The Capture of Fort Ticonderoga and the Siege of Boston
https://archives.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k-12/browse/?cuecard=1801
General Information
Source:
Creator:
NBC News
Dr. Albert Hibbs
Resource Type:
Copyright:
Event Date:
Air/Publish Date:
1775 - 1776
11/06/1965
Copyright Date:
Clip Length
Video News Report
NBCUniversal Media,
LLC.
1965
00:04:41
Description
A group of American soldiers led by Ethan Allen captures Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain in New
York. This is one of the first military victories of the Americans in the American Revolution.
Keywords
Fort Ticonderoga, Siege of Boston, American Revolution, Battle of Concord, Battle of Bunker Hill,
Ethan Allen, General George Washington, Henry Knox, Royal Navy, Halifax, Continental Army,
Continental Congress, Independence, Liberty
Citation
MLA
"The Capture of Fort Ticonderoga and the Siege of Boston." Albert Hibbs, correspondent. NBC News.
© 2008-2015 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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NBCUniversal Media. 6 Nov. 1965. NBC Learn. Web. 14 April 2015
APA
Hibbs, A. (Reporter). 1965, November 6. The Capture of Fort Ticonderoga and the Siege of Boston.
[Television series episode]. NBC News. Retrieved from https://archives.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k12/browse/?cuecard=1801
CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE
"The Capture of Fort Ticonderoga and the Siege of Boston" NBC News, New York, NY: NBC Universal,
11/06/1965. Accessed Tue Apr 14 2015 from NBC Learn: https://archives.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k12/browse/?cuecard=1801
Transcript
The Capture of Fort Ticonderoga and the Siege of Boston
Dr. ALBERT HIBBS (historian): Many revolutions pick up speed slowly, perhaps because the
revolutionaries take a while to admit they’re in one. It was three weeks before the next major engagement
and that at Ticonderoga. If Concord was only a moral victory, Ticonderoga was definitely a military one.
This great stone fort situated at the neck of Lake Champlain was often referred to as the “Gibraltar of the
Champlain.” It had been built by the French in 1755 and captured by the British four years later. It was a
prize not only defensively but because of these magnificent artillery pieces. It was taken without a shot.
Here at dawn on the 10
th
of May, Ethan Allen and about eighty men came swarming up from the shore yelling wildly. Guards
were quickly overwhelmed. Confronting the commander of the forty-two-man garrison, Allen demanded
their surrender in “the name of Jehovah and the Continental Congress.” The Americans occupied the fort
and found the structure in a sad state of ruin. But now the royal colors were taken down, though the
Americans were not sure yet what flag to run up.
In June, 1775, Boston was occupied by some 12,000 British troops. Or, depending on your point of view,
the 12,000 troops were surrounded in Boston. For most of the Massachusetts countryside was held by
American guerilla bands slowly being formed into an army. On the night of June 16, the Americans held
two hills, Breed and Bunker, overlooking Boston, and they dug in. When the British discovered them at
dawn, General Howe was sent out with 2,000 men to dislodge them. The Americans waited here, behind
their earthworks, many with not more than three or four rounds of ammunition for their rifles.
In classic 18
th
-century style, the British, in waves, bayonets advanced, moved steadily up the hill. The Americans were
expected to fire back too soon, waste one ragged volley and then flee before those gleaming bayonets.
Instead they waited. The first wave of redcoats was within fifteen paces before the colonials opened fire.
© 2008-2015 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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Twice more the redcoats would have to wade through that wall of fire before the Americans ran out of
ammunition and fled.
The British took the two hills but at a cost of over a thousand casualties in one day. One of the important
factors in that battle on Breed’s Hill was the courage of the colonials. But another was the accuracy of
their long-barreled muskets. The superiority of these weapons over those of the British would often do
much to balance the odds in battle. The British now had these hills and the Americans had an army, and a
commander-in-chief, General George Washington of Virginia. Washington, appointed by the Continental
Congress, had set up his headquarters in Cambridge. He had the British army in a trap but he lacked the
strength to close it. That vital strength would soon come and come from Ticonderoga.
© 2008-2015 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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