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Defensive Works on the Garrison Grounds
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The Fort landscape is filled with features from the 18th century military period. Most are saved thanks to the
foresight of the Pell family who purchased the Garrison Grounds in the
1820's for protection. As a result, a visitor today can see many defensive works dating from the French & Indian War and American Revolution. As you drive into the Fort through the front gate you will begin to notice turn-offs. |
| These are for your safety to encourage you to park and visit the defensive works. Interpretive labels will help you understand what you are looking at.
Just like historic objects from the 18th century, the earthenworks are very fragile. Please do no climb on them or in them! We want these historic features to be around for your grandchildren! |
Redoubts, Entrenchments, & Defensive Works
Redoubts are military remains that dot the Fort landscape. To the untrained eye, they almost appear to be sunken cellar holes. Several
redoubts are on the Garrison Grounds of the Fort and are marked with interpretive
panels explaining their significance.
Fort Ticonderoga has cleared these small fortifications so visitors can view them from a safe distance. These 18th century fortifications are quite rare, as many at surrounding forts were plowed under by farmers and have disappeared. Thanks to the Pell family’s early preservation efforts these redoubts are intact.
These mini-forts were made primarily of earth and wood, and some included stone. They were meant to hold a small number of soldiers and a cannon. They were placed in the landscape during wartime in such a way as to provide mutual protection for the soldiers. The redoubts at Fort Ticonderoga include those created by the French during the
French & Indian War and by the Americans in the
American Revolution. Redoubts can be found to the left along the entrance drive just beyond the French Lines and second Gate Posts.
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The Lotbiniere Battery
Today the best surviving example is the
Pontleroy redoubt, located to the north of the fort, that can best be
viewed from inside the Fort.
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Entrenchments
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Trees along the French Lines |
The most spectacular and historically important earthenwork fortification remaining at Fort Ticonderoga are the French Lines. These defensive works, located about three-quarters of a mile from the Fort, were built hurriedly by the French to stop a much larger British army who attacked on
July 8, 1758. It took the French army two days to build this defensive work, all the while knowing that the British were coming closer and closer. |
The French Lines consists of a trench a few feet deep. On the front of this trench was the abatis, extending outward for dozens of yards. The abatis was the 18th century equivalent of barbed wire, comprised of brush and sharpened saplings which entangle a soldier as he attempts to move through it. On the other side of the trench was a wood wall between 6-10 feet high that shielded the French soldiers from the attackers. A banquette of earth was mounded up behind the wall from which the French soldiers stood to fire on the oncoming British army. The British army was completely unprotected from the French forces as they attacked.
During the American
Revolution, the American soldiers rebuilt the French Lines although they never saw military action. Today the French Lines on the Carillon Battlefield are an important stopping point for visitors to the Fort. Monuments to the soldiers on both sides are located at the French Lines. Nearest the French Lines is a large red cross which is a replica of the cross General Montcalm erected at the end of the
Battle of Carillon as thanks to God for their victory. On the otherside of the road is a stone cairn erected in 1997 in honor of the many members of the Black Watch Highland Regiment who lost their lives in battle. Stones from the ancestral homes of the various clans whose ancestors were in the Black Watch at Fort Carillon are used in the cairn.
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Defensive
Works
Higher elevations surrounding the peninsula or
Garrison Grounds were fortified during the Fort’s active
military periods. These include Mount Defiance,
Mount Independence
and Mount Hope. The purpose of these works, radiating outward from the walls of the
Fort, was to deflect and retard penetration of the stores and personnel
of the Fort. |
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