Captured Fort Ticonderoga artillery gave patriots the firepower to shell British-held Boston.
Evidence
Six months earlier, shortly after the Battles of Lexington and Concord, a small New England militia force had captured Fort Ticonderoga at the portage between Lake Champlain and Lake George in northern New York. The French had built the fort during the French and Indian War to defend Canada from invasion from New York and fortified it with heavy artillery. The fort served little purpose once Canada fell to Britain, and its new British occupants garrisoned it lightly. With their capture of the fort in May 1775, the patriots gained nearly fifty cannons, including a giant brass one that from Dorchester Heights could target most of Boston and much of Boston Harbor with twenty-four-pound balls. They also secured more than a dozen mortars capable of lobbing exploding shells from Dorchester Heights into the occupied city. — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 100
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Knox proposed hauling Ticonderoga’s cannons 250 miles overland to Boston — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 101; Geography and stalemate froze the 1775-76 Boston siege until artillery shifted the balance.; The winter siege of Boston hinged on artillery above Boston’s reach. (+1 more)
Broader Connections
- Geography and stalemate froze the 1775-76 Boston siege until artillery shifted the balance.
#corroborates(0.95) - The winter siege of Boston hinged on artillery above Boston’s reach.
#corroborates(0.95) - Knox proposed hauling Ticonderoga’s cannons 250 miles overland to Boston
#expands(0.90) — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 101 - An untrained bookstore owner devised the artillery plan that broke the Boston siege.
#expands(0.85) — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 99