1759 Battle on Snowshoes

Fort Ticonderoga occupies one of the most studied pieces of military ground in North America, commanding the narrows between Lake George and Lake Champlain where a short portage once linked two major water routes. Built by the French between 1755 and 1757 as Fort Carillon, this substantial star fort reflects 18th-century engineering principles adapted to rugged terrain and long, narrow lakes flanked by Appalachian ridges. Its earthworks and bastions illustrate how designers sought to control the Great Appalachian Valley corridor running between the Hudson and Saint Lawrence river systems. The site became a focal point in the French and Indian War and again in the American Revolutionary War, from the 1758 Battle of Carillon through the 1775 seizure of the fort by Ethan Allen, Benedict Arnold, and their militia, and Henry Knox’s famed removal of its artillery to Boston. Later neglect and early-20th-century restoration are both legible in the masonry and reconstructed works, offering a rare opportunity to study layers of use, abandonment, and preservation on a strategically decisive frontier stronghold.