Friday, December 12, 2014

At Mount Independence


Source


Source

Meanwhile, Major General Riedesel, who, with the German division had encamped at Three Mile Point, pushed forward a detachment along the east shore of the lake opposite the fort, as far as East Creek, a stream that flows into Champlain, along the northern base of Mount Independence.

Fort Ticonderoga was situated upon a sharp point of land at the junction of the waters of the two lakes. A somewhat correct idea of its situation perhaps, might be obtained, by describing it as the center of a triangle, of which Mounts Hope, Independence and Defiance are the angles. 

The usual quiet, therefore, was maintained within the fort, until the darkness of the night had hidden them from the eyes of those who rested on the adjacent hills. Then commenced the [American] preparation for retreat. After midnight, the garrison moved silently down the descent to the water side, and unperceived crossed the bridge to Mount Independence.

Just as day was breaking in the cast, the flag of England unfurled its ample folds above the walls of Ticonderoga. Without delay he [British Gen. Simon Fraser] hastened over the bridge to Mount Independence, and, followed by Riedesel and his Brunswickers, pressed eagerly forward in the track of the flying patriots.


An ancestor at Mount Independence:

John Backus's Revolutionary War Pension:

...Ticonderoga has been then but a short time when he was placed in a redout a short distance from the main fort as an artillerist together with others of the same regiment.

During the winter there was much work done in making something like a bridge across a marsh or a part of the lake from the fort to the foot of mount independence... . 




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