On March 29, 1775, John Brown, a Massachusetts lawyer, wrote from Montreal to Boston:
The people on the New Hampshire Grants have engaged to seize the fort at Ticonderoga as soon as possible, should hostilities be committed by the king's troops.
The most minute account of the preparations to capture Ticonderoga is furnished by the diary for April, 1775, of Edward Mott, of Preston, Conn., a captain in Colonel S. H. Parson's regiment. He had been at the camp of the American army beleaguering Boston; took charge of the expedition to seize Ticonderoga; reported its success to Governor Trumbull at Hartford; was sent by Trumbull to Congress at Philadelphia with the news; resumed the command of his company at Ticonderoga in May; was with the Northern army during the campaign; was at the taking of Chambly and St. Johns; and became a major in Colonel Gray's regiment next year.
Preston, Friday, April 28, 1775.
Set out for Hartford, where I arrived the same day. Saw Christopher Leffingwell, who inquired of me about the situation of the people at Boston. When I had given him an account, he asked me how they could be relieved and where I thought we could get artillery and stores. I told him I knew not unless we went and took possession of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, which I thought might be done by surprise with a small number of men. Mr. Leffingwell left me and in a short time came to me again, and brought with him Samuel H. Parsons and Silas Deane, Esqrs. When he asked me if I would undertake in such an expedition as we had talked of before, I told him I would. They told me they wished I had been there one day sooner; that they had been on such a plan; and that they had sent off Messrs. Noah Phelps and Bernard Romans, whom they had supplied with £300 in cash from the treasury, and ordered them to draw for more if they should need; that said Phelps and Romans had gone by the way of Salisbury, where they would make a stop. They expected a small number of men would join them, and if I would go after them they would give me an order or letter to them to join with them and to have my voice with them in conducting the affair and in laying out the money; and also that I might take five or six men with me. On which I took with me Mr. Jeremiah Halsey, Mr. Epaphras Bull, Mr. Wm. Nichols, Mr. Elijah Babcock, and John Bigelow joined me; and Saturday, the 29th of April, in the afternoon, we set out on said expedition. Mr. Babcock tired his horse. We got another horse of Esq. Humphrey in Norfolk, and that day arrived at Salisbury; tarried all night, and the next day, having augmented our company to the number of sixteen in the whole, we concluded it was not best to add any more, as we meant to keep our business a secret and ride through the country unarmed till we came to the New Settlements on the Grants. We arrived at Mr. Dewey's in Sheffield, and there we sent off Mr. Jer. Halsey and Capt. John Stevens to go to Albany, in order to discover the temper of the people in that place, and to return and inform us as soon as possible.
That night (Monday the 1st of May) we arrived at Col. Easton's in Pittsfield, where we fell in company with John Brown, Esq., who had been at Canada and Ticonderoga about a month before; on which we concluded to make known our business to Col. Easton and said Brown and to take their advice on the same. I was advised by Messrs. Deane, Leffingwell, and Parsons not to raise our men till we came to the New Hampshire Grants, lest we should be discovered by having too long a march through the country. But when we advised with the said Easton and Brown they advised us that, as there was a great scarcity of provisions in the Grants, and as the people were generally poor, it would be difficult to get a sufficient number of men there; therefore we had better raise a number of men sooner. Said Easton and Brown concluded to go with us, and Easton said he would assist me in raising some men in his regiment. We then concluded for me to go with Col. Easton to Jericho and Williamstown to raise men, and the rest of us to go forward to Bennington and see if they could purchase provisions there.
We raised twenty-four men in Jericho and fifteen in Williamstown; got them equipped ready to march. Then Col. Easton and I set out for Bennington. That evening we met with an express for our people informing us that they had seen a man directly from Ticonderoga and he informed them that they were re-enforced at Ticonderoga, and were repairing the garrison, and were every way on their guard; therefore it was best for us to dismiss the men we had raised and proceed no further, as we should not succeed. I asked who the man was, where he belonged, and where he was going, but could get no account; on which I ordered that the men should not be dismissed, but that we should proceed. The next day I arrived at Bennington. There overtook our people, all but Mr. Noah Phelps and Mr. Heacock, who were gone forward to reconnoitre the fort: and Mr. Halsey and Mr. Stevens had not got back from Albany.
The following account of expenses incurred on this expedition is amusing, pitiful, and interesting, as evidence of the small beginnings of the Revolution, and as compared with the machinery of transportation and the wealth of the nation in its Civil War:
Account of Captain Edward Mott for his expenses going to Ticonderoga and afterwards against the Colony of Connecticut: