillerymen on Mount Defiance in position to bombard both Mount Independence and Ticonderoga, and Col. Alexander Scammell of the 3rd New Hampshire Regiment called the situation "a perfect mousetrap." St. Clair and his officers decided to abandon Mount Independence under cover of darkness on the night of July 5 and 6. The sick and weak were sent by boat with supplies to Skenesborough, New York, while the rest of the army was to march southeast thirty miles to Castleton and reunite there with the others. As the evacuation spread through the garrison, soldiers prepared silently while cannon fire masked their movements, but at 3:00 a.m. a fire set by Brig. Gen. Roche de Fermoy at his headquarters on Mount Independence exposed the retreat. The Americans hurried their departure, leaving much behind. A volunteer four-man gun crew was posted at the Mount Independence shore battery to fire on any enemy crossing the bridge, but by the time the British crossed, the men had passed out after finding a cask of Madeira wine. By 4:00 a.m. the Americans were marching out the south gate of Mount Independence or rowing southward, while the British entered Fort Ticonderoga. The American occupation of Mount Independence and Fort Ticonderoga was over.
