Brown's Raid Re-Enactment
*The event has already taken place on this date: Sun, 09/13/2015
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Come join us at Fort Ticonderoga, September 12 & 13 to experience all sides of this real life action adventure!
Out of the hazy twilight before dawn on September 18th, 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 all the higher, he would test his luck again. As General Gates prepared to stop the British advance on Albany, he ordered General Lincoln to divide, divert, and harass General Burgoyne's supply lines back to Canada. Colonel Brown chose his men carefully, allowed first pick of the ragtag patriot force assembled by General Lincoln at Pawlet, Vermont. Massachusetts and Vermont militia men would get their chance to strike a major blow against General Burgoyne’s attack to divide the colonies. Steadying them would be regulars from Colonel Warner’s regiment of Vermonters. Out front, Vermont rangers were to lead the way. Leading the rangers was, Captain Benjamin Whitcomb, a ranger so skilled in his craft he was a wanted man to the British Army.
Rushing down into the LeChute 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 Cannons atop Mount Defiance, which forced the American’s 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 got a chance to settle their score shoulder to shoulder with Brown’s militia, regulars, and rangers. Destroying supplies, and livestock, capturing boats, guns, and cannons, Colonel John Brown’s raiders disappeared back up Lake George, jumping into the pages of history.
It all sounds like a Hollywood movie script, but it’s all true! Come join us at Fort Ticonderoga, September 12th& 13th to experience all sides of Brown’s raid and meet the larger than life characters that make up this real-life action adventure.
Brown’s Raid Schedule
Saturday
9:30 AM Fort Opens to Visitors
10:00 AM Inspection of the Forces (British Camp-King’s Garden and American Camp-Heights of Carillon) Awoken by cannon balls fired from the summit of Mount Defiance, British & Brunswick soldiers parade to recieve orders for their counter to Brown’s Raid. Meanwhile, New England militia & soldiers in their morning bivouac assemble for inspection and to plan their next move against the British defenses at Ticonderoga.
10:15 AM Fort Guided Tour (Begins at the American Flag) Explore British occupied Fort Ticonderoga after the evacuation of the Continental Army in July of 1777. Discover how this American citadel became a vital link in the supply chain for General Burgoyne’s British Army at Saratoga. Examine how this supply depot and camp for American prisoners was a prime target for Colonel Brown and his raiders.
11:00 AM Musket and Cannon Demonstration (Fort Demonstration Area) From Brunswick muskets to British cannon, see the tools of the defense of Ticonderoga in 1777. See how these German auxiliaries to the British Army adjusted their equipment and tactics to their surroundings. See how the skilled crews of the Royal Artillery trained to move and man cannons, no matter where the Army needed them.
11:30 AM How do you say Ticonderoga in German? Brunswick Soldiers at the Great Camp in 1777 (Mars Education Center Great Room) Did you know that most British soldiers at the defense of Ticonderoga were actually German? Join Fort Ticonderoga Curator of Collections, Matthew Keagle, to explore the unique character of the largest single regiment of soldiers posted to Ticonderoga from its capture to evacuation in the summer and fall of 1777.
11:30 AM Breaking Ground: A Tour of the Historic Gardens (Begins at the American Flag) From military garrison gardens to a secluded colonial revival spectacle of color and light, explore one of the oldest cultivated landscapes in America and learn about the horticultural history of the Ticonderoga peninsula.
12:30 PM Fife & Drum Parade to Re-enactment Battlefield (Begins at the American Flag) Follow the sound of the Fife & Drum and artillerymen and Brunswick soldiers as they march out to meet Colonel Brown’s men attacking in the deep woods.
1:00 PM Re-enactment Battle: The Push to the French Lines (Saturday Woods Battlefield) In a recreation of Colonel John Brown’s opening attack against Ticonderoga, imagine dawn on September 18, 1777. Sweeping down onto a British Camp at Lake George, Brown’s men overwhelm British soldiers guarding American prisoners-of-war, who quickly join the fray armed with the weapons of their former captors.
1:45 PM Meet the Soldiers of Two Armies (Saturday Woods Battlefield)
VT State Regulars: Not yet a state, Vermont still raised state soldiers for the American cause. Discover more about these state soldiers raised initially to fight and Bennington, now spearheading the attack on Ticonderoga. Are they militia? Are they regulars? What sort of men volunteered for this dangerous service?
Royal Artillery: While combat requires a cool head under fire, for men of the Royal Artillery it also requires an extensive knowledge of math and science. Talk to the scientist soldiers who made up the most technically challenging part of the British Army.
Germans: Hessians? No, Brunswickers. Meet soldiers from the Duchy of Brunswick, a German state with close family ties to Great Britain. These soldiers made up nearly half of General Burgoyne’s Army and half the garrison of Ticonderoga after its capture. Ask them why they fought. Hopefully your French is good; it may be the only language you share.
2:00 PM Fife & Drum Parade to Fort Ticonderoga (Begins at the Saturday Woods Battlefield) Follow the sound of the fife & drum back to British held Fort Ticonderoga.
2:30 PM ‘To be ordered upon Corvées’: French Canadian Laborers at Ticonderoga(Mars Education Center Great Room) Join Fort Ticonderoga Edward W. Pell Graduate Fellow, Richard Tomczak, to discuss Canadian workmen at Ticonderoga in 1777. Examine how the British government of Canada used feudal French law and parliamentary authority to compel Canadian habitants to labor on the boats, docks, and roads that supplied the British Army in its march south.
3:00 PM “Answering to the Shots from Sugar-Loaf-Hill”(Fort Southeast Bastion) In this living history vignette, watch as Lieutenant Volckmar of the Prinz Friedrich regiment mans the captured American guns mounted on Fort Ticonderoga. Dispatched to hold Fort Ticonderoga at all cost, Brunswick and British soldiers together hastily formed cannon crews to return fire against American held positions. See the accident that claimed the life of Volckmar and two of his valiant men in defense of their post.
4:00 PM Mount Defiance: Witness to History Tour (On Top of Mount Defiance: Separate Admission Required) Oh the stories this graceful hill could tell overlooking Fort Ticonderoga! Ascend to summit of Mount Defiance to get the birds-eye view of this epic military landscape and learn how this height shaped the Fort’s history.
5:00 PM Fort Closes to Visitors
Sunday
9:30 AM Fort Opens to Visitors
10:15 AM Fort Guided Tour (Begins at the American Flag) Explore British occupied Fort Ticonderoga after the evacuation of the Continental Army in July of 1777. Discover how this American citadel became a vital link in the supply chain for General Burgoyne’s British Army at Saratoga. Examine how this supply depot and camp for American prisoners was a prime target for Colonel Brown and his raiders.
11:00 AM Musket Demonstration (Demonstration Area Adjacent Parking Lot) With civilian fowlers, old French muskets, and others, Vermont state soldiers marched to raid Ticonderoga and other British held posts. From flint and steel to powder, wadding, and ball, see the workings of these weapons. Discover how American tactics were far more complex and organized that just ducking behind rocks and trees.
11:30 AM The 53rd Regiment Brown Bess Muskets of Ticonderoga(Mars Education Center Great Room) Join author and firearms scholar, Bill Ahearn, to examine the real-life weapons of Browns Raid. See the actual muskets captured from the 53rd Foot during the attack. Follow the trail of evidence to unravel the mystery of these unique guns in the 20th century.
11:30 AM Breaking Ground: A Tour of the Historic Gardens (Begins at the American Flag) From military garrison gardens to a secluded colonial revival spectacle of color and light, explore one of the oldest cultivated landscapes in America and learn about the horticultural history of the Ticonderoga peninsula.
12:30 PM Fife & Drum Parade to Re-enactment Battlefield (Begins at the American Flag) Follow the sound of the Fife & Drum and artillerymen and Brunswick soldiers as they march out to meet Colonel Brown’s advancing on the Old French Lines.
1:00 PM Re-enactment Battle: Secure the Fort (At the Recreated French Lines) In this battle re-enactment watch as Colonel Brown’s men drives the British from the earthworks of the Old French Lines. British determination and a race for re-enforcements will determine who holds Ticonderoga.
1:45 PM Divide, Divert, & Harass (At the Recreated French Lines) Talk to the Vermont state soldiers under Colonel John Brown as they discuss the tactical situation. With the French lines captured and their raid becoming a siege, what are the options for Brown and his men? How can they fulfill their orders to, “divide, divert, and harass,” the supply lines of General John Burgoyne at Saratoga to the south?
2:00 PM Fife & Drum Parade to Fort Carillon (Begins on the Heights of Carillon) Follow the sound of the fife & drum back to British held Fort Ticonderoga.
2:30 “To Turn Out With His Horse” Mounted Raiders at Ticonderoga (Mars Education Center Great Room) Saddle-up with Fort Ticonderoga Director of Interpretation, Stuart Lilie, to piece together the evidence for mounted soldiers in the raids against Ticonderoga. Was this, “place between the waters,” assailed by men on horseback?
3:00 PM Fort Guided Tour (Begins at the American Flag) Explore British occupied Fort Ticonderoga after the evacuation of the Continental Army in July of 1777. Discover how this American citadel became a vital link in the supply chain for General Burgoyne’s British Army at Saratoga. Examine how this supply depot and camp for American prisoners was a prime target for Colonel Brown and his raiders.
4:00 PM Mount Defiance: Witness to History Tour (On Top of Mount Defiance: Separate Admission Required) Oh the stories this graceful hill could tell overlooking Fort Ticonderoga! Ascend to summit of Mount Defiance to get the birds-eye view of this epic military landscape and learn how this height shaped the Fort’s history.
5:00 Fort Closes to Visitors
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