Fort Ticonderoga is planning a number of events to commemorate the 250th Anniversary of the Revolutionary War. The first starts May 9th and coincides with the anniversary of Ethan Allen’s capture of the fort.
On May 10th, 1775 Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys conducted a dawn raid and captured the then-British controlled Fort Ticonderoga.
President and CEO Beth Hill says the upcoming No Quarter three-day reenactment is the first in a series of events to celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution.
“Fort Ticonderoga has been planning this momentous time for our nation, America's 250th, for more than a decade. We have built one of the premier interpretive programs in the nation and have tested concepts that now we are bringing to life in a really exciting way during America's 250th,” Hill explains. “All of this translates into major new exhibitions, our battle reenactments, as well as our Real Time Revolution, which is an immersive historical experience every day through this 250th period.”
Fort Ticonderoga’s “Real Time Revolution” through 2027 will showcase day-by-day events as they happened at the birth of the nation. Hill says the fort is unique in that it was the site of the most concentrated military activity in 18th century America.
“What we are able to do, not just for a one-time battle reenactment, but our ability to take that story as it's evolving in real time really sets us apart,” Hill notes.
Hill turns to Curator Matt Keagle to continue.
“New York has the claim to having perhaps the most battles, engagements, fought in the Revolutionary War within the bounds of the current state of New York. But Ticonderoga represents concentrated three years minimum of military activity ongoing throughout the Revolutionary War where from 1775 until 1777 American soldiers figure out how to create, how to raise, how to maintain, how to equip, how to supply an army hundreds of miles from the major colonial centers along the coast,” Keagle asserts. “And so it becomes this kind of massive, but microcosm, of the Revolutionary experience and we are trying, in various ways, to convey that through our programming during the 250th.”
Green Mountain Boys reenactors will begin in Vermont and march the route to Shoreham where they will cross the Lake Champlain in a nighttime raid. Along the way the reenactors will stop in communities and schools to detail the history they are portraying. Kaegle says the No Quarter event in May will be portrayed at the same scale and time that the historic event occurred.
“So about 80 Green Mountain Boys crossed the lake under (Benedict) Arnold and (Ethan) Allen's command. We've got them portrayed almost to the man, as well as the British Garrison which was less than 50 soldiers, as well as almost 26 women and children who were the families of that garrison. We're going to have them portrayed to scale,” Kaegle notes.
The “No Quarter” event will also feature new exhibits with nearly 100 artifacts that have never been displayed. Kaegle says they are part of the Fort’s Revolutionary Anthology program that will rotate nearly all of their 200,000 artifacts over the next five years.
“These include things like incredibly rare survivals of Revolutionary War uniforms. Fort Ticonderoga holds the oldest American-made military coat in existence. It was actually created before the revolution by a militia company in Boston commanded by John Hancock. We'll have artwork. We'll also have objects that explore the weaponry from the time period from the French, the German, the British and the American forces as well alongside these rare survivals and documentary pieces, books, manuscripts as well,” Kaegle says.
Again, Beth Hill:
“Monumental events happened that shaped the world that we live in. And the same is true with seeing objects that bore witness. You are as close as you could get to that moment through that object,” Hill relates. “And we're so honored and thrilled you know that we have these collections to connect our audiences with the past in such a magnificent way.”
Fort Ticonderoga is near the southern end of Lake Champlain.
