“The General most earnestly requires and expects a due observance of those articles of war established for the government of the Army which forbid profane cursing, swearing and drunkenness.

And in like manner he requires and expects of all officers and soldiers not engaged in actual duty, a punctual attendance of Devine services, to implore the blessing of Heaven upon the means used for our safety and defense.”

— Gen. George Washington, July 4, 1775

The war for independence has now become a reality, whether deliberate or accidental. There is no turning back.

The colonists must now fight for their lives against the well-trained and well-armed army of the British. Strategy now becomes very important to the “rag-tag” colonist armies.
Aggressive action must be put into motion.

Samuel Adams, who had been born in Massachusetts in 1722 and about who Goodrich writes in his book “Lives of the Signers,” “For his country he laboured both by night and by day, with a zeal which was scarcely interrupted, and with an energy that knew no fatigue,” became involved in this action.

Adams wanted to know what the people of Canada felt about the American Revolution. He decided to send a man into Canada to find out just where the Canadians stood. His desire was that the French people of Canada would join in with the colonists.

However, when the agent returned, he had bad news. He stated that the Yankees were more hated than the British.

The result of the report was that the leaders of the colonist leaders would make plans to strike against Fort Ticonderoga. To take Fort Ticonderoga would mean that the colonists would have a strategic position between Lake Champlain and Lake George. The fort was well supplied with cannons and a lot of other artillery. These were critical items for their army.

Fort Ticonderoga was a good target because it was not heavily guarded.