Join Fort Ticonderoga for an exciting two-day living history weekend Saturday and Sunday, September 17-18, bringing to life the daring 1777 America Raid on the fort! Thrill at the power of 18th-century weaponry as the American soldiers capture the British-held artillery. Be part of the action as living history demonstrations feature the weapons, tactics, trades, and people who were swept into the story of the American Revolution and the fight for liberty. The weekend adventure will also include a special boat tour highlighting this action-packed story aboard Fort Ticonderoga’s M/V Carillon on Lake Champlain.

Admission to the event is included in a Fort Ticonderoga general admission ticket. For the full event schedule, visit http://www.fortticonderoga.org/events/fort-events/the-enemy-attacked-us-at-daybreak-brown-s-raid-weekend-living-history-event/detail or call (518) 585-2821.

Highlighted programming throughout the weekend highlights the American raid on Ticonderoga in their attempt to recapture this strategic fortification. Meet the larger-than-life characters that undertook this daring raid during special programs in the British-held fort and the American camps. Atop Mount Defiance, meet the guard of Rangers who had attacked British-held Fort Ticonderoga with their own cannon. Follow the American raid on Ticonderoga as it unfolds across the landscape and explore the mechanics and weapons of this daring attack through living history demonstrations.

“This living history weekend will highlight the little-known, but important, 1777 action-adventure story pulled straight from the pages of Fort Ticonderoga’s history book,” said Beth Hill, President and CEO of Fort Ticonderoga. “Our commitment to bringing the dramatic and real story of our past to life through unforgettable programs such as the 1777 Brown’s Raid offers Fort Ticonderoga an opportunity to share with our visitors the importance of this place in the founding of America.”

About Brown’s Raid

Out of the hazy twilight before dawn on September 18, 1777 rushed Colonel John Brown’s men, catching the British and Brunswick garrison around Fort Ticonderoga completely by surprise. John Brown, no stranger to dangerous missions, helped engineer the first capture of Ticonderoga in 1775. With the stakes even higher, he would test his luck again. As General Horatio Gates prepared to stop the British advance on Albany, he ordered General Benjamin Lincoln to “divide, divert, and harass” General Burgoyne’s supply lines back to Canada. Colonel Brown chose his men carefully. Continental regulars from Colonel Seth Warner’s Regiment, Vermont State Rangers, and militia men would get their chance to strike a major blow against General Burgoyne’s attack to divide the colonies.

Rushing down into the LaChute River Valley from Lake George landing, Brown’s men captured 330 British prisoners and set 118 American POWs free. Dawn at Fort Ticonderoga would see British cannon atop Mount Defiance, which forced the Americans to flee that summer, turned on the British garrison itself. British soldiers awoke to the sight of a Brunswick soldier cut in half by a British cannon ball fired by Brown’s men from the summit of that hill. Rearmed with captured British weapons, American POWs has a chance to settle their score shoulder to shoulder with Brown’s militia, regulars, and rangers. Destroying supplies, and livestock, capturing boats, guns, and cannon, Colonel John Brown’s raiders disappeared back up Lake George, jumping into the pages of history.