Ticonderoga

“ All day, they lay close in the depth of the forest, sleeping, lounging, smoking tobacco of their own raising, and beguiling the hours, no doubt, with the shallow banter and obscene jesting with which knots of Indians are wont to amuse their leisure. At twilight they embarked again, paddling their cautious way till the eastern sky began to redden. Their goal was the rocky promontory where Fort Ticonderoga was long afterward built. ”

“ Ticonderoga as now written, is from Te or Ti, “dual,” two; Kaniatare, “lake,” and -ogen, “intervallum, divisionem” (Bruyas) , the combination meaning, literally “Between two lakes.” Horatio Hale wrote me of one of the forms “Dekariaderage, in modern orthography, Tekaniataroken, from which Ticonderoga, means, simple ‘Between two lakes.’ It is derived from Tioken, ‘between,’ and Kaniatara, ‘lake.’ Its composition illustrates a peculiar idiom of the Iroquoian language. Tioken when combined with a noun, is split in two, so to speak, and the noun inserted. ”

“ Banner would never wave again, nor cannon roar, nor blood be shed, nor trumpet stir up a soldier’s heart, in this old fort of Ticonderoga. Tall trees have grown upon its ramparts, since the last garrison marched out, to return no more, or only at some dreamer’s summons, gliding from the twilight past to vanish among realities. ”

“ The West India Regiment, 1st Batt., formerly Malcolm’s Black Rangers; 2nd Batt., formerly The St. Vincent’s Black Rangers.
The Royal Marines, Royal Marine Artillery, Royal Marine Light Infantry.
Q TICONDEROGA
Ticonderoga, familiar as the name of the historic fortress at Lake George, was written by Sir William Johnson, in 1756, Tionderogue and Ticonderoro, and in grant of lands in 1760, “near the fort at Ticonderoga.” Gov. Colden wrote Ticontarogen, and an Iroquoian sachem is credited with Decariaderoga. Interpretations are almost as numerous as orthographies. ”

“ The blood-soaked slopes of this great waterway were hardly dry before the war between Great Britain and her American colonies broke out and these strategic points on the lake, which were vital as buttresses against invasion by French and Indians from Canada, became equally so to the colonists for safeguarding the valley from British occupation.
Crown Point and Ticonderoga again became the center of interest and activity. The local patriots determined to seize Fort Ticonderoga and learned that the Green Mountain Boys were, as they expressed it, “the proper persons to do the job.” ”

“ As will be seen by the preceding pages, Inverawe lived nine days after the battle and was not even mortally wounded if it had been possible in those times to have had antiseptic treatment, but the real point of the legend is that he had been warned of Ticonderoga when he did not know there was such a place, years before there was any prospect of his being sent there and when Ticonderoga was only the Indian name for a point of land on a lake in the wilderness of a far off continent.
To one interested no place could be more fascinating than old Inverawe ”

“ But some American rangers taken near Lake George by Langy told him that Abercrombie already had thirty thousand men at the head of George and the Marquis at once abandoned the scheme. It was lucky for us the rangers exaggerated so much that the plan was destined to failure, as we needed here the men who were sent on it. We save or lose Ticonderoga by fighting at Ticonderoga itself and by nothing else. I thank you, Colonel de St. Luc, for your gallant and timely words, I have been wavering and they have decided me. We stay here and await the Anglo-American army. ”

“ Montcalm's dark face was illumined. Again he walked back and forth, in deep thought.
"The engineer, Lotbiniére, a man whose opinion I respect, is of your mind," he said at last. "He says that whether Crown Point or Ticonderoga, it's merely either horn of the dilemma, and naturally, if the dangers of the two places are even, we prefer Ticonderoga and no retreat. The Marquis de Vaudreuil had a plan to save Ticonderoga by means of a diversion with a heavy force under Bourlamaque, De Levis and Longueuil into the Mohawk Valley. ”

“ Far along the edge of the western wilderness men kept watch and ward in lonely blockhouses, or scoured the forest on the track of prowling war-parties. The provincials in garrison at forts Edward, William Henry, and Oswego dragged out the dreary winter; while bands of New England rangers, muffled against the piercing cold, caps of fur on their heads, hatchets in their belts, and guns in the mittened hands, glided on skates along the gleaming ice-floor of Lake George, to spy out the secrets of Ticonderoga, or seize some careless sentry to tell them tidings of the foe. ”

“ On the shores of the beautiful lake which was the colonists’ boast, were two of the strongest fortresses–or two which had been and could be made again the strongest–of the New World, Ticonderoga and Crown Point. At Old Ti were many stores and munitions of war and the place was held by a comparatively small guard of red-coats who had a great contempt for, and therefore small appreciation of, the valor of the colonials. ”

“ Representation of the Black Watch at Unveiling of Memorial Tablet, Ticonderoga, July 4, 1906
[115]
The writer, who was secretary of the Ticonderoga Historical Society at that time, had the honor of being the medium through which this chance remark became an enduring memorial of brick and stone. He was unsuccessful, however, until Mr. David Williams, the publisher of “The Iron Age,” a summer resident of Ticonderoga at Rogers Rock, came to his assistance. Mr. Andrew Carnegie was the generous donor of the funds to build this memorial. ”

“ We find the solution of why there were only 1,000 of the Black Watch with the Ticonderoga expedition when its strength was known to be 1,300 at that time, in another extract of the Report of June 29th from Abercrombie to Pitt: “I have left two additional Companies of Lord John Murray’s to garrison Fort Edward. ”

“ It winds through a ridge about four miles wide between the lakes, is pretty but turbulent, and falls down two series of cascades, giving music and water-power to the paper and other mills at the villages of Alexandria and Ticonderoga, the descent being two hundred and thirty feet. The upper cascade at Alexandria goes down rapids descending two hundred feet in a mile, and the lower cascade is a perpendicular fall of thirty feet at Ticonderoga, this village being called by its people "Ty," for short. Here stood the original French Fort Carillon guarding the pass at the verge of Lake Champlain. ”

“ His guess that the Black Watch might be used in the Ticonderoga campaign rather than the Lewisburgh as planned, proved correct. It would be interesting to know what the malady of the previous winter was, to prevent a relapse of which it had been necessary to travel to the Southard. The letter closes with another financial problem. If he means that he was allowed ten or fifteen dollars per man for the thousand men in the Regiment, that would be a very sizable income for those days and the bill must have been a large one. ”

“ Mrs. Carew spoke bravely, but both Faith’s father and mother were sadly troubled. To offend the Indian woman would mean to make enemies of the tribe to which she belonged; and then neither their lives nor their property would be safe; and she would never forgive them if they doubted her by refusing to let Faith make the journey to Ticonderoga in her care.
It was Faith who came to the rescue by declaring: [Pg 60] “Oh, I’d rather go with Kashaqua than anybody. Mother dear, you said Aunt Prissy would see about my shoes and dresses. ”

“ Throughout July the French troops concentrated at Ticonderoga, provisions were brought up, and a road was made past the rapids, by which Lake George discharges into Lake Champlain. A number of Indians were gathered from all quarters to join in the expedition, mission Indians taught to kill the heretic English, and savages from the wild and barbarous west. ”

“ Allen addressed it to his brother at Bennington, in the Green Mountains, and it duly reached its destination, but the brother was away with the patriot army, the letter was kept, however, and read over and over again by the old friends of the hero of Ticonderoga.
In that letter he says:
"I have seen American patriot prisoners begging for food and being laughed at for their request. They have bitten pieces of wood to get little chips to eat and so satisfy their hunger. ”

“ After the first day the prisoners were allowed to have one meal a day, for, as Prescott told Allen, he did not want to cheat the gallows.
The Gaspee was bound for Quebec, and the prisoners were overjoyed at the prospect of a change.
"It cannot be for the worse," said one of the Americans to Allen; "therefore we shall be the gainers."
"I wish they would hang us right away," answered the hero of Ticonderoga, "for I am tired of this life." ”

“ Robert and Tayoga were paddling with powerful strokes, while Willet watched the shores, the lake and the long procession. The sun was brilliant, but there was a strong wind off the mountains and the boats rocked heavily in the waves. Nevertheless, the fleet, carrying its artillery with it, bore steadily on.
"The French have as big a force at Ticonderoga as they had when Montcalm defeated Abercrombie," said the hunter, "and it's commanded by Bourlamaque."
"A brave and skillful man," said Robert. "I saw him when I was a prisoner of the French." ”

“ For the log cabin home was very dear to her, and at that time the Indians, often incited by the British in command of the forts at Ticonderoga and Crown Point, burned the homes of settlers who held their land through grants given by the New Hampshire government.
“More settlers are coming into this region every year. We shall soon have neighbors near at hand, and can have a school and church,” said Mr. Carew hopefully. “Colonel Allen is not journeying through the wilderness for pleasure. He has some plan in mind to make this region more secure for all of us. ”

“ This bold operation left the enemy in possession of Champlain; and the strong post of Ticonderoga was adequately garrisoned by a formidable force. A general gloom was cast over the political affairs of the colony; and it was understood that a great effort was to be made, the succeeding campaign, to repair the loss. Rumour spoke of large reinforcements from home, and of greater levies in the colonies themselves than had been hitherto attempted. Lord Loudon was to return home, and a veteran of the name of Abercrombie was to succeed him in the command of all the forces of the king. ”

“ Though the man of strict honor, and rigid integrity, deems the plaudit of his own conscience an ample reward for his best actions, it is a pleasing employment, to those who witness such actions, to record them. It is an incentive to others to 'go and do likewise.' ** In June, 1777, the British army, amounting to several thousand men, besides Indians and Canadians, commanded by general Burgoyne, crossed the lake and laid siege to Ticonderoga. In a short time, the enemy gained possession of Sugar Hill, which commanded the American lines, and general St. ”

“ In fact so degenerate had they become that the Iroquois referred to them as “Adirondacks” or “Bark-eaters,” because of their necessity of depending on the bark of trees during the winter when game was scarce. Remains of these people are so many that for a hundred years arrow heads and other stone implements have been found on the shore of the lake under the walls of the Fort and yet each rain and wind storm discloses new ones. These Indians were a partly agricultural people as shown by the many bits of pottery and hoes that are found, but little is definitely known of them or their habits. ”

“ Tioga was the Iroquois name for the point of land lying between the Chemung River and the north branch of the Susquehanna. Every name that an Indian gave to a place or a person was descriptive, and had a meaning. Most of these as we find them written are corruptions of the names as they sounded when spoken by an Indian, and therefore we find the same word in different documents spelled in as many ways as it could be spelled by illiterate English, Dutch and French settlers, with a few extra letters thrown in. ”

“ I have no doubt that the Tiguex of Coronado denotes the northern group of the Tiguas, for it lay north of Acoma and on a large river. This river east of Zuñi could only have been the Rio Grande del Norte, for the Puerco is in that latitude in parts of its course filled up with sand, and in other parts reduced to an insignificant, muddy rill. An expression of Casteñeda’s, likewise applying to Cicuyé-Pecos, is decisive on this point. “Tiguex,” he says, “is the middle point,” and “from Cibola to Cicuyé, which is the last village, we count seventy leagues.” ”

“ Much of the water thus flowing in is drained off by the great river Desaguadero, which flows out of the south-west corner, and disappears in the swampy lake of Aullagas, in the south of Bolivia. Perhaps a great quantity is taken up by evaporation. On the eastern side lake Titicaca is very deep, but on parts of the west shore it is so shoal that there is only just water enough to force a balsa through the forests of rushes. The winds blow from the eastward all the year round, sometimes in strong gales, so as to raise a heavy sea. ”

“ Pah!
"But among the hills and forests around this Lake Titicaca is the paradise of the hunter who has a bit of sand and grit in his substance, and is not afraid to walk a whole mile away from a cow's tail.
"No, there are no dangerous Indians that ever I came across among the mountains and glens; but as you never know what may happen, you've got to keep your cartridges free from damp.
"What kind of game? Well, I was going to say pretty much of all sorts. We haven't got giraffes nor elephants, it is true, nor do we miss them much. ”