The Capture of Fort Ticonderoga occurred on May 10, 1775, when a small force of Green Mountain Boys led by Ethan Allen and Colonel Benedict Arnold overcame a small British garrison at the fort and looted the personal belongings of the garrison. Cannons and other armaments from the fort were transported to Boston and used to fortify Dorchester Heights and break the stalemate at the Siege of Boston. After seizing Ticonderoga, a small detachment captured the nearby Fort Crown Point on May 11. On May 18, Arnold and 50 men boldly raided Fort Saint-Jean on the Richelieu River in southern Quebec, seizing military supplies, cannons, and the largest military vessel on Lake Champlain. Although the scope of this military action was relatively minor, it had significant strategic importance. It impeded communication between northern and southern units of the British Army, and gave the nascent Continental Army a staging ground for the invasion of Quebec later in 1775. It also involved two larger-than-life personalities in Allen and Arnold, each of whom sought to gain as much credit and honor as possible for these events.
Read the rest of this article: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Fort_Ticonderoga> _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 1893: Mortimer Durand, Foreign Secretary of British India, and Abdur Rahman Khan, Amir of Afghanistan, signed the Durand Line Agreement, establishing what is now the international border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line> 1942: World War II: The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal , the decisive engagement in a series of naval battles between Allied and Japanese forces during the months-long Guadalcanal campaign in the Solomon Islands, began. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Battle_of_Guadalcanal> 1970: The Oregon Highway Division attempted to destroy a rotting beached sperm whale near Florence, Oregon, with explosives, leading to the exploding whale incident. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/exploding_whale> 1991: In Dili, East Timor, Indonesian forces opened fire on student demonstrators protesting the Indonesian occupation of East Timor, killing at least 250 people. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Cruz_massacre> 2006: Although the Georgian government declared it illegal, South Ossetia held a referendum on independence, with about 99 percent of voters supporting to preserve the region's status as a de facto independent state. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Ossetian_independence_referendum%2C_2006> _____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day: enchorial (adj): 1. Indigenous, native. 2. Of, relating to, or written in the vulgar form of ancient Egyptian hieratic writing <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/enchorial> ___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day: It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens. --Bahá'u'lláh <http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bah%C3%A1%27u%27ll%C3%A1h> _______________________________________________ Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list. To unsubscribe, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l Questions or comments? Contact [email protected]
