Philip Skene
A Fort Ticonderoga Bibliography, ©Fort Ticonderoga
Current: December 30, 2000
These works in the Fort Ticonderoga research collections in
the Thompson-Pell Research Center may be studied by appointment on weekdays. The
library collections do not circulate. The condition of certain volumes may
prohibit photocopying.
Most of the unique manuscripts in the Fort Ticonderoga
collections have been reprinted in The Bulletin of the Fort Ticonderoga
Museum, published since 1927. The Bulletin may be found in state
historical society libraries in the Northeast and in major university libraries.
Some back issues are still available.
As a private, not-for-profit educational institution, Fort
Ticonderoga welcomes contributions to support the expansion of its research
collections and services.
Secondary Studies 
The essential beginning points for any study of Philip Skene
are:
Theresa M. Lonergan Research Collection; preserved in
the Thompson-Pell Research Center, Fort Ticonderoga. The Collection focuses on
the construction and battle history of the Revolutionary War fleet which was
built at Skenesborough and sailed to destiny at Valcour Island in 1776. Access
to this collection is restricted by the donor.
Doris Begor Morton, Philip Skene of Skenesborough,
Granville, N.Y., Grastorf Press, 1959; reprinted 1996. [FTA].
Russell P. Bellico, Sails and Steam in the Mountains: A
Maritime and Military History of Lake George and Lake Champlain, Fleischmanns, New York, Purple Mountain Press, 1992, pp. 115, 121, 138-141,
174-175, 180-183. [FTA].
May Belle Curtis, Kathi of Skenesborough, Glens Falls,
Champlain Publishing Co., 1914. [FTA #2337]. A very sound book—probably based
upon the then-still-intact collection of Skene papers.
Asa Fitch, A Historical, Topographical, and Agricultural
Survey of the County of Washington [first published in Transactions of
the New York State Agricultural Society, 1848 and 1849], New York,
1849-1850. [FTA #2625]. On Philip Skene, see pp. 964-968. British land grants to
mustered out soldiers, pp. 942-945. Based on oral histories collected by Dr.
Fitch from former tenants and employees of Skene. Dr. Asa Fitch’s extensive
(1800 pp.) manuscript notes from his oral history interviews are in the New York
Genealogical and Biographical Society, New York City. (A microfilm of the
manuscript is in the Washington County Clerk's Office, Fort Edward.)
Asa Fitch, Their Own Voices: Oral Accounts of Early
Settlers in Washington County, New York, Winston Adler, ed., Interlaken,
Heart of the Lakes Publishing, 1983. [FTA]. This is a brief anthology drawn from
Fitch’s manuscript notes referred to above. Nearly two-dozen entries refer to
Philip Skene or Skenesborough.
Royal R. Hinman, comp., A Historical Collection . . . of
the Part Sustained by Connecticut During the War of the Revolution,
Hartford, E. Gleason, 1842. [FTA #709] On Skene’s blacks, see pp. 31-33.
John H.G. Pell, "Philip Skene of Skenesborough," Proceedings
of the New York State Historical Association, vol. XXVI, 1928, pp. 27-44.
William Forbes Skene, DCL, LLD, ed., Memorials of the
Family of Skene of Skene, Aberdeen, for the New Spaulding Club, 1887. See
esp. Chapter II, "Skene of Halyards in Fife," pp. 49-60; pp. 102-104.
Copy in Fort Ticonderoga research files. The editor was "Her Majesty’s
Historiographer for Scotland."
"Plans & Descriptions of Gates’s Camp,
Ticonderoga, Crown Point, St. John’s, And other Places [including
Skenesborough]. Drawn & described in the year 1830, by Jared Sparks. These
plans were sketched by me while examining the various locations in 1830."
Photocopy of originals in Harvard Library. Copy in FTA research files.
Carl Van Doren, Secret History of the American Revolution,
Garden City, Garden City Publishing, 1941. [FTA]. Ticonderoga campaign, pp.
49-52.
Primary Sources
Fort Ticonderoga’s Thompson-Pell Research Center
preserves several hundred Philip Skene manuscripts acquired from a descendant c.
1910, and now mounted in three volumes known as the Skenesborough Papers. The Bulletin of the Fort Ticonderoga Museum (particularly vol. VI no. 5,
January 1943) has published some 20-25 pages of Skene material from this
collection.
New York State Library has 57 Skene manuscripts. See Philip
Skene Papers, items #1560-1579 in Revolutionary War Manuscripts in the
New York State Library, Stefan Bielinski, ed., Albany, New York State
American Revolution Bicentennial Commission, 1976, p. 66. See also items 241,
1116, 1820 in same bibliography.
1759 Memorial of Major of Brigade Philip Skene to His
Excellency Jeffery Amherst Esqr, Crown Point Camp, 10 November 1759,
in "The Letters of Cadwallader Colden," vol. V (1755-1760), Collections
of the New-York Historical Society, 1921, pp. 303-305. Memorial describes
the boundaries of land for which Skene seeks the grant; this copy to the
renowned surveyor of New York.
[Commissary Wilson’s Orderly Book] Expedition of the
British and Provincial Army under Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Amherst, Against Ticonderoga
and Crown Point, 1759, J. Watts dePeyster, ed., Albany, Joel Munsell, 1857. [FTA #3345]. Biographical sketch on pp. 106-107.
1772 Ethan Allen to Philip Skene, 1772. The Bulletin
of the Fort Ticonderoga Museum, vol. IV no. 1 (January 1936), pp. 18-19.
1774 Lord Dartmouth to Governor Tryon, 6 April 1774.
Supports Skene’s claim for compensation. Item #298 in 1990 acquisition by Fort
Ticonderoga.
1776 Bernard Romans to Horatio Gates, 8 November 1776.
Gates Papers, New-York Historical Society. Describes the fort and house at
Skenesborough.
1777 Philip Skene, Ms Ledger Book: 3 July 1777-16 October
1777. 1972 gift of Hubert R. Hudson. [FT 58.75].
John Burgoyne to Philip Skene, 15 July 1777. Instructions at
Skenesborouogh; General Orders near Fort Edward. Published in JHG Pell, P-NYSHA
(1928), p. 34. Item #278 in 1990 acquisition by Fort Ticonderoga.
Philip Skene, Account of Money Expended on Publick and
Private Service. 1973 gift of Hubert R. Hudson. [FT 77.75; FTA #M-6001].
Philip Skene to his daughters, from Camp at the Great Fly
near Still Water, 30 September 1777, The Bulletin of the Fort Ticonderoga
Museum, vol. I no. 2 (July 1927), p. 22. [FTA #M- ].
1785 Philip Schuyler to "Whomsoever," 1
November 1785. Describes value of Skene estate; proposes $10,000 bid. Item #295
in 1990 acquisition by Fort Ticonderoga.
1786 Deposition of Simeon Covell, August 1786. Detailed
description of Skene’s estate. Item #301 in 1990 acquisition by Fort
Ticonderoga.
1803 Philip Skene to Mary Ann Margaret Skene, 17 March
1803. Recollections of life. Item #275 in 1990 acquisition by Fort Ticonderoga.
