Fort Ticonderoga will hold a two-day living history weekend Saturday and Sunday, September 17-18, bringing to life the daring 1777 America Raid on the fort.

Living history demonstrations will feature the weapons, tactics, trades, and people who were swept into the story of the American Revolution. The weekend will also include a special boat tour highlighting this story aboard Fort Ticonderoga’s Carillon on Lake Champlain. Admission to the event is included in a Fort Ticonderoga general admission ticket.

Programming throughout the weekend highlights the American raid on Ticonderoga in their attempt to recapture its strategic fortifications. Special programs will be held in the (then) British Fort, the American camps, and atop Mount Defiance, where Rangers attacked Fort Ticonderoga with their own cannon.

For the full event schedule, click here, or call (518) 585-2821.

History of Brown’s Raid

Out of the hazy twilight before dawn on September 18, 1777 rushed Colonel John Brown’s men, catching the British and Brunswick garrison around Fort Ticonderoga completely by surprise. John Brown, no stranger to dangerous missions, helped engineer the first capture of Ticonderoga in 1775. With the stakes even higher, he would test his luck again. As General Horatio Gates prepared to stop the British advance on Albany, he ordered General Benjamin Lincoln to “divide, divert, and harass” General Burgoyne’s supply lines back to Canada. Colonel Brown chose his men carefully. Continental regulars from Colonel Seth Warner’s Regiment, Vermont State Rangers, and militia men would get their chance to strike a major blow against General Burgoyne’s attack to divide the colonies.

Rushing down into the LaChute River Valley from Lake George landing, Brown’s men captured 330 British prisoners and set 118 American POWs free. Dawn at Fort Ticonderoga would see British cannon atop Mount Defiance, which forced the Americans to flee that summer, turned on the British garrison itself. British soldiers awoke to the sight of a Brunswick soldier cut in half by a British cannon ball fired by Brown’s men from the summit of that hill. Rearmed with captured British weapons, American POWs has a chance to settle their score shoulder to shoulder with Brown’s militia, regulars, and rangers. Destroying supplies, and livestock, capturing boats, guns, and cannon, Colonel John Brown’s raiders disappeared back up Lake George, jumping into the pages of history.

Fort Ticonderoga is open for daily visitation May through October. For more information, click here or call (518) 585-2821. Fort Ticonderoga is located at 100 Fort Ti Road, Ticonderoga.

Photo: Brown’s Raid Living History Event will be held September 17-18 at Fort Ticonderoga. Courtesy Fort Ticonderoga and Drifting Focus.