ociated with the name of
Ticonderoga than any of the great exploits which have marked its
past.

For a time the Americans held on to the fort. In 1776 a large force
was concentrated here, since it guarded that very vital means of
access to the heart of the colonies which the British persistently
tried to make use of. It was from this point that in 1776 Benedict
Arnold set forth with a small fleet of vessels to attack Sir Guy
Carleton at Valcour Island. Though the American fleet was almost
entirely destroyed, it, nevertheless, set back the plans of the
British one year and delayed their projected invasion from the
north that long.

In 1777 Burgoyne invested the fort and, by dragging some guns to
the top of Mount Defiance, an eminence which commands Ticonderoga,
caused General Arthur St. Clair of the American forces to evacuate
the place. Burgoyne occupied the fort for a passing visit but was
soon on his way into the colonies by the ancient trail which war
parties for generations had trod, fortunately, for the colonies, to
meet defeat and loss of his army at the battle of Saratoga.

The fort remained in the hands of the British until after the
surrender of Yorktown, though Colonel Brown of Massachusetts made
a brave effort to take it once more. During the War of 1812 it
listened to the guns of McDonough’s improvised fleet in action with
the British, but it had no active part in this action or in this
war, itself.

In 1806 the property on which the old fort stands was leased from
Union and Columbia colleges by William F. Pell of New York, it
being a part of a State grant to these institutions. Mr. Pell built
a summer cottage for himself and, in 1816, purchased the land. The
cottage was destroyed in 1825 and a second building known as the
Pavilion was erected. The Pavilion is still in use and has never
been out of the Pell family.

The walls of Ticonderoga, the fort, were not greatly prized by the
early holders of this Pell tract and it remained for the present
head of his generation, Mr. Stephen H. P. Pell, to app