200th Anniversary of the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga
https://archives.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k-12/browse/?cuecard=1501
General Information
Source:
Creator:
NBC Nightly News
Robert Hager
Resource Type:
Copyright:
Event Date:
Air/Publish Date:
05/10/1775
05/10/1975
Copyright Date:
Clip Length
Video News Report
NBCUniversal Media,
LLC.
1975
00:01:46
Description
The Battle of Ticonderoga is reenacted for the 200th anniversary of its capture, a significant turning point
of the Revolutionary War.
Keywords
American Revolution, Fort Ticonderoga, Capture, Green Mountain Boys, Ethan Allen, Benedict Arnold,
Independence, British Troops, Continental Army, Lake Champlain, Lexington, Concord, Battle
Citation
MLA
"200th Anniversary of the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga." Robert Hager, correspondent. NBC Nightly
News. NBCUniversal Media. 10 May 1975. NBC Learn. Web. 19 March 2015
© 2008-2015 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Page 1 of 2
APA
Hager, R. (Reporter). 1975, May 10. 200th Anniversary of the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga. [Television
series episode]. NBC Nightly News. Retrieved from https://archives.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k12/browse/?cuecard=1501
CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE
"200th Anniversary of the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga" NBC Nightly News, New York, NY: NBC
Universal, 05/10/1975. Accessed Thu Mar 19 2015 from NBC Learn:
https://archives.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k-12/browse/?cuecard=1501
Transcript
200th Anniversary of the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga
ROBERT HAGER reporting:
Fort Ticonderoga was a British stronghold, a Gibraltar of the New World, overlooking Lake Champlain
and the main route north to Canada. Ticonderoga bristled with canon of the guns the colonists needed.
And so, buoyed by their successes three weeks earlier at Lexington and Concord, the colonists devised a
daring plan to capture Ticonderoga and it’s guns. That capture was reenacted today.
Two a.m., colonial volunteers gather across Lake Champlain from the fort. The tough Green Mountain
farm boys, played today by descendents of those Green Mountain Boys. Their leader, a boisterous, harddrinking bar room brawler, named Ethan Allen. Co-leader, the more polished Benedict Arnold, later to
become a traitor, but for now loyal to the colonists. But the Green Mountain Boys preferred Ethan Allen
as a leader, and lead them he did, to take the British by surprise. The assault on the fort came just before
dawn. Today it was reenacted once at night, and twice in daylight to accommodate thousands of tourists.
Except for a couple of sentries, the British were taken by surprise. Most were sleeping in their barracks.
About forty sleepy British prisoners were taken. And so, Fort Ticonderoga was captured today as it was
200 years ago, without a shot. And where the colonists’ victory at Lexington and Concord three weeks
earlier had been defensive in nature, that is defending against a British raid, this time the colonists had
taken the offensive and won.
© 2008-2015 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Page 2 of 2