Fighting for Independence

The first American victory of the Revolutionary war took place in the Champlain Valley when Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys, along with Benedict Arnold, seized Fort Ticonderoga from the British on May 10, 1775. Henry Knox hauled cannon taken from Ticonderoga and Crown Point to Dorchester heights to drive the British from Boston. Arnold built a fleet of war ships to fight the British at Valcour Island in the fall of 1776, which kept the British at bay for another winter. Britain retaliated by sending General John Burgoyne to quell the feisty rebels in New York, New England and the Hampshire Grants (Vermont).

Burgoyne’s Campaign of 1777 moved south along the waterway, pausing to drive the Americans from Ticonderoga and Mount Independence, fight battles at Hubbarton and Bennington and finally to meet defeat at Saratoga, the turning point of the American Revolution. Every museum and historic site along the way has their part of the story to tell.