Crown Point

The history of Crown Point, New York dates back to before the French and Indian War. In 1734, the French completed the first of what would become several fortifications in this location. Pre-dating the more famous Fort Ticonderoga, Crown Point was the first formidable military outpost in the Champlain Valley. From 1734-1755, it was known as Fort St. Frederic and gave the French domination of the Champlain Valley, an important strategic location in New York controlling access between Montreal and Albany. In 1759, during the French and Indian War, the British seized the position and began to rework the fort, erecting three additional redoubts, a blockhouse, and redans, renaming it “His Majesty’s Fort of Crown Point.” Every part of the three and-one-half square mile complex was interconnected by an extensive roadway.

Following on the heels of Ethan Allen’s successful capture of Fort Ticonderoga in 1775, Seth Warner of New Hampshire captured Crown Point with his band of Green Mountain Boys. Henry Knox took some of the seized artillery to Boston to help force the British to evacuate the city in March 1776. Crown Point was the launching point for the ill-fated American attack on Canada in December 1775. Men from the aborted mission to invade Canada returned there, some badly wounded while others suffered from smallpox.

During the Battle of Valcour Island on October 11, 1776, Crown Point once again became a focal point of American interests. Benedict Arnold and his hastily assembled fleet lost the Battle of Valcour Island, forcing the Americans to abandon the position and withdraw southward to Fort Ticonderoga. Crown Point continued to change hands during the war amidst the varying campaigns waged in upstate New York. During the Saratoga Campaign in the Fall of 1777, the British captured Crown Point without firing a shot and used it as a staging ground for their capture of Fort Ticonderoga.

The British abandoned the decaying walls of Crown Point in 1780, as their focus shifted to the southern colonies.