Experience 1776 at Fort Ticonderoga
From November 2022 through April 2023, visitors to Fort Ticonderoga will be transported back in time with living history events, seminars packed full of insight into the 18th-century fort's past, and hands-on workshops that promise some thing of nterest for everyone. This is a unique opportunity to step back in time, during the long, cold winters of the Northeast, to experience life during revolutionary wartime for U.S. troops.
Photo courtesy Fort Ticonderoga
On January 14, visitors will experience the early days of the American Revolution when U.S. soldiers a Fort Ticonderoga sent critical supplies to the Continental Army hanging on by a thread in Canada at the Siege of Quebec. The aim was to seize the Province of Quebec from Great Britain and persuade French-speaking Canadiens to join the revolution on the side of the Thirteen Colonies.
Fort Ticonderoga was a critical supply depot for the Northern Continental Army in January 1776. Visitors during this event will observe oxen hauling sleds heaped with edible essentials and see how General Phillip Schuyler (yes, that Schuyler, Papa of the Schuyler Sisters from “Hamilton”) used Lake Champlain as a frozen highway to transport supplies to the Continental Army in Canada utilizing the sheer power of cattle.
But you can do more than just observe; interact with the New York soldiers who served at Ticonderoga over the winter of 1775-76 and join them in cutting firewood or help assemble an ox sled. You’ll be able to tour officers’ quarters and all the comforts within while also discovering the difficultly convincing veteran soldiers to reenlist for another campaign season. You can also see first-hand the unsung work of the women that served at Ticonderoga as they mended both shirts and soldiers as active laundresses and nurses.
Visitors will have a chance to bear witness to this event in a re-enactment and learn more about this tumultuous time in U.S. history. Visit Fort Ticonderoga’s website for more information about this and other Winter session activities.