HUDSON RIVER SOJOURN: Ticonderoga sunset elegy

MOUTH OF EAST CREEK - We anchored near the southern end of Lake Champlain, within eyesight of Mt. Defiance and Ticonderoga Point. More Benedict Arnold stories here.  More evidence of his irascibility.  

In this case his nemesis was Ethan Allen, leader of the backwoods-savvy Green Mountain Boys.  Revolutionary War time, Hudson River a critical transportation corridor, a lightly-guarded but strategically important fort called Ticonderoga overlooking the river .  The French controlled it and then the British took it away from them.

Then the Americans, having recently claimed their independence from England, decided to take the fort for river security.  The Green Mountain Boys were in Vermont, Arnold and his soldiers came up from the New York side.  When they met to discuss strategy for taking the fort, as the story goes, they squabbled over who would take the lead.  They eventually shared the power, decided on a predawn raid, and then caught the British sleeping.  Barely a shot was fired or a sword drawn. Shock and awe.  

The fort’s commander had to be shaken from sleep and allowed to pull on this drawers so he could properly surrender.  Arnold, a professional military officer, liked things done properly.  While he and the commander were politely going over details of the surrender, Allen’s boys found where the liquor was stored and celebrated their successful raid in whooping style. To the victors go the spoils. Arnold was tut tut about all that.

More raids up the lake.  More successes. More squabbling between Arnold and Allen about strategies and credit.  Two As.  Two type As.

I was thinking about all that a few days back as the sun started to set over New York and the bend in the river between Ticonderoga to the north and Mt. Defiance to the south.

Here’s a series of photographs - and philosophical musings - from that subtle and evolving light show that ended the day and started the night.