Page "Lake Champlain" Paragraph 16

Forts at Ticonderoga and Crown Point ( Fort St. Frederic ) controlled passage of the lake in colonial times.

Important battles were fought at Ticonderoga in 1758 and 1775.

Following a frenetic shipbuilding race through the Spring and Summer of 1776 by the British at the north end of the lake and the Americans at the south end, they fought a significant naval engagement on October 11 at the Battle of Valcour Island.

While it was a tactical defeat for the Americans and the small fleet led by Benedict Arnold was almost entirely destroyed, the Americans gained a strategic victory.

The British invasion was delayed long enough so that the approach of winter prevented the fall of these forts until the following year.

In this period, the Continental Army gained strength and was victorious at Saratoga.