{"id":6600,"date":"2025-06-17T08:00:20","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T08:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.burn-the-priest.com\/?p=6600"},"modified":"2025-06-17T11:37:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T11:37:10","slug":"two-revolutionary-war-letters-are-reunited-at-fort-ticonderoga-after-250-years-apart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/17\/two-revolutionary-war-letters-are-reunited-at-fort-ticonderoga-after-250-years-apart\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Revolutionary War letters are reunited at Fort Ticonderoga after 250 years apart"},"content":{"rendered":"
Two Revolutionary War letters<\/a> were recently brought together at a museum in upstate New York, exactly 250 years after they were written.<\/p>\n Fort Ticonderoga in Essex County, near Lake Champlain, announced the reunion of the letters in a May 21 statement. The fort was the setting of several battles during the American Revolution and the French and Indian War.<\/p>\n The then-British fortress was famously captured by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold in May 1775, marking a pivotal moment in the early stages of the Revolutionary War.<\/p>\n ARCHAEOLOGISTS UNCOVER UNEXPECTED REMAINS OF CIVIL WAR SOLDIERS AT HISTORIC LANDMARK<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n The letters by Arnold and his correspondent John Stevens were written after the historic event<\/a>.<\/p>\n In his May 17 letter, Arnold informed Stevens that he had crossed paths with Allen, who had just led a raid on the British-controlled Fort St. Jean (or John) in Qu\u00e9bec.<\/p>\n “Col. Allen & his party is just arrived from St. Johns, when they were attacked,” Arnold’s letter read. “[And they] were obliged to make a precipitate retreat \u2026 They have returned without provision & much fatigued.”<\/p>\n In his reply, Stevens wrote that more provisions were on the way to support American forces, despite difficulties with enlistments.\u00a0<\/p>\n “[T]he City of Albany and Country are sending in provisions continually \u2026 I am informed there is a great quantity more coming from different parts of the country,” he wrote.<\/p>\n WORLD WAR II HERO’S SPECIAL MEMENTO FINALLY COMES HOME TO HIS FAMILY AFTER 80 YEARS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Speaking to Fox News Digital, Fort Ticonderoga curator Matthew Keagle stressed that the letters were written long before Arnold famously defected to the British.<\/p>\n “At the time these letters were written, Arnold was less than two weeks into consolidating control over Ticonderoga and Crown Point,” the historian noted.\u00a0<\/p>\n “He had helped capture Fort Ticonderoga, and had already sailed north<\/a> and attacked another British post at St. Jean in Qu\u00e9bec, capturing more redcoats and the only British sloop on Lake Champlain.”<\/p>\n Keagle also noted the rivalry between Arnold and Allen.\u00a0<\/p>\n Although Allen commanded the mighty Green Mountain Boys militia during the expedition, Arnold was the only one with official government authorization from the Massachusetts Committee of Safety.<\/p>\n For more Lifestyle articles, visit foxnews.com\/lifestyle<\/u><\/strong><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n “This was a tense alliance, and it collapsed the day after the capture [of Fort Ticonderoga],” Keagle said.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Arnold tried to assert control over what he saw as unruly pilfering of the garrison\u2019s supplies and a lack of discipline and preparations.”<\/p>\n He added, “His departure to attack St. Jean got him away, and he and Allen did not serve together again.”<\/p>\n And who exactly was Stevens, Arnold’s less-famous correspondent?\u00a0<\/p>\n Keagle said that while Stevens “is not a familiar name,” he played an active role in the fight for independence<\/a>.<\/p>\n CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n “After Fort Ticonderoga was taken, Stevens came to Fort George at the southern end of Lake George, and commanded the forces there through July 1775,” Keagle noted.\u00a0<\/p>\n “He was later commissioned as a captain in a Connecticut regiment and was captured by the British at the Battle of the Cedars in May of 1776 in Canada.”<\/p>\n Interestingly, the letters have not been this physically close together since Stevens wrote his response to Arnold’s letter in May 1775.\u00a0<\/p>\n Stevens’ letter has been in the possession of Fort Ticonderoga for decades, but the Arnold letter was recently given to the museum<\/a> in memory of former trustee George M. Jones.<\/p>\n Rather than being on display in an exhibit, the letters are part of the “Ticonderoga\u2019s Treasures of 1775” experience; Keagle is bringing guests face-to-face with original documents and artifacts from Ticonderoga\u2019s collections.<\/p>\n The recently unified letters reflect the significant role that New York state<\/a> played during the American Revolution.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a similar venture, the New York State Museum recently began displaying a Revolutionary War-era ship at its Albany headquarters, around 100 miles south of Ticonderoga.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Two Revolutionary War letters were recently brought together at a museum in upstate New York, exactly 250 years after they were written. Fort Ticonderoga in Essex County, near Lake Champlain,<\/p>\n