Col. Edward Wigglesworth took part in some of the most consequential actions of the American Revolution, but, like so many such men, we know little about him. Happily, Wigglesworth left a diary which was once presumed lost, but has now has been found. The manuscript provides more details concerning Wigglesworth’s extraordinary military career. A Brief […]
The Battle of Valcour Island was, in many ways, a waterborne version of the Battle of Bunker Hill: a greatly superior British force rushed, with little forethought or planning, into a fight against Americans making a stand on ground (or water) of their choosing. After a long and bloody battle, the British drove the American […]
In July 1776, two hundred and forty years ago this year, the Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence, declaring the United Colonies to be the United States. Three months later, on the waters of Lake Champlain, a naval battle took place that would, as much as any event in the war, make that declaration […]
In the summer of 1775, the British built two warships at St. John, Quebec, on the outlet of Lake Champlain. That fall, the American forces invading Canada captured the ships and added them to their little fleet on the lake. The largest, a 50-foot topsail schooner named the Royal Savage mounting six 6-pounder cannons, four […]
Lying between Vermont and New York, astride the border between the United States and Canada, accessible via canals from the St. Lawrence and Hudson Rivers, and 125 miles long, Lake Champlain is a major boating attraction. On any summer’s day, hundreds of watercraft displaying registrations from numerous states and Canadian provinces will pause for a […]
Until the early decades of the 20th century saw wide-spread construction of roads in North America, water provided ready-made highways. Lake Champlain formed 125 miles of one such 350-mile-long artery through the wilderness that lay between the Atlantic Ocean at New York City and the St. Lawrence River at Montreal. In the spring of 1776, […]
