Photo By Lori Stewart | An engraving of a painting by Alonzo Chappel shows Ethan Allen, sword drawn, demanding...... read more read more
Subscribe
by Lori S. Stewart, USAICoE Command Historian
CAPT. NOAH PHELPS SCOUTS FORT TICONDEROGA
On May 9, 1775, in what was perhaps the first American military intelligence mission of the Revolutionary War, Capt. Noah A. Phelps boldly reconnoitered British-held Fort Ticonderoga on the southern shore of Lake Champlain in northern New York. Passing his information on to Col. Ethan Allen, Phelps contributed significantly to the bloodless capture of the fort the following day.
Days after the Massachusetts militia’s running battle with British regulars between Lexington and Concord on Apr. 19, 1775, members of the Connecticut militia discussed the advisability of taking Fort Ticonderoga before the British had a chance to reinforce it. The French-built fort strategically located along a route connecting New York with Canada had fallen into disrepair and was manned by less than fifty British soldiers under the command of Capt. William Delaplace. Reportedly, it had stores of heavy artillery, something the colonists desperately needed.
Deciding to undertake the conquest, the Connecticut soldiers headed for New York, adding more volunteers in Massachusetts. In what would later become Vermont, this ad hoc group joined the Green Mountain Boys, led by Colonel Allen, who agreed to lead the expedition against Ticonderoga. The contingent, now nearly 200 strong, reached the eastern shore of Lake Champlain on May 8. At this time, Capt. Benedict Arnold, a Connecticut militia officer, arrived in Allen’s camp. Arnold had been commissioned by the Massachusetts Provincial Congress to raise a force to seize the Ticonderoga supplies himself. After some initial disagreement about who would command the expedition, Allen and Arnold agreed to lead the troops together.
Before launching the attack against Fort Ticonderoga, Allen wisely decided to reconnoiter the British defenses. To handle this delicate mission, Allen chose Captain Phelps, a 35-year-old Connecticut native who had been commissioned as a lieutenant in the colony’s militia in 1771. On May 8, Phelps arrived at a farm near the fort and, settling in for the night, overheard some British soldiers dining there discussing conditions at the fort. They were apparently unaware war had begun between Great Britain and its American colonies.
The next day, Phelps posed as a peddler (some sources say farmer) in need of a shave and easily walked through the gates of Fort Ticonderoga in search of a barber. As the fort’s commander, Captain Delaplace, personally escorted him to the barber, Phelps made mental notes of the garrison’s strength and morale and the fort’s construction. When Phelps commented on the security risk of a breach in one of the fort’s walls, Delaplace allegedly replied, “Yes, but that is not our greatest misfortune. All our powder is damaged, and before we can use it, we are obliged to dry and sift it.” After getting his shave, Phelps hurried back to Allen’s camp and reported all he had learned. Allen planned a surprise dawn attack for the next morning.
Based on Phelps’ accurate and timely intelligence, on May 10, Allen and Arnold marched into the fort and secured its surrender without firing a shot. The nearby British fort of Crown Point was also easily taken. The capture of these two forts disrupted British supply and communication lines, secured vital intelligence about British forces in Quebec, and provided the colonists with more than fifty cannons and other military stores. In November, the cannons were painstakingly moved to Dorchester Heights in Massachusetts, where they aided in compelling the British to abandon Boston in March 1776.
New issues of This Week in MI History are published each week. To report story errors, ask questions, request previous articles, or be added to our distribution list, please contact: TR-ICoE-Command-Historian@army.mil.
| Date Taken: | 05.02.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 05.02.2025 16:16 |
| Story ID: | 496878 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 13 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Capt. Noah Phelps Scouts Fort Ticonderoga (9 MAY 1775), by Lori Stewart, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
