to try with his Green Mountain Boys, a militia group from what would later be Vermont. Although the two groups acted independently, they would join forces before attacking the fort.

Ticonderoga was a large star-shaped fortress on Lake Champlain in northern New York that had been built in the 1750s by the French, who called it Fort Carillon. The stronghold controlled the waterways that facilitated north-south travel between Canada and New York, but by 1775, Ticonderoga was manned only by a small garrison of British troops. When Arnold and Allen arrived at its gate before dawn on May 10, they surprised the garrison, who weren’t aware hostilities had broken out. The British surrendered without a shot being fired, giving the American patriots their first victory of the Revolutionary War. Four days later, the Green Mountain Boys captured Crown Point, a smaller but strategic fortress 16 miles north of Ticonderoga

On May 26, Arnold wrote to officials in Massachusetts, informing them of his progress, that he had captured some British vessels and started to accumulate mortars and howitzers ready to send to Boston. He also noted that he had four gins, which were large tripods used for lifting cannon into a cart or gun carriage. But the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, focused on dealing with the British army in their midst, agreed to let Connecticut take charge of the work at Ticonderoga. That meant Benedict Arnold would no longer be in command, so he resigned, and the effort to gather cannon slowed down. 

Meanwhile, General Washington was increasingly desperate for artillery. After several months in charge, he had made little progress on the ground. His forces had bottled up the British forces in the city, but could inflict little damage to fortifications or ships without cannon.

On November 16, 1775, Washington issued orders to a young volunteer, Henry Knox, to travel first to New York City, then to Ticonderoga, to see what spare munitions might be available for transport back to Boston. “The want of them is so great, that no trouble or expence [sic] must be spared to obtain them,” wrote Washington. If there was little available in New York, Knox was to “Get the remainder from Ticonderoga, Crown point, or St Johns — if it should be necessary, from Quebec, if in our hands.” Washington knew that the expedition of American forces into Canada was underway, and hoped they might gain some materiel for Boston.

Not only did the Americans lack artillery at the time, but few in the army were trained in building fortifications or handling cannon. In past conflicts in America, those tasks had been handled by British officers. Although Knox had no military experience, in his bookstore he had stocked books on military subjects and read them avidly. Books such as A Treatise on Artillery by John Mueller, the most influential English work on artillery that gave instructions on the fabrication of artillery and the handling of guns, particularly their use in the field. J.C. Lydell’s An Essay on Field

Fortification was a practical guide that showed “how to trace out on the ground, and construct in the easiest manner, all sorts of redouts and other field works.” Knox also had numerous French, German and Dutch works on artillery including the famous book on systems of fortification by Sébastien Le Comte de Vauban, which had influenced the design of so many forts across Europe.

Gen. Washington gave Knox a broad mandate and $1,000 to pay for personnel and supplies, and the young officer, now promoted to colonel, set off on a few days later charged with accomplishing a feat that few people thought possible. 

After finding little materiel in New York City, Knox traveled up the Hudson and overland to Lake George and then Ticonderoga. Arriving on December 5, 1775, Knox discovered much work had already been done at the urging of American generals. 

Where the cannon came from, what they were

How they transported the cannon

What happened when they got to Boston

Knox later in the war