Sunday 8 December 2013

AWI Re-enactors at Fort Ticonderoga


A nice photo from the Facebook page of Fort Ticonderoga. American War of Independence reenactors test firing a small piece on a fortress carriage.

The patriots or rebels (depending on your point of view) had captured Fort Ticonderoga very early in the AWI/ARW.

On 11 April 1775 the New England militia laid siege to Boston. The militia successfully cut the land routes but could not close the port. In November, Henry Knox was given the task of bringing heavier cannons from the Fort to the siege lines. The ground was frozen so this probably helped the transfer, but it was February before the cannons were established in the siege lines, on Dorchester Heights. This position overlooked Boston harbour and so threatened British shipping. The British artillery could not hit the new position, so at the beginning of March the British commander, William Howe realised they could not hold the city and he chose to evacuate by sea. This was delayed for about 10 days by unfavourable winds. On 17th March 1776, 120 ships took 10,000 British troops out of Boston harbour to Nova Scotia.

An interesting siege. It lasted 11 months and ended not by storm or starvation but by manoeuvre.

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