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Fort Ticonderoga Exhibits
458 Flowered or Scratch-Blue decorated
Salt-Glazed Stoneware, made in
Staffordshire, England, ca. 1755-1770
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450 Faience serving platter,
made in Rouen, France, ca 1730-1760
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414 Tortoise Shell or Clouded ware plate,
made in Staffordshire, English, ca. 1760-1780
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Pottery, Pork & Pigeons
Distilled from years’ worth of what essentially was the troops’ kitchen refuse, the Fort’s newest exhibit features unusual pieces of pottery, cutlery and remains from the actual food they ate. It’s an inspired look at the common task of eating in this rugged 18th century military outpost.
The restoration of Fort Ticonderoga began in 1909 and over the ensuing century the site has yielded tens of thousands of artifacts. Items of interest are still found occasionally during routine maintenance operations.
Beginning 16 years ago, Mr. Frank Sclamp, a retired DEC officer, and now the Adjunct Assistant Curator for Archeology, has dedicated countless volunteer hours to painstakingly sorting, cleaning and repairing hundreds of ceramic items under the supervision of Chris Fox, Curator of Collections at Fort Ticonderoga. Together they devised a variety of cleaning solutions to fit the materials, pieced together plates, mugs, and bowls and even went as far as breaking apart old repairs to re-repair them with the current high standard glues. Mr. Schlamp also researched and identified the found remains of animals that were used as food on the peninsula between 1755 and 1777.
When signing up for 18th-century military service men were expected to provide their own kits – utensils for eating and drinking, as well as rudimentary pieces for cooking. Food was generally provided (and rationed) but rarely would even the company cook get more than a single kettle in which to prepare meals. Many soldiers entered the service with wooden plates or bowls and a few might have had pewter pieces. Of the former there is little trace; the latter did not break easily and pieces are rarely found. But most of the soldiers enlisted with ceramic pieces which were mere pennies at the time.
As the title suggests, the items that have lasted long enough to give us a glimpse of the eating habits of troops who fought at Fort Ticonderoga, are pottery, heavy bones from pigs, and, surprisingly, the delicate skeletons of the extinct Passenger Pigeon. The passenger pigeon was surely part of the soldiers’ fare. Hunted to extinction in the 1900’s, the passenger pigeon once ‘darkened the skies for hours’ as the huge flocks were said to have done.
On display are repaired ceramic pieces that came from France and England. Many of these are very decorative to the modern eye with fancy molded borders and a number of glazed and painted designs. However, these were the most commonplace items of their day, costing very little and could be replaced along the soldier’s route, as well. There are also many examples of Chinese export porcelain which was more expensive and would have belonged to higher ranking officers. Once encamped, however, other replacements for broken utensils would be handmade from wood, leather or bone.
Examples of French faïence, British cream ware and tortoiseshell or clouded ware are part of the display along with a good variety of knives, forks and spoons. There are a few samples of glassware, too, that would have been used by officers whose kit might have been brought along in a more protective box rather than a haversack or bedroll.
Most of the larger bones in the exhibit have been identified as coming from pigs and many show clear signs of butchering. Mr. Fox explained that the soldiers at the Fort Ticonderoga would not have gone out on hunting forays during the active war years as the surrounding woods were likely to harbor patrols of an unfriendly nature: Indians, French, British or Provincial. He explained that the soil on the Fort peninsula has a basic ph which has helped to preserve these bones for upwards of 250 years.
