Celebrating 250: The Battle of Fort Ticonderoga (Sheldon & Blackden 1st Meeting)

A smidge late to the party, but the Battle of Fort Ticonderoga was "fought" on May 10th, 1775 and its victory enabled the Siege of Boston to happen. "Fought" in quotations because it was a route with no shots fired and an unconditional surrender by British forces to American Continentals. Ticonderoga's cannons were stripped and sent through an overland route to the bluffs overlooking Charlestown and Boston, forcing the British to surrender in early 1776.

The expedition was led by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold but among its officers was also future members of the 2nd Light. Namely Elisha Sheldon and Samuel Blackden under David Wooster's command. Following the Battle of Lexington and Concord, a call to arms was taken up by various militia and the Cause was a rallying cry to encircle the British defenses at Boston. Most of the militia went to Boston, but some went up to Ticonderoga knowing that they needed cannons to force the British to surrender or to drive them out of the city themselves. The British had their warships with cannons able to be fired up to Continental defenses, the Continentals could not fire back.

After this, Sheldon was placed in command of the Light Horse regiment from Connecticut, serving in Boston and then down to New York City and part of the Battle of White Plains. Blackden's command was unknown, but the two would eventually meet and serve again with one another when the 2nd Light was raised.

Based on the cordial nature of Sheldon and Blackden's letters to each other and to others referencing the other; along with the fact that both came from Connecticut, we can infer that both were friendly with one another enough to serve in the same regiment at the re-organization of the military in early 1777 (the formation of the 2nd Continental Light Dragoons). However, both also had their pride and judging by the nature of Blackden's lack of resignation, but refusal to actually do his duties as 2IC after the disastrous letter sent to Sheldon by a majority commissioned officers in late 1778, the friendship was broken.

One cannot truly know why, but perhaps Blackden compared a lot of Sheldon's indifference and indecisiveness in his response/lack of response to the letter to the early campaigns - where merit and glory in the battlefield mattered a lot to gentleman officers. Maybe there was something Blackden saw in Sheldon that he compared to Arnold from Ticonderoga campaign. Maybe it was something else. Whatever it was - Sheldon and Blackden knew each other from 1775 and to see such a friendship broken by mid-war is truly disappointing.

Celebrating 250: The Battle of Lexington & Concord

On this day in history:

The Battle of Lexington and Concord was fought in 1775. Today is the 250 anniversary of what was considered the first major battle against British regulars in the American War for Independence.

This series of skirmish-esque battles was fought in the early hours (roughly dawn) in Lexington before the Patriot militia retreated searching for supplies (and having had advance warning of said supplies were going to be confiscated by the British, they moved them to different locations). The next battle fought was on the Old North Bridge around 11am in Concord where the British forces retreated and regrouped with the main body in Lexington.

By this time, word had been spread so that the surrounding towns, villages and across state lines were starting to send their militias, swelling the Patriot forces and the British retreated back to Charlestown and through that, Boston.

In the end, this started the Siege of Boston. The accumulated Patriot militia forces would eventually be joined by General George Washington after the Battle of Bunker Hill (Battle of Breed's Hill) on June 17, 1775. There are no conclusive evidence that members of the 2nd Continental Light Dragoons served during this time in various militia, but it would stand to reason that they did answer the call to come to Lexington and Concord while the initial Patriot forces were engaged. Some did participate in the Siege of Boston (like Samuel B. Webb - who was not part of the 2DL, but b/c he features in my novels prominently, it would be a disservice not to include him; Nathan Hale, Elisha Sheldon, Ezekiel Belden, etc.). Tellingly, Benjamin Tallmadge did not join the militia or serve during the Siege of Boston - only joining after he and his friends visited the site (as mentioned in the 1st novel). But he did encourage his best friend Nathan Hale to join before him - citing his own duties and responsibilities that prevented him from joining at that time.

Samuel B. Webb joined during the Siege as part of the Wethersfield Militia as an ensign, and he and the rest of his company led by Captain John Chester (the same one that Tallmadge will eventually serve under in his first posting), were probably one of the very few with actual uniforms. They did feature in the Battle of Bunker Hill/Breed's Hill, rear guard and acquitted themselves well during the battle.

I'll be posting more come Battle of Bunker Hill/Breed's Hill anniversary (June 17th)!