Battle of Ticonderoga (1759)
| date | July 26. bis 27. July 1759 |
|---|---|
| place | Fort Ticonderoga |
| output | The French gave up the fort |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 400 | approx. 11,000 |
| losses | |
|
40 caught |
5 killed, 31 wounded |
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The Battle of Ticonderoga in 1759 was a dispute during the French and Indian War for possession of the important Ticonderoga Fort on Lake Champlain . It was part of a double attack on French Canada, the main thrust of which led General James Wolfe from sea with the decisive siege of Québec , where the supremacy of England in Canada was finally secured.
In the summer of 1758, a large, outnumbered British army had been defeated by French troops in the Battle of Carillon at Fort Carillon, later renamed Fort Ticonderoga. In the following winter of 1758/1759, however, most of the French garrison of the fort had been withdrawn to defend Québec , Montreal and the French forts to the west.
In 1759, Sir Jeffrey Amherst set out to retake and moved north from Lake George to cut off the supply routes from Fort Carillon / Ticonderoga. The British learned from their mistakes of the bloody failed siege of the previous year, in which around 1940 men of the Black Watch (42nd Highlander Infantry Regiment) were killed in a frontal attack alone . 11,000 British under Amherst reached Ticonderoga on July 22nd and began the siege. On July 23, most of the 3,500 French and Canadians in the fortress withdrew to the Isle aux Noix in Lake Champlain under the command of Colonel François-Charles de Bourlamaque , leaving only 400 men under Captain de Hébécourt. This was supposed to hold the fortress as long as possible, but also withdrew on July 26, 1759, not without first blowing up their powder store.
Amherst was unable to pursue because he lacked ships. He rebuilt Fort Ticonderoga, which had been badly destroyed by the explosion, and had two ships built, but then wintered in Ticonderoga and in Fort Crown Point, which was also conquered . Due to these delays, however, Amherst was too late to support Wolfe in Quebec. At the same time as the siege of Ticonderoga, Fort Niagara was besieged, which also had to surrender to the English.
For more battles with this name see: Battle of Ticonderoga