Mount Independence on Lake Champlain in Orwell, Vermont, was the site of extensive fortifications built during the American Revolutionary War by the American army to stop a British invasion. Construction began in July 1776, following the American defeat in Canada, and continued through the winter and spring of 1777. After the American retreat on July 5 and 6, 1777, British and Hessian troops occupied Mount Independence until November 1777.

After the American Revolution, Mount Independence was farm land, used for grazing sheep and cattle. It is now a state historic site, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1972 for its historical significance.

Mount Independence State Historic Site The Mount Independence Visitor Center is open daily from the end of May through mid-October.

Mount Independence State Historic Site is a Vermont State Historic Site with a museum and of hiking trails. It has been called the least disturbed major Revolutionary War site in the country.Starbuck, David. The Great Warpath: British Military Sites from Albany to Crown Point University Press of New England (1999), pgs. 124–159; Zeoli, Stephen. Mount Independence: The Enduring Legacy of a Unique Historic Place, Hubbardton, Vt. (2011).

The museum houses artifacts recovered by archaeologists including timbers from the Great Bridge and a cannon weighing cast in Scotland in 1690 and recovered from the lake by underwater archeologists. There is a short film and talking sculptures of the soldiers.

There are of hiking trails. The Baldwin Trail is wheelchair-accessible and passes the sites of the blockhouses, the General Hospital, and soldiers' huts. Longer trails lead to the location of the star-shaped fort, the Horseshoe Battery, and the Great Battery.

There are history and nature walks, encampments of Revolutionary War re-enactors, activities for children, and lectures by Revolutionary War historians. The Seth Warner-Mount Independence Fife and Drum Corps performs in parades and at civic events. The Mount Independence Coalition supports the efforts of the Vermont State Division for Historic Preservation in protecting and interpreting the site.

Geography

Previously named Rattlesnake Hill, Mount Independence is located in Orwell, Vermont, on the east side of Lake Champlain opposite Ticonderoga, New York, and historic Fort Ticonderoga. At its narrowest, the lake is a quarter mile wide between Mount Independence and Ticonderoga.

Mount Independence is slightly more than a in length and less than at its widest. Precipitous cliffs rise from the lake on the west and from East Creek to the east and the low land to the southeast. At its height, the Mount rises about above lake level. The point juts into the lake nearly due north.Williams, John A. "Mount Independence in Time of War, 1776–1783," Vermont History (April 1967) 2: 61.

History

Pre-European contact

Mount Independence was important to Native Americans as a source of high quality blue/black chert used for making tools and projectile points. Mount Independence chert was traded across the Northeast. East Creek and the wetlands of the East Creek valley were a rich source of fish, waterfowl, freshwater mussels, beaver, deer, and other animals.Peebles, Giovanna M. "Orwell's East Creek Valley: A Window Into Vermont's Early Woodland Past," The Journal of Vermont Archaeology 5 (2004), 1–22.

American Revolution

Origins of the American fort

The decision to fortify Mount Independence was made at Fort Crown Point on July 7, 1776, by a Council of War presided over by Northern Department Commander and Major General Philip Schuyler. Less than a week earlier, an American army had returned after a disastrous ten-month invasion of Canada. Morale was low, and the defeated army was ravaged by smallpox."Minutes of a Council of War", July 7, 1776, American Archives, Ser. 5, 1: 234.

In a letter, Schuyler told commander in chief George Washington, the peninsula opposite Ticonderoga was "so remarkably strong as to require little labour [sic] to make it tenable against a vast superiority of force, and fully to answer the purpose of preventing the enemy from penetrating into the country south of it."Philip Schuyler to George Washington, July 12, 1776, American Archives, Ser. 5, 1: 232–233.

Twenty-one field officers objected to the move from Crown Point to Mount Independence, but on July 11 work began on the new site under the direction of military engineer Jeduthan Baldwin of Brookfield, Massachusetts. Within the week, much of the army relocated to Ticonderoga while men labored on Mount Independence to clear the forest and build huts and barracks."Remonstrance of Col. Stark and Officers", July 8, 1776, American Archives, Ser. 5,1: 233–234; Baldwin, Thomas Williams (ed.). The Revolutionary Journal of Col. Jeduthan Baldwin, 1775–1778. Bangor, Maine (1906), 59.

The peninsula gained its new name on Sunday, July 28, 1776, after Colonel Arthur St. Clair of Pennsylvania read the Declaration of Independence to assembled troops.

Fortifications

Mount Independence is a naturally strong defensive position. Unlike Fort Ticonderoga, which dominated the portage from Lake George to Lake Champlain but was open to attack from the north, Mount Independence presented a formidable obstacle to an invader from Canada.

At the height of the American fortification of Mount Independence in the late fall of 1776, the site was occupied by three brigades of New England troops or more than six thousand men, which were reinforced by temporary militia from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and the New Hampshire Grants (the territory that was to become Vermont). Numerous huts and barracks housed these troops.

An extensive breastwork with a battery of 28 cannons was built at the northern point of the peninsula. Above that position was the Citadel or Horseshoe battery. A star-shaped picket fort was later constructed on the height of land.

A floating bridge of logs covered with planks connected Mount Independence and Ticonderoga. A wider and more permanent bridge, referred to as the Great Bridge, had been designed by Jeduthan Baldwin and was nearing completion when the American army abandoned the post in July 1777.

A -long by -wide two-story hospital was under construction in the southwest. There were storehouses, workshops, and a gunpowder laboratory, and a powder magazine.Wintersmith, Charles (surveyor). "Plan of Ticonderoga and Mount Independence". (1777).

In the late spring of 1777, batteries designed by Polish military engineer Thaddeus Kościuszko were constructed on the southeast side of Mount Independence.

During the four-month British and German occupation five blockhouses were begun to defend the east side against attack by land.

Summer and fall 1776 During the summer and fall of 1776, troops on Mount Independence labored to prepare for a British invasion from Canada. At the same time on the west side of Lake Champlain, fortifications were built to the north of old Fort Ticonderoga. In Skenesborough, today's Whitehall, New York, a fleet of gunboats and row galleys was constructed to defend the lake. Masts were lowered into place at Mount Independence where a rocky outcropping drops sharply to the water. Vessels were also rigged and armed with cannon at the Mount.Bellico, Russell P. Sails and Steam in the Mountains: A Maritime and Military History of Lake George and Lake Champlain. Purple Mountain Press, (1992), pg. 139.

By the end of October 1776, there were more than 13,000 men defending the fortifications at Mount Independence and Ticonderoga, making the location one of the largest population centers in the new country.

The troops at Mount Independence and Ticonderoga were commanded by Major General Horatio Gates, who had served as adjutant general of the Continental Army under George Washington. Gates reported to Northern Department commander Philip Schuyler, who remained in Albany, New York. The relationship between the two men was strained and worsened during the following winter and spring. Brigadier General Benedict Arnold commanded a brigade quartered on Mount Independence before Gates gave him the command of the Lake Champlain fleet.

On October 11, 1776, in a day-long battle off Valcour Island in the northern lake, the outgunned American fleet was crippled but managed to escape. However, over the next two days, most of the vessels were destroyed. British forces under Governor General Guy Carleton occupied Fort Crown Point.Bellico, Sails and Steam in the Mountains, 152–159.

Expecting an attack momentarily, the troops at the American forts prepared for battle while messengers carried orders calling for militia and supplies. "Every one [sic] exerts himself to the utmost, for an approaching battle – our works go on day and night without cessation," wrote one observer.Beebe, Lewis. "Journal of a Physician on the Expedition Against Canada, 1776," The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. (October 1935) pg. 355.

On October 28, after days of facing headwinds, British vessels approached the American forts. John Trumbull, the future artist of the American Revolution but a young staff officer at the time, described the scene in his autobiography. "The whole summit of cleared land, on both sides of the lake, was crowned with redoubts and batteries, all manned with a splendid show of artillery and flags. The number of our troops under arms that day (principally however militia) exceeded thirteen thousand." The British boats retreated at sunset and within a few days all the forces at Crown Point had retired to Canada.Trumbull, John. Autobiography, Reminiscences and Letters, 1756–1841 (New Haven: Wiley and Putnam, 1841), pg. 36.Cubbison, Douglas R. 'The American Northern Theater Army in 1776: The Ruin and Reconstruction of the Continental Force. McFarland (2010), phs. 180–199.

Winter 1776–1777

Colonel (and beginning in February 1777, Brigadier General) Anthony Wayne of Pennsylvania commanded at Mount Independence and Ticonderoga during the winter of 1776–1777. The number of men at the forts declined to fewer than 3000 in December and by mid-February under 1200.Stillé, Charles J. Major-General Anthony Wayne and the Pennsylvania Line in the Continental Army (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Co., 1893).

There were ambitious construction plans for the winter, but in fact survival was a challenge. Men cleared the Mount for firewood and often destroyed unoccupied huts and defensive barriers for fuel. Dysentery was widespread in the early winter and was followed by what Dr. Ebenezer Elmer, who was stationed on Mount Independence, termed "inflammatory disorders of a very complex nature.""Journal of Ebenezer Elmer," Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society (1848) vol 3, no.1, pgs. 48, 51.

Rations were inadequate. Wayne told the Pennsylvania Council of Safety that the men lacked "every necessary except flour and bad beef."Stillé, Major-General Anthony Wayne, p. 53. To maintain discipline, he often ordered the troops to shave and to powder their hair before marching for hours upon the frozen lake.

As spring approached, Wayne continued to request men and supplies, writing to Major General Schuyler, "I must beg, sir, that you would once more endeavor to rouse the public officers in those States from their shameful lethargy before it be too late. I do assure you there is not one moment to spare in bringing in troops and necessary supplies."Smith, Williams Henry. The St. Clair Papers: The life and public services of Arthur St. Clair. Cincinnati (1882) vol. 1, p. 387.

Spring 1777