Yes! There's More About Fort TIconderoga...13 Things

1. Built in the narrows of Lake Champlain Fort Ticonderoga could view trade routes from the Hudson River Valley controlled by the English and the Saint Lawrence River Valley controlled by the French. My post yesterday provides more details regarding the strategic location of the fort.

2. Through its long history the fort has seen four important battles. The French constructed the fort also known as Fort Carillon in 1755 The fort’s main objective was to control Lake Champlain and keep the British from advancing into the area.

3. I always like to show students a picture of the fort and ask them….if the objective was to hold the lake why was the fort built on a bluff high above…….answer is it was important to maintain the integrity of the fort. It was harder for enemies to attack because they had to climb the walls

4. This fact didn’t keep the British from attacking during the final French and Indian War aka the Seven Years War on July 8, 1758….parts of the fort were still under construction….unfortunately the British were repulsed. This was the greatest victory for the French during the Seven Years War; however, in 1759 the Battle of Ticonderoga was fought with a British victory.

5. Surprisngly the British allowed the fort to fall into disrepair, and maintained it with a small garrison. Students are always amazed that the garrison was less than a hundred….less than 50…less than 30….more like 20. When Benedict Arnold, Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys the Americans entered through a breach in the wall and it was taken without a single shot being fire. The picture below shows the side the structure where Allen entered and demanded the Fort’s surrender.

6. Cannons and gunpowder were seized and were then hauled by Henry Knox in 1775-76 to assist with the siege of Boston

7. In my post Saving History I recount how today the fort is privately owned and is considering selling off some of the artifacts in order to cure huge financial missteps and dwindling numbers of tourists. While this saddens me we probably wouldn’t have Fort Ticonderoga to visit at all if it wasn’t for the fact that the property has been privately maintained since William Ferris Pell (pictured below) purchased the property in 1820. Ironically he was the member of an exiled Loyalist family during the American Revolution.

8. Pell was a businessman, horticulturalist, and preservationist. At the time he became the owner of the property many of the locals had been pilfering the huge stones and other building materials for use on their own properties. Pell was able to secure the fort though he conducted no reconstruction.

9. Pell built a magnificent home on the grounds called The Pavilion which he later turned into a hotel. Today, along with the Fort, The Pavilion is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

10. Pell’s great-grandson, Stephen Pell, seen below, took over the restoration of the Fort in 1908. While the Fort becomes a tourist destination, The Pavilion becomes a private family residence. Stephen Pell is credited with building the museum that the Fort is today due to the fact that he was an avid collector of Revolutionary War relics.

11. Stephen Pell was a decorated war veteran, having served in both the Spanish-American War and the First World War. You can find out more about him here

12. The official website for Fort Ticonderoga can be found here.

13. Members of the Pell family are still involved with the Fort and sit on the Fort Ticonderoga Association and Board of Trustees. A family cousin, Deborah Pell Dunning is working on a book which will detail the Pell family’s involvement with the Fort, but does not have a publisher as of this date.

There is a great online article here concerning the history and restoration of the Fort.

Other bloggers have published lists of 13 things as well today….you can find them here.

Wordless: A Stategic Location

Today’s images are the famed Fort Ticonderoga I mentioned yesterday in my post regarding selling history. The Mohawk Indians named the area Ticonderoga long before the French decided to build a fort at the location. The very word Ticonderoga means “land between the waters” meaning the peninsula where the fort was built (between 1755 and 1759) is between Lake Champlain and the drainage of Lake George (La Chute River). In fact, the fort could reach the Vermont shore with cannon fire, and anyone who had control of the Fort had control of a very important north-south water route.

The image below is another view of the Fort…You can see Fort Ticonderoga and Rattlesnake Hill (Mount Independence) from Sugarloaf Hill (Mount Defiance). Fort Ticonderoga sits on the end of the peninsula to the left. Rattlesnake Hill is the peninsula to the right. You can clearly see how the fort is strategically located where the lake narrows.

More on Fort Ticonderoga tomorrow!

Other bloggers are also posting wordless images today. You can locate them here.

Selling History

I had lunch on Sunday with some friends of ours and the subject of my writing came up. I mentioned that perhaps it was the heat of July and August or perhaps it was because I had been busy with numerous projects over the summer, but I just haven’t been very enthusiastic regarding my writing topics until……until I saw this article regarding Fort Ticonderoga.

I mentioned to my lunch companions that apparently the fort is a bit cash strapped because they are looking into selling some of the property’s artwork and artifacts. Instantly one of my companions remarked, “Wait, how can they do that? The government owns the fort, don’t they?”

Read the article and you will discover as I did that Fort Ticonderoga is privately owned and is only on the National Historical Register. It is not part of the National Parks Service as many historical locations are. Therefore, they can sell what they wish, and it appears they are wishing hard. One item in particular is a painting by Thomas Cole titled Gelyna: View Outside of Ticonderoga (1829). See it to your left. You can click on it to see a larger view. It’s rather interesting, don’t you think?

Apparently the money mess began when the fort’s main benefactors, Deborah and Forest E. Mars, Jr. (of candy bar fame), pulled out cold turkey because they had a problem with some of the museum folk. If you read the article I linked to above as well as this Topix thread the whole thing sounds like a financial soap opera.

Sheesh people…this is history….this is Fort Ticonderoga. Quit trifling with it over power issues.

13 Things: King George's War

1.King George’s War, as it was known in the colonies, was fought from 1744 to 1748. Its European counterpart was known as the War of Austrian Succession. and it actually has a starting date of 1740. It was touched off with the death of Charles VI, the Holy Roman Emperor where a succession crisis resulted in France, Prussia, and Spain taking up arms against the British. While the European details of this nice little war are very interesting I usually stick to the events in the colonies for my fourth graders.

2.You might have heard of the French and Indian War. It is often taught in conjunction with events leading up to the American Revolution, however, there were actually four such French and Indian Wars dating back to 1689, and King George’s War is the third one.

3. Events in North America actually kicked of in 1739 with a series of skirmishes known as the War of Jenkin’s Ear which was between the Spanish and the British. The events were mainly confined to the Caribbean Sea and in the Georgia colony. When France became an ally of Spain in 1744 the matter escalated into King George’s War.

4. Warfare developed in the American colonies in 1744 when the French attacked a British position at Canso, Nova Scotia. Canso was an important New England fishery. During the 1720s and 1730s it employed over 3,000 fishermen. Since it was only sixty miles by sea from Louisbourg, a major French stronghold, the French felt threatened by the British presence and attacked Canso.

5. With only eighty-seven soldiers defending rudimentary fortifications, the British surrendered after a short bombardment and minimal resistance. The French destroyed both the fortifications and the settlement and took the garrison, their families, and a few fishermen back to Louisbourg as prisoners.

6. The French also attempted to recapture Port Royal (Annapolis Royal), but failed.
7. One major accomplishment of the British during the war was to seize Fort Louisbourg in 1745. It was a French fortress located on Cape Breton Island, located at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River. The image with this post is the shoreline at Cape Breton.

8. In order to take the fort a force of more than 4,000 men was raised under William Pepperrell, a wealthy merchant from Maine. Assigned the daunting task of taking Louisbourg, they would shortly assault what was regarded as the most secure position in North America.

9. Sir Peter Warren and his naval contingent provided valuable assistance by preventing reinforcements from reaching the French fort. A two-month siege ended in June when British soldiers staged a heroic (and almost comic) raid on the fortress, forcing its capitulation. George II later rewarded Pepperrell with a baronetcy, the first American colonist so honored.

10. Fort Louisbourg was a very important location for the French to hold and prime real estate for the British to capture. Why? The St. Lawrence River gave the French an important route to move goods and people inland. From Fort Louisbourg French settlers could set out for Quebec and Montreal….two towns that depended on access to the Atlantic Ocean.

11. Once Fort Louisbourg was captured by the British the fur trade that the French and their Indian alllies depended upon was disrupted. The movement of manufactured European goods into the hands of French merchants was also disrupted. Now they had nothing to trade with Native American to maintain their allies. Native Americans in the Ohio River Valley quickly became the trading partners of British merchants who gladly stepped in to fill the void.

12. The treaty I highlighted yesterday (printed by none other than Benjamin Franklin) in my wordless image seen here resulted in the Iroquois and an intercolonial force forming in northern New York for an attack against Canada. Though the forces camped at Albany for the entire winter, the regulars never arrived resulting in a thwarted attack against Canada.

13. Peace was achieved with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. In return for receiving Madras in India, the British returned Louisbourg to the French, thus nullifying the greatest victory American forces had ever won. Anger in the colonies was so great that London responded by reimbursing the colonial governments for funds spent earlier on the Pepperrell campaign.

It would be another 15 years before the disputes between the French and the British were finally settled. Fighting resumed in 1754 between the two adversaries in North America with the outbreak of the French and Indian War (yes, the one most of us know about). The war speread to Europe two years later and is remembered as the Seven Years War.

You can find other bloggers participating in Thursday Thirteen here.

Wordless: Ben Franklin's Treaty

If you are a regular around here you know this is about as wordless as I can possibly get. :)

This treaty was printed by Ben Franklin in 1746. It is between the provinces of New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania and the Indians of the Six Nations.

The Six Nations were also referred to as the Iroqois Confederation and included the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, the Cayuga, the Seneca, and the Tuscarora tribes. This treaty arose during a time period referred to as King George’s War. In Europe, this same time period (1740-1748) is known as the War of Austrian Succession. Prior to 1763 there were four such wars involving the British, the French, and Indians…..the one mentioned in the treaty pictured here is the third war. The treaty explains that members of the Six Nations will fight on the side of the British against the French in the colonies.

The image seen here was obtained here….a great source for Political Science images through American History.

Find other bloggers participating in Wordless Wednesday here.

13 Things About Arthur St. Clair

Welcome to my 31st Thirteen list.

If you are regular reader around here you are aware that I love to share with students obscure yet important figures in American History. These people have very interesting stories and are often instrumental behind the scenes. They often are participants in the little stories that motivate students into further learning action

Arthur St. Clair is one of those interesting fellows. He served his country in many different positions, and made some mistakes, however, he didn’t stop participating.

Eric over at Secondhand Thoughts almost immediately guessed who my mystery image was yesterday for Wordless Wednesday. Check out the comments for my thoughts on lesson planning and how students can be taught to analyze images as well.

Here are 13 facts about Arthur St. Clair:

1. He was born and educated in Scotland. There is some discrepancy regarding his birth year (1734 to 1736), however, the information presented at this site states Arthur St. Clair was descended from the St. Clair family of Roslin Chapel fame via a common ancestor with the Earl of Roslin. Roslin Chapel played an inportant role in the plot line of the novel, The Da Vinci Code.

2. He traveled to the American Colonies during the French and Indian War after he purchased a commission in the British army.

3. Following the war he settled in the Ligonier area of Pennsylvania where he became the largest landowner in western Pennsylvania and owned several mills.

4. As a citizen of the colony of Pennsylvania, St. Clair became very active in the colony’s legal system from the court of common pleas to the orphan’s court, and served as a member of the proprietary council.

5. When Virginia claimed a part of Pittsburgh as their own, St. Clair was the individual who issued the arrest order for the leader of the Virginia troops. This little known skirmish between the two colonies became known as Lord Dunmore's War in 1773 and 1774 and it had much to do with Native Americans who lived in the area.

6. During the American Revolution, St. Clair once again donned a military uniform except he wore the uniform of a Continental. He took part in organizing the New Jersey militia, crossed the Delaware with Washington and took part in the battles of Trenton, Princeton and Ticonderoga.

7. It was his failure at Ticonderoga that led to a court martial where he was eventually acquitted. He returned to duty and completed his service at Yorktown.

8. Many Americans don’t realize the United States has not always had the Constitution as its plan of government. Our first plan was the Articles of Confederation and several different men served as our president under the Articles. St. Clair was the ninth president under our first plan of government. In fact, he was in charge during the time of Shay's Rebellion which is one of the key events people like me teach to students in order to show the Articles of Confederation were flawed and made our vulnerable infant country extremely weak.

9. Following a loss of the governorship of Pennsylvania, St. Clair was appointed as governor of the Ohio Territory under provisions provided for in the Northwest Ordinance, a key factor in the settlement of the west that I teach to students. Once the territory was divided he was the governor of Ohio where he was instrumental in establishing Maxwell’s Code, the first written law in the area. Unfortunately his efforts to establish treaties with the Native Americans in the area often were met with extreme resistance on the part of the various tribes.

10. In 1791 he became the highest ranking officer in the United States Army and led his forces against many different Native American leaders. President Washington requested his resignation, however, after the Battle of Wabash (also known as St. Clair’s Defeat or the Columbia Massacre) as over 600 American soldiers along with many women and children were killed. It was a tremendous defeat for the Americans.

11. Thomas Jefferson removed St. Clair from his role as governor of Ohio in 1802. He was seen by many to be partisan, and he didn’t always consult all parties before acting. Critics state his arrogance in governing led to a weak Ohio government early on.

12. St. Clair died in 1818 in Pennsylvania. He was basically penniless as he had given away wealth over the years and just as his career had its ups and downs so did his business ventures as well.

13. You can learn more about St. Clair here as well as see some of his handwriting.

You can see his home here.

Join Thursday Thirteen or find other participants HERE

Laying a Foundation in Forty Minutes Flat!

My students have been discovering the French and Indian War as our introduction to the American Revolution. If you are uncertain as to why we are studying a war to study a war, well, that’s because the aftermath of the French and Indian War was one of the sparks that caused the shot heard around the world.

I began our discussion this week as I do every unit. I passed out study guides that contain the state standards Georgia students are required to meet, text pages, test and quiz dates, unit vocabulary, and key questions. Students read the state standards and underlined the verbs after I reminded them that the standards are the things they should be able to do concerning the American Revolution. In this way I have set the bar for expectations. Students realize at some point I will want them to explain and describe the causes of the American Revolution including how the French and Indian War played a role in the birth of our nation…a perfect opportunity for writing across the curriculum, but that will come later.

Our first foray in the content was with a line graph that indicates population in the Thirteen Colonies from 1710 to 1750. I asked students to remind me the steps they should take when reading a line graph and, I asked them to take a minute or two and answer five multiple choice questions printed below the graph. As they worked I walked the room to view their answers. My quick assessment concerned me a bit as many students did not answer the first question correctly regarding the purpose of a line graph. The proper response was “A line graph shows changes over time.” Several students chose the answer historical events. As we went over the answers I allowed students to correct their papers and took advantage of the teachable moment regarding the purpose of a line graph including reminders that obvious answers aren’t always the correct one, and if they use a line graph in science they can’t possibly be used for historical events only.

We continued analyzing the graph which shows a steady but moderate increase in population until the year 1730. Beginning that year until 1750 there was a marked increase in the population of the colonies. We discussed the effects of more and more people in the colonies in relation to our own suburb of Atlanta which is growing by leaps and bounds. I asked students, “What do you parents say about all this growth?” One young man responded, “We gotta get out of here!” Time passes, but people stay more or less the same.

I drew a quick outline of present-day America and hurriedly created some upside down V’s to represent the Appalachian Mountains. I question students on the points I’ve been driving home all year. Where did the colonists first settle? (along the coast) What is the area called in behind the initial settlements called? (backcountry or frontier) What happened to the Native Americans who lived in the areas where colonist settled? (treaties were made, broken, and the Native Americans were continually pushed west) By 1750, did the Native Americans like the British or dislike them? (I think that answer is obvious. One young man said, “Well, duh!”)

I drew a line down the map and ask students, “What is this?” Many correctly state the line is the Mississippi River. I sketched in another line flowing into the Mississippi and identified it for students as the Ohio River. I used a different color marker to shade in the area known as the Ohio River Valley. I asked students, “What do we know about the French? Who can remind us about their role in America?”

Through a series questions and discussion we identify the French had intricate trade networks with the Natives who lived in the Ohio River Valley. We compared and contrasted the British goals in North America compared to the French. The British colonist brought their families to the New World and set up towns, churches, and schools. The French came over in much more limited numbers and rarely brought whole families. The Ohio River Valley was the stomping ground of French fur traders who desired profit more than settlements.

At this point I put all of the information on the table and asked students to digest it. I reminded them, “Ok, our line graph tells us the population in the colonies begins to increase in great numbers after 1730. The French can’t seem to get people here to settle, but have a great trade network going on in the Ohio River Valley. What do we think about that?”

The hardest part of being a teacher, who loves to share her passion, is to shut up long enough to allow students to discover the answers on their own. It’s hard, but I wait, and wait, and wait some more. At one point I rephrase my question. “You own a farm outside of Philadelphia. Gradually the town has gotten closer and closer to your property. You are no longer in the country. What do you want to do?”

Forty minutes later after we have had one lost tooth, five sign-outs to the restroom, two intercom interuptions, and one graceful trip over a bookbag strap we finally got to crux of the lesson. Gradually the population of the colonies increased. Colonists wanted additional land to settle on and began looking towards the Ohio River Valley which the French already claimed.

The foundation is now set. Now we begin on the walls.