David LaPell
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This past Saturday my son and I went to Fort Ticonderoga to watch a re-enactment of the little known third Battle on Showshoes that happened on March 7, 1759 between Robert Rogers and his rangers and the French garrison at Fort Carillon (later Fort Ticonderoga). Rogers and his men were out to gather intelligence on the fort and came upon a group of unarmed French woodcutters from the fort that had crossed frozen Lake Champlain and were on the shoes of what's now known as Mount Independence.
Rogers chased the French back across the lake to where they were "pistol shot" away from the fort when the French garrison came out and engaged the rangers. Rogers took five French prisoners and fled across the lake to what is now Mount Defiance and went over that and on to Fort Edward and gave the prisoners to General Amherst who used the info in his raid on the fort in July, 1759.
The re-enactors did an excellent job, and they had a French colonial army musket drill, displays of every day life at the fort and then the re-enactment later in the afternoon.
The frozen Lake Champlain from the Fort. Mount Independence is to the extreme left and Mount Defiance is to the extreme right.
Daily French life at the fort from 1759.
A great demonstration on how French paper cartridges for the muskets ere made as well as how their canister shot was prepared.
The French musket and drill display was excellent.
The re-enactment of the battle was excellent, from Roger's rangers capturing the woodcutters to then pursuing them back to the fort, and to where the French garrison was deployed to engage the rangers, pushing them back to the lake. it was essentially a running gun battle between the two.
My son posing with some of the re-enactors afterwards. He had a great time watching and was very inquisitive. He ended up getting a book on Rogers Rangers and has already burned through a couple of chapters.
Rogers chased the French back across the lake to where they were "pistol shot" away from the fort when the French garrison came out and engaged the rangers. Rogers took five French prisoners and fled across the lake to what is now Mount Defiance and went over that and on to Fort Edward and gave the prisoners to General Amherst who used the info in his raid on the fort in July, 1759.
The re-enactors did an excellent job, and they had a French colonial army musket drill, displays of every day life at the fort and then the re-enactment later in the afternoon.
The frozen Lake Champlain from the Fort. Mount Independence is to the extreme left and Mount Defiance is to the extreme right.
Daily French life at the fort from 1759.
A great demonstration on how French paper cartridges for the muskets ere made as well as how their canister shot was prepared.
The French musket and drill display was excellent.
The re-enactment of the battle was excellent, from Roger's rangers capturing the woodcutters to then pursuing them back to the fort, and to where the French garrison was deployed to engage the rangers, pushing them back to the lake. it was essentially a running gun battle between the two.
My son posing with some of the re-enactors afterwards. He had a great time watching and was very inquisitive. He ended up getting a book on Rogers Rangers and has already burned through a couple of chapters.
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