THE BRITISH SIDE OF THE CAPTURE
A few years ago Mr. Allen French discovered the manuscript of Lieutenant Feltham’s report, which reads as follows:
New York, June 11th 1775.
“Sir
“Capt. Delaplace of the 26th regt has given me directions to lay before you in as plain a narrative as I can the manner of the surprizal of the fort of Ticonderoga on 10th May with all the circumstances after it that I thought might be of any service in giving you Exy any light into the affair.
“Allen Needs You at Ti”
(Courtesy National Life Insurance Company of Vermont)
“Capt. Delaplace having in the course of the winter applied to Gen. Carleton for a reinforcement, as he had reason to suspect some attack from some circumstances that happend’d in his neighborhood, Gen Carleton was pleased to order a detachment of a subaltern and 20 men to be sent in two or three separate parties the first party of which was sent as a crew along with Major Dunbar who left Canada about the 12th April, I being the first subaltern on command was ordered down with 10 men in a few days more, to give up to Capt Delaplace with whom Lt Wadman was to remain, having receiv’d orders from the regt some time before to join there. as he was not arrived when I came I had orders to wait until he did. I was 12 days there before he came which was about an hour after the fort was surprised. I had not lain in the fort on my arrival having left the only tolerable rooms there for Mr. Wadman if he arrived with his family, but being unwell, had lain in the fort for two or three nights preceding the 10th May, on which morning about half an hour after three in my sleep I was awaken’d by numbers of shreiks, & the words no quarter, no quarter from a number of arm’d rabble I jump’d up about which time I heard the noise continue in the area of the fort I ran undress’d to knock at Capt. Delaplaces door & to receive his orders or wake him, the door was fast the room I lay in being close to Capt Delaplace I stept back, put on my coat & waist coat & return’d to his room, there being no possibility of getting to the men as there were numbers of the rioters on the bastions of the wing of the fort on which the door of my room and back door of Capt Delaplaces room led, with great difficulty, I got into his room, being pursued, from which there was a door down by stairs in to the area of the fort, I ask’d Capt Delaplace who was by now just up what I should do, & offer’d to force my way if possible to our men, on opening this door the bottom of the stairs was filld with the rioters & many were forcing their way up, knowing the Commg Officer lived there, as they had broke open the lower rooms where the officers live in winter, and could not find them there, from the top of the stairs I endeavour’d to make them hear me, but it was impossible, on making a signal not to come up the stairs, they stop’d, & proclaimd silence among themselves, I then address’d them, but in a stile not agreeable to them I ask’d them a number of questions, expecting to amuse them till our people fired which I must certainly own I thought would have been the case, after asking them the most material questions, I could think viz by what authority they entered his majesties fort who were the leaders and what their intent &c &c I was informd by one Ethan Allen and one Benedict Arnold that they had a joint command, Arnold informing me he came from instructions recd from the congress at Cambridge which he afterwards shew’d me. Mr. Allen told me his orders were from the province of Connecticut & that he must have immediate possession of the fort and all the effects of George the third (those were his words) Mr. Allen insisting on this with a drawn sword over my head & numbers of his followers firelocks presented at me alledging I was commanding officer & to give up the fort, and if it was not comply’d with, or that there was a single gun fired in the fort neither man woman or child should be left alive in the fort. Mr. Arnold begg’d it in a genteel manner but without success, it was owing to him they were prevented getting into Capt Delaplaces room, after they found I did not command. Capt. Delaplace being now dress’d came out, when after talking to him some time, they put me back into the room they placed two sentry’s on me and took Capt Delaplace down stairs they also placed sentrys at the back door, from the beginning of the noise till half an hour after this I never saw a Soldier, tho’ I heard a great noise in their rooms and can not account otherwise than that they must have been seiz’d in their beds before I got on the stairs, or at the first coming in, which must be the case as Allen wounded one of the guard on his struggling with him in the guard room immediately after his entrance into the fort. When I did see our men they were drawn up without arms, which were all put into one room over which they placed sentrys and allotted one to each soldier their strength at first coming that is the number they had ferry’d over in the night amounted to about 90 but from their entrance & shouting they were constantly landing men till about 10 o’clock when I suppose there were about 300, & by the next morning at least another 100 who I suppose were waiting the event & came now to join in the plunder which was most rigidly perform’d as to liquor, provisions, &c whether belonging to his majesty or private property, about noon on the 10th May, our men were sent to the landing at L. George, & sent over next day, then march’d by Albany to Hartford Connecticut where they arrived on the 22d they would not allow an Officer to go with them tho’ I requested it. They sent Capt Delaplace his Lady, family & Lt Wadman & myself by Skenesborough to Hartford where we arrived the 21st.”
Shortly after Allen’s capture of the Fort Congress decided to garrison the place, and what was afterwards called the Northern Army was concentrated there. It consisted mostly of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania troops with the Pennsylvanians the best equipped and organized. General Philip Schuyler of New York was in command through 1775. The Fort was repaired and the old French Lines strengthened and a number of redoubts started.
Ethan Allen’s Blunderbuss in the Museum Collection
Benedict Arnold
CHAPTER EIGHT
Montgomery, Knox, Valcour Island
A number of important things happened at Ticonderoga during the American occupation between Allen’s capture, May 10th, 1775, and St. Clair’s evacuation before Burgoyne, July 6, 1777.
An expedition for the invasion of Canada was planned. By the middle of July, 1775, General Schuyler arrived at Ticonderoga and found but little progress had been made to advance the expedition, few bateaux, no boards, little material and few workmen able to build boats. He repaired the French sawmill, sawed boards, requisitioned carpenters, nails, provisions and teams and forwarded matters with so much dispatch that by the beginning of August regiments which were to form the army began to move toward Ticonderoga. The Continental troops began to arrive by the middle of August, and on the 13th General Richard Montgomery arrived and reviewed the troops. On the 28th the army advanced and after a few skirmishes on the way reached St. Johns on the 6th of September. The army consisted of about 1000 men under command of General Philip Schuyler, almost wholly Connecticut troops excepting about 250 of the first battalion of New Yorkers, under command of Lieutenant Colonel Ritzma. On the 13th of September General Schuyler was forced to return to Ticonderoga on account of illness, leaving General Richard Montgomery in command. The fort at St. Johns held out until November 2nd, when the garrison surrendered to the American invaders. Among the officers who surrendered and who were sent down to Ticonderoga, a prisoner with the rest was Lieutenant John Andre, afterwards executed as a spy.
Major General Richard Montgomery
On Monday morning, November 13th, a detachment from the Continental Army took possession of Montreal. Unfortunately, the time of many of the Connecticut troops had expired and most of them decided to go home. The General offered as a bounty for those who would enlist for only five months, a watch great coat, coat, jacket and breeches, stockings and shoes, shirt, caps, mittens, socks and an English Crown. About 200 volunteered to stay.
General Montgomery shortly afterwards joined Benedict Arnold who was besieging Quebec, and lost his life in the unsuccessful attack on that place. The remnants of two armies reached Ticonderoga in the spring of 1776 in a terrible condition.
It was while serving under General Montgomery that Ethan Allen, advancing toward Montreal to ascertain whether the Canadians were with or against the Americans, was captured, sent to England as a prisoner and not returned and released until May, 1778. He took no further part in the Revolution, though Congress granted him the rank and pay of a colonel.
On the 16th of November General Washington sent the following instruction to Henry Knox, then a Colonel of Artillery:
“You are immediately to examine into the state of the artillery of this army, and take an account of the cannon, mortars, shells, lead and ammunition that are wanting. When you have done that you are to proceed in the most expeditious manner to New York, there to apply to the President of the Provincial Congress and learn of him whether Colonel Reed did anything or left any orders respecting these things, and get him to procure such of them as can possibly be had there. The president, if he can, will have them immediately sent hither; if he cannot, you must put them in a proper channel to be transported to this camp with despatch before you leave New York. After you have procured as many of these necessaries as you can there, you must go to Major-General Schuyler and get the remainder from Ticonderoga, Crown Point, or St. John; if it should be necessary, from Quebec, if in our hands. The want of them is so great that no trouble or expense must be spared to obtain them. I have wrote to General Schuyler, he will give every necessary assistance, that they may be had and forwarded to this place with the utmost despatch. I have given you a warrant to the Paymaster General of the Continental Army for a thousand dollars, to defray the expense attending your journey and procuring these articles, an account of which you are to keep and render upon your return.
General Knox
“Given under my hand at headquarters at Cambridge, this 16th day of November, Annoque Domini 1775.
G. Washington.
“(Endeavor to procure what flints you can)”
The Continental Army, approximately 16,000 men, was besieging Boston, but without heavy artillery it would be impossible to force the British out. Apparently Colonel Knox had submitted a plan to Washington for the removal of the guns from Ticonderoga.
On the 5th of December Knox reached Ticonderoga and by the 6th was busy removing heavy guns from the Fort to a gondola, a type of flat-bottomed boat used on the lake. By the 9th they had all been transported to the carrying-place and were loaded on the scows to take them to the head of Lake George. With the greatest difficulty he transported them over-land, having had made forty-two strong sleds and hired eighty-one yoke of oxen. Not until January 4th did the first brass 24 pounder reach Albany, and on the 24th of the same month with his “noble train of artillery,” he arrived at the camp in Cambridge. It was a great undertaking considering the roads and bridges of the period.
General Knox Moving Cannon From Fort Ticonderoga To Cambridge
(Courtesy Joseph Dixon Crucible Co.)
Fort Ticonderoga’s Immortal Guns go to General George Washington ... winter of 1776 ... over hundreds of miles of roadless, trackless, snowclad mountains and valleys, through thick forests, over ice-covered lakes and rivers ... on sledges hauled by oxen ... in charge of General Knox and his artillery men in their red-trimmed regimentals, who deliver the guns at Dorchester Heights. There, roaring down at the enemy, they drive him out of Boston Town.
The guns removed from Ticonderoga by Knox consisted of:
| MORTARS and COHORNS | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dim of bore. | Ft. & ins. of length. | Weight | Total w’ht. | ||||
| Brass | |||||||
| 2 | Cohorns | 5 | - 7/10 | 1-4 | 150 | 300 | |
| 4 | do. | 4½ | 1-1 | 100 | 400 | ||
| 1 | Mortar | 8½ | 2-0 | 300 | 300 | ||
| 1 | do. | 7½ | 2-0 | 300 | 300 | ||
| 8 | |||||||
| Iron | |||||||
| 1 | do. | 6½ | 1-10 | 600 | 600 | ||
| 1 | do. | 10 | 3-6 | 1800 | 1800 | ||
| 1 | do. | 10¼ | 3-6 | 1800 | 1800 | ||
| 3 | do. | 13 | 3 (average) | 2300 | 6900 | ||
| 6 | |||||||
| HOWITZERS | |||||||
| Iron | |||||||
| 1 | 8 | 3-4 | 15.2.15 | 15.2.15 | |||
| 1 | 8¼ | 3-4 | 15.2.15 | 15.2.15 | |||
| 2 | (16) | ||||||
| CANNON | |||||||
| Brass | |||||||
| 8 | 3 | pounders | 3 | - 1/20 | 3-6 | 350 | 2,800 |
| 3 | 6 | do. | 3 | - 7/10 | 4-6 | 600 | 1,800 |
| 1 | 18 | do. | 5½ | 8-3 | 2000 | 2,000 | |
| 1 | 24 | do. | 5 | -11/12 | 5-6 | 16.3.18 | 1,800 |
| Iron | |||||||
| 6 | 6 | do. | 3 | - 7/10 | 9-7 | 2500 | 15,000 |
| 4 | 9 | do. | 4 | - 4/10 | 8-4 | 2500 | 10,000 |
| 10 | 12 | do. | 4¾ | 9 | 2800 | 28,000 | |
| 7 | 18 | do. | 5½ | 9 | 4000 | 28,000 | |
| dble fortif. | |||||||
| 3 | 18 | do. | 5½ | 11 | 5000 | 15,000 | |
| To. can., 43 | Total Weight, 119,900 | ||||||
| Mortars, 16 | |||||||
From Contemporary Water Colors. Showing Rig of Fleet at Valcour Island. (Original in the Museum)
In the spring of 1776, Benedict Arnold returned to Ticonderoga from the unsuccessful siege of Quebec. His spies soon told him that the British under Sir Guy Carleton intended to invade from the North. Arnold, one of the best soldiers this country ever has produced, realized that a fleet on Lake Champlain should be the first line of defense. With super-human efforts he collected shipwrights and carpenters at Ticonderoga and Skenesborough, erected ways, and, in spite of the lack of men and money, by the end of August the fleet was ready. It consisted of:
| Guns | Men | Capt. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Schooner ROYAL SAVAGE | 12 | 50 | Wynkoop |
| (Arnold Flagship) | |||
| Schooner REVENGE | 10 | 80 | Seamen |
| Sloop LIBERTY | 10 | 35 | Plummer |
| Sloop ENTERPRIZE | 12 | 50 | Dickson |
| Galley WASHINGTON | 3 | 45 | Warner |
| (Gen. Waterbury on board) | |||
| Galley TRUMBULL | 3 | 45 | Colonel Wigglesworth |
| Galley CONGRESS | 3 | 45 | Capt. Arnold |
| Galley CUTTER LEE | 6 | 50 | Davis |
| Gondola BOSTON | 3 | 45 | Sumner |
| ” PROVIDENCE | 3 | 45 | Simmons |
| ” NEW HAVEN | 3 | 45 | Mansfield |
| ” SPITFIRE | 3 | 45 | Ulmer or Ustens |
| ” PHILADELPHIA | 3 | 45 | Rice |
| ” JERSEY | 3 | 45 | Grimes |
| ” CONNECTICUT | 3 | 45 | Grant |
| ” NEW YORK | 3 | 45 | Lee |
The Attack and Defeat of the American Fleet under Benedict Arnold, by King’s Fleet Commanded by Captain John Pringle, upon Lake Champlain, the 11th of October, 1776.
The British, in the meantime, had also been building a fleet. Several ships in the St. Lawrence had been taken apart, carried around the rapids, and rebuilt at St. Johns.
The two fleets met near Valcour Island on October 11th. After a two day fight the American Fleet was almost entirely destroyed, but Arnold had accomplished his object, he had held back the invaders for a whole year, as by the time Sir Guy Carleton reached and took Crown Point it was too late for his army to advance.
The British fleet in the battle consisted of:
| Ship INFLEXIBLE | 16 Guns | Lt. Schank |
| Schooner MARIA | 14 Guns | Lt. Starke |
| (Pringle’s Flagship) | ||
| Schooner CARLETON | 12 Guns | Lt. Dacres |
| Radeau THUNDERER | 14 Guns | Lt. Scott |
| Gondola LOYAL CONVERT | 7 Guns | Lt. Longcroft |
| Twenty Gun or Artillery Boats with one gun each. | ||
| Four Long Boats—one field piece or howitzer each. | ||
But three of the American Fleet escaped, the “Revenge,” “Trumbull” and “Enterprise.”
General Schuyler
Major-General Arthur St. Clair
Major-General Horatio Gates
Ticonderoga and Its Dependencies, August 1776
The Massacre of Jane McCrea
(From a painting in the Museum.)
CHAPTER NINE
Burgoyne Takes the Fort and Brown Fails to Retake It
The winter of 1776-1777 was a terrible one. The sufferings among the troops at Ticonderoga exceeded anything at Valley Forge. Men were frozen to death in their tents, smallpox broke out in the spring and altogether it was almost unbearable. General Gates succeeded General Schuyler as commander-in-chief of the Northern Army. Anthony Wayne was succeeded by Arthur St. Clair as commander at Ticonderoga, in the spring of 1777 and took command of 2500 Continental troops and 900 militia. General John Burgoyne had succeeded Sir Guy Carleton as commander-in-chief of the British Army in Canada.
With the destruction of the American Fleet at Valcour Island the autumn before, there was nothing to stop the advance of the British, and their army moved south up Lake Champlain in a great flotilla of bateaux and little sailing vessels. A large part of the American army was concentrated at Mount Independence directly across the lake from Ticonderoga and a floating bridge had been built connecting the two posts.
General John Burgoyne
Early in July Burgoyne invested the defenses on the New York side of the lake. John Trumbull in 1776 had suggested the fortifying of Mount Defiance which commanded the Fort, but it was never done. On July 5th the British succeeded in drawing a battery of guns to the top and opened up on the Fort. General St. Clair decided to retreat by way of the bridge and Mount Independence, the only road open. The retreat was well conceived, but someone set fire to General de Fermoy’s house and the British outposts discovered the American army retreating. A rear guard had been left at the Mount Independence end of the bridge, but unfortunately, they found a cask of wine and when the British succeeded in repairing and crossing the bridge, the whole guard was hors de combat. Part of the Americans retreated toward Skenesborough, the Whitehall of today, in the few gondolas and row galleys that had escaped the defeat at Valcour Island the year before. Most of the army, however, marched east toward Castleton. The British soon cut the boom which had been thrown across the lake from Willow Point to the Vermont shore and part of their army went on up the lake by water after the fleeing Americans. General Fraser pursued the retreating army and overtook the American rear guard under Seth Warner near Hubbardton. A sharp engagement took place and the Americans were defeated, losing 324 in killed and wounded. It was the German troops under Baron Riedesel, who, coming into the action a little late, forced the Americans from the field. On July 6th some of the British ships pursued the American galleys as far as Whitehall, then Skenesborough, and captured two of them, forcing the Americans to blow up the remainder. Burgoyne left a garrison at Ticonderoga under General Powell and proceeded to follow out his plan of taking northern New York and meeting General Howe at Albany.
St. Clair was courtmartialed for retreating but was exonerated as it was the only thing he could have done under the circumstances. In the meantime the army from Ticonderoga formed the nucleus that eventually, having received an enormous number of recruits from New York, Vermont and New Hampshire, forced the capitulation of Burgoyne and the surrender of his whole army at Saratoga late in the autumn. It was Burgoyne’s bombastic proclamation to the settlers to be loyal to the King, or he would unloose his Indians, coupled with the unfortunate murder of Jane McCrea by some of his Indians, which aroused the countryside.
A determined attempt to recapture the Fort was made by Colonel John Brown, the same Brown who probably was the originator of the capture by Allen two years before. He was supported by Colonel Johnson whose duty it was to take Mount Independence and by Captain Ebenezer Allen, whose job it was to capture Mount Defiance. The attack was by way of the foot of Lake George and his own account reads as follows:
The Battle of Saratoga. (From a painting in the Museum.)
Colonel Brown to General Lincoln:
“North end of Lake George landing.
thursday Sept. 20 1777
Sir; with great fatigue after marching all last night I arrived at this place at the break of day, after the best disposition of the men I could make, immediately began the attack, and in a few minutes carried the place. I then without any loss of time detached a considerable part of my men to the mills, where a greater number of the enemy were posted, who also were soon made prisoners, a small number of them having taken possession of a blockhouse in that vicinity were with more difficulty bro’t to submission; but at a sight of a cannon they surrendered. During this season of success, Mount Defiance also fell into our hands. I have taken possession of the old French lines at Ticonderoga, and have sent a flag demanding the surrender of Ty and of mount independence in strong and peremptory terms. I have had as yet no information of Col. Johnson’s attack on the mount. My loss of men in these several actions are not more than 3 or 4 killed and 5 wounded, the enemy’s loss is less. I find myself in possession of 293 prisoners, viz, 2 captains, 9 subs, 2 commisaries, non Commissioned officers and privates, 143 British, 119 Canadians, 18 artificers, and retook more than 100 of our men, total 293, exclusive of the prisoners retaken—The watercraft I have taken is 150 bateaus below the falls on Lake Champlain 50 above the falls including 17 gunboats and one armed sloop, arms equal to the number of prisoners. Some ammunition and many other things which I cannot now ascertain. I must not forget to mention a few cannon which may be of great service to us. Tho my success has hitherto answered most sanguine expectations, I cannot promise myself great things, the events of war being so dubious in their nature, but shall do my best to distress the enemy all in my power,—having regard to my retreat—There is but a small quantity of provisions at this place which I think will necessitate my retreat in case we do not carry Ty and independence—I hope you will use your utmost endeavor to give me assistance should I need in crossing the lake &c—The enemy has but a very small force at Fort George. Their boats are on an island about 14 miles from this guarded by six companies, having artillery—I have much fear with respect to the prisoners, being obliged to send them under a small guard—I am well informed that considerable reinforcements is hourly expected at the lake under command of Sir John Johnson—This minute received General Powel’s answer to my demand in these words, ‘The garrison intrusted to my charge I shall defend to the last.’
Surrender of Burgoyne. (From a painting in the Museum.)
“Indeed I have little hopes of putting him to the necessity of giving it up unless by the force under Colonel Johnson.
I am &c, John Brown.”
Brown, running short of provisions for his own men and his numerous prisoners, retreated up Lake George and made an unsuccessful attack on Diamond Island.
Sir John Johnson, son of Sir William Johnson, of Johnson Hall, arrived at Ticonderoga shortly before Burgoyne’s surrender at Saratoga. Numerous deserters from Saratoga informed Powell of the situation there and he immediately made preparations to retreat to Canada. He burned the houses and barracks at Ticonderoga and Independence and made good his escape.
George Washington at Halfway Brook, 1783
From a Painting Owned by Glen Falls Insurance Company
CHAPTER TEN
The Military History Ends
In 1781 Ira and Ethan Allen were negotiating with the British authorities as to the feasibility of making Vermont a Canadian province. Congress had refused to admit Vermont as the fourteenth state and were considering dividing it between New York and New Hampshire. Rather than submit to this the Allens and Governor Chittenden opened negotiations with Lieutenant-Governor Haldimand of Canada, the object of which was probably to force Congress to act in their favor, and they succeeded.
In July, 1783, General George Washington, accompanied by Governor Clinton, Col. Alexander Hamilton and others, visited the Fort on a tour of inspection, returning to the headquarters at Newburgh on the 5th of August.
Shortly after the treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States was signed the whole country began to be rapidly settled. No guard was kept at Ticonderoga and it provided a convenient quarry for the early settlers. All the furniture and movable objects were taken first, then the doors and windows, floors were ripped up and the great beams removed, and in a short time the barracks collapsed. Even the abandoned cannon, most of them spiked, were removed to be melted up for their iron.
Stephen H. P. Pell
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The Restoration of Fort Ticonderoga
by John H. G. Pell
After the Revolution, all crown lands reverted not to the national government, but to the States in which they were situated. The Garrison Grounds at Fort Ticonderoga and other pieces were designated by the State of New York for educational purposes on March 31, 1790. On Sept. 12, 1803, the Garrison Grounds were deeded to Columbia and Union Colleges jointly by the State.
William Ferris Pell, a New York business man, spent these years in Burlington, Vermont. He made many trips between Canada, Burlington and New York. While traveling up and down Lake Champlain he was struck by the beauty of the point of land on which the Fort stands, and the romantic interest of the ruins of the Fort. He determined to build a house there, if ever able to do so.
Returning to New York he organized the firm of Pells and Company, importers of mahogany and marble. This firm flourished for a hundred years. Mr. Pell leased the property from Columbia and Union Colleges and shortly thereafter built a house which he called “Beaumont.” The house was situated below the Fort between the garden laid out by the French officers in 1756 and the shores of Lake Champlain. Mr. Pell was much interested in horticulture and he restored the old garden and imported many plants from Europe and from the nurseries on Long Island to embellish and beautify it.
In 1820, he undertook to secure the deeds to the Garrison grounds and they were purchased by him from Union College on July 28, 1820 and from Columbia College on September 4, 1820.
The Pavilion—Built in 1826
In addition to building a house and replanting the garden, he tried to stop the depredations which were occurring to the Fort. The two buildings that were standing after the Revolution, the South and West Barracks, were ruined by the early settlers, who removed everything movable—doors, windows, floor boards, etc., and eventually the very beams themselves. Thousands of loads of stone were carted away for foundations. Some men had repaired the French lime kiln and were burning the walls of the Fort for lime. Mr. Pell had to buy up the numerous squatters’ rights but he eventually succeeded in stopping the destruction. He fenced in various earthworks and redoubts to prevent them being plowed under and did his best to preserve what was left. He was a man of vision. Had it not been for William Ferris Pell and those who came after him not a stone in Fort Ticonderoga would be in place today. Every one would have been carted away or destroyed.
In 1825, “Beaumont” burned and in 1826, he built “The Pavilion” which is still standing and occupied by his descendants. “The Pavilion” was built on the edge of “Le Jardin du Roi,” a garden laid out by Captain de Pontleroy, an engineer officer stationed here during the French occupation, and renamed “The King’s Garden” by the British, which name it has borne ever since. Mr. Pell spent his summers here. His oldest son, Archibald, had decided to be a gentleman farmer and took over the management of the place, but was killed by the explosion of a cannon he was firing as a salute to his father who was coming up the Lake, April 19th, 1838. Thereafter William Ferris Pell could not bear to live at his beloved Ticonderoga. He died intestate and no will was ever found, but he was a good business man and it is unlikely that he failed to make a will, but safe deposit boxes were unknown in that day and wills were kept in desks. Family tradition is that one of his sons found and read the will, was dissatisfied with his share, and destroyed it. At any rate, the property then passed in equal shares to his ten children. None of them could afford to keep up “The Pavilion,” so it was rented to various people who ran it as a boarding house and hotel for many years. However, seldom a summer went by without some member of the family spending time at “The Pavilion,” James Kent Pell, son of William Ferris, managed the property for his brothers and sisters for many years and struggled to preserve it. He was shocked on coming up one summer to find that the breast-high wall running from the Fort to the lake, and a large part of the Pontleroy and Germain Redoubts had been carted to the lake front and thrown in for a steamboat landing. The farmer in charge said that the contractor told him he had permission. It was too late to do anything about it.
Fort Ticonderoga and The Pavilion—1827
When James Pell died, John Howland Pell, a grandson, managed it for some time and later Howland Pell, a great-grandson, ran the property for a great many years. Howland always hoped that some member of the family would some day take it over and if it had not been for Howland it would have passed out of the family. Some people offered almost as much as the whole property was worth for fifty acres between the Fort and the West shore of the Lake. They wished to build a hotel, but he refused to sell.
Towards the end of the century, Stephen Pell, a little boy of eight and his brother, Howland, were sent up to visit their grandmother who was spending the summer at Fort Ticonderoga at “The Pavilion” which was then rented as a hotel. Filled with self importance at being intrusted with tickets and money for such a long trip alone, the boys finally arrived at Fort Ticonderoga. It is not hard to imagine how the Fort at once captured their interest. Little boys of eight and ten have vivid imaginations and with a doting grandmother who told delightfully the old tales of capture and recapture, these imaginations soon ran riot. They were in turn Montcalm, Allen, Arnold, Burgoyne (always a successful officer). They ran up the hills and over the walls, demanding the surrender, or holding the fort. Thrill of thrills came one day when Stephen found the bronze flint box, containing a flint. It is typical of little boys that an argument resulted—Howland claiming that it was half his as he had dislodged the stone, under which it lay, as he climbed up the hill. It was a beautiful little box that had belonged to a man of means and of distinction. One can see them standing there after the first raptures of finding it were over, eyes shining, picturing the Fort in all its past glory, with the proud walls standing, the flags flying and men in bright uniforms on the parade grounds. The lives of men are swayed by seemingly unimportant things and in Stephen Pell’s life always there was the little flint box and the youthful dream. As he grew older the imagination became an obsession, and the obsession became reality as stone by stone, timber by timber, wall by wall, he repaired and restored the Fort until it stands the old Fort Ticonderoga, all built from a flint box, a little boy’s vivid imagination and a man’s hard work, research and intelligence.
SIR HENRY CLINTON’S DISPATCH.
THE SILVER BULLET.