CROWN POINT — A myriad of events transpired as the Colonies engaged in obtaining independence from Great Britain, including a little known but critically important Council of War held at the Fort at Crown Point in July of 1776 followed by troops being transferred to Fort Ticonderoga.
Basically, a council of war concerns, a meeting held to decide on a course of action, usually in the midst of a war.
Usually the decisions are made by a commanding officer or several high ranking officers and then carried out by subordinate officers.
Participating in the council on July 7, 1776, were American Revolutionary generals Philip Schuyler, Horatio Gates, Benedict Arnold, John Sullivan and Baron de Woedtke who met to devise plans to not only defend Lake Champlain against a British invasion, but to include Fort Ticonderoga as their primary fallback position. It is interesting to note that de Woedtke died two weeks after the council.
In addition to the highly discernible Redcoats of Great Britain, there was an invisible enemy that was at least as deadly, smallpox, which at the time, was claiming more fatalities than muskets and cannons.
Thus, coupled with the failed invasion of Canada, the Revolutionary leaders decided to abandon Crown Point and retreat south.
“This was a critical junction. There were thousands of sick, and they had to be split from the rest,” Fort Ticonderoga Museum Curator Matt Keagle said.
The generals were all from different backgrounds. It was the first batch of foreign officers — Gates was English and came from Canada and Baron de Woedtke was Prussian — and others had different occupations. This mirrored the nation as a whole.
The decision was not really popular; it was really complicated. A larger number were considered southern troops, but they really came from Pennsylvania. Schuyler said it would be a problem as they “didn’t always get along with each other.”
Schuyler presented the proposal to send the sick to Lake George, where there was a hospital. In addition, it was noted that some soldiers purposely inoculated themselves with smallpox, hoping to have a less serious case and survive.
Added to their misery, 1776 was a wet summer with standing water in the soldiers’ tents.
Early in the morning after the portrayal of the council, three bateaus were launched from Crown Point to Fort Ticonderoga, where they arrived at approximately two in the afternoon.
In addition to soldiers and family members, the boats carried food, ammunition, canons, tents and important documents.
The reenactors disembarked, doing their best to keep everything dry as they sloshed through the knee-high waters. They then carried the supplies up the embankment to a waiting oxcart and set up camp.
During the actual event 250 years ago, there were some 400 vessels, which made many trips.
The importance of the Crown Point peninsula was exemplified by several entities having taking control of the site over the years.
The French constructed Fort St. Frederic, which they occupied from 1734-37. This was followed by the British building “His Majesty’s Fort of Crown Point,” which was used for the French and Indian War (1754-1763).
On May 11, 1775, shortly after the battles at Lexington and Concord, Seth Warner and the Green Mountain Boys easily captured Crown Point from the small British garrison that had remained and salvaged the cannons that were buried when the fort’s walls collapsed.
When the American Revolution broke out, both Crown Point and nearby Fort Ticonderoga were understaffed and full of much-needed artillery. They became the focus of the first American offensive of the war.
In 1777, Crown Point returned to British rule as the British army pushed through New York and tried to establish full control. It remained under British command until the end of the war.