Remarks by:
Regional Historic Site Administrator Elsa Gilbertson
State Historic Preservation Officer Jane Lendway
Lake Champlain Maritime Museum Executive Director Art Cohn

Mount Independence and What Makes It Special
by Regional Historic Site Administrator Elsa Gilbertson

Today we gather at this special place that once rang with the sounds of soldiers, soldiers, everywhere— cutting down trees, pitching tents, constructing huts, drilling, and using this rugged landscape to build a vast and sophisticated three-tiered fortification—all in the name of independence. In fact it is so special that it is named after the Declaration of Independence, which the American soldiers here heard for the first time on July 28, 1776, just as they were starting to build this fortification to guard against British attack from the north.

We learn about the stories of these soldiers-Americans who were here from July 1776 to July 5, 1777, and then the British and Germans in the summer and fall of 1777—through the journals and military records that miraculously survived; through the cannon balls, musket balls, grape shot, grenades, shovels, pickaxes, knives, forks, bottles, cufflinks, dishes, and even fish bones they left on the ground and under the water; through their belongings that have been carefully preserved by their descendants; through the traces of their buildings on the landscape; and by walking in their very footsteps.

How incredibly fortunate we are that the State of Vermont and the Pell family, now the Fort Ticonderoga Association, had the foresight years ago to purchase this special place in order to save it for us and for every generation to come. This place is one of the best-preserved Revolutionary War archaeological sites in the country. Thousands upon thousands of soldiers once criss-crossed its every rugged inch, and as we walk along the trails their lingering presence triggers our imaginations and gives us moments of great wonder.

This spring I was showing Mount Independence to a tour operator, who was doing research for a bus tour she was developing on the theme of Yankee Ingenuity. She saw the extent of the Mount by looking at the exhibits and trails and saw how it all was built by hand in a howling wilderness with tools that had to be hauled in from great distances. She took all this in and just said quietly, "It makes you want to cry." Now we don't normally aim to make our visitors cry, but in this case it was a good thing.

This place called Mount Independence we also treasure for its natural beauty, for its presence on OUR Great Lake, for vivid winters, for the tender beauties of spring and summer, and for the mind-blowing glories of autumn. And even though all this rain has given us more headaches than you even want to imagine (which is nothing compared to the flooded farm fields of our neighbors), it has provided some good things, such as the impossibly green and lush moss and ferns softening the rocks and ledges the soldiers daily struggled with—and over.

This monument to freedom, independence, and the sacrifices of thousands of soldiers on both sides is now a peaceable kingdom, home to rare and endangered plants, and a sanctuary for birds and wild animals of all kinds. Indeed this past winter the deer, wild turkeys, and rabbits were the first living beings to make regular use of the trail we open today.

The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation is honored and proud to be charged with preserving this place and welcoming visitors to experience its secrets and treasures. It is fitting we are gathered here at this time to open a trail that makes accessible the works of the southern defenses. In this month, June of 2005, we've been working hard to get ready for this day and the summer ahead. In this month, June, of 1777 American forces here and at Fort Ticonderoga were on edge, greatly aware that Lt. General John Burgoyne and his British and German troops were pressing ever closer down Lake Champlain. They were scrambling like mad to complete or repair the necessary fortifications to prevent Burgoyne from splitting New England off from the rest of the colonies.

Two-hundred twenty-eight years ago on Tuesday Polish engineer and patriot Thaddeus Koskiusko reviewed the works on the Mount to advise what new defenses should be built. And it was 228 years ago this coming Monday that American engineer Jeduthan Baldwin noted in his journal, "began the works at 3 places on Mt. Independence." These were the three cannon batteries of the southern defenses designed and built by Koskiusko and 500 men in the two weeks before the Americans decided it was the better part of valor to withdraw in the face of Burgoyne and save the Northern Army for another day.

This place, Mount Independence, is history where it happened.

"The British are coming, the British are coming." Can you feel it?

Welcome and Opening Remarks
Jane Lendway, State Historic Preservation Officer

Hello, my name is Jane Lendway. I'm the State Historic Preservation Officer with the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation. We are the stewards of Mount Independence. Together with the Mount Independence Coalition, I thank you for joining us today as we celebrate the opening of the Southern Battery Trail. We are honored to have you all here.

• Native Americans and Revolutionary War soldiers made the first trails and paths here at the Mount.
• Animals and grazing cows used the paths in the 19th and much of the 20th century.
• In the 1960s much of the Mount was purchased by the State and six miles of trails were laid out, labeled in red, white, blue, and orange.
• Thirty years later, in 1996, we opened the Visitor Center.

Our role as stewards of this National Historic Landmark--the highest designation bestowed upon places of history--is to protect its irreplaceable physical features, as well as interpret them to the public. Our Visitor Center prepares people with the story of life on the Mount, with drawing of what it looked like, and with artifacts from the site.

But we also want to get people onto the Mount, to see, feel, and imagine history where it happened. To walk where Native Americans, young and idealistic men and their families walked, lived, and died.

To that end we completed a Master Trails plan, prepared by Openspace management of Great Barrington, MA, and office of Robert A. White, landscape architect and planners of Norwich, VT, several years ago.

As funding becomes available, we will build trail improvements that lie lightly on the land and blend with the natural features of the Mount.

Some will be walking trails, four to six feet wide, so people can walk side by side. Hiking trails will be simple footpaths with occasional physical challenges. To date we've completed the beautiful trail that starts at the parking lot and leads down to the Carillon cruise boat dock, and the trail from the Visitor Center up to the trail head. With the exceptionally varied and challenging topography, the Mount should please every ability and interest with its variety of trails.

Today we open the first phase of the Southern Battery Trail-our first accessible trail-with its packed surfaces and shallow slopes, meeting the national standards for ADA outdoor trails.

We are grateful to Senator Jeffords for the generous National Park Service funding that he obtained for this project. We also thank our other funder-the Vermont Transportation Agency-for awarding us a Transportation Enhancement grant to complete this project.

In the history of Mount Independence, today's small event is a mere blip. But to us, we celebrate it as the beginning of a time when more people will be able to explore the Mount and witness where history happened.

Mount Independence Trail Dedication
Remarks by Art Cohn

Today as we stand on the Mount, ready to dedicate this new trail, it seems fitting to reflect back to the time when this place was first transformed from forest to fortification.

The new trail is a great accomplishment of engineering, and I thought it would be appropriate to examine the work of Jeduthan Baldwin, the American chief engineer who, from July 1776 to July 1777, was responsible for creating much of what became Mount Independence.

During this time, Jeduthan Baldwin kept a journal which was published and more than 20 years ago, my friend and mentor Bob Maguire provided me with a copy, which I had the great pleasure to re-read yesterday.

Col. Baldwin was an amazing and talented man and viewing the Revolution through his eyes we can view the siege of Boston and George Washington's table to New York City, the Hudson River, Albany, Lake George, and the failed Canadian Invasion. It was in the aftermath of that disaster that we are brought to this place.

In July of 1776, the Americans were trying to figure out where to stop their retreat and make their stand to block the British Invasion.

They finally settled on Fort Ticonderoga, and on July 8, Baldwin crosses the lake and "Viewd the grounds on the East Side of ye lake with Col. Trumbull."

A few days later, Baldwin "Went over to the point with 200 men to clear a road, dig a well ect."

For the next year, Baldwin reports on a dizzying amount of projects and activity; He laid out a parks for artillery, repaired vessels, built batteries and redoubts, hospitals, laboratories, barracks storehouses, wharves and even a crane to raise materials from the lake to the top of the Mount.

In October 1776, in the aftermath of the Battle of Valcour Island, Baldwin hastily deployed a chain and log boom across the lake and built the first of his two "Great Bridges". Baldwin tirelessly strengthened the defenses for an attack that did not come.

During the winter of 1777, Jeduthan Baldwin's executed his most extraordinary engineering accomplishment, the construction of a "Great Bridge" across Lake Champlain "… from Ticonderoga to Independent point."

Using the ice as a platform and in a remarkably short time, Baldwin and his men had assembled timber and stone and began building 22 log-cabin, evenly spaced "caissons" across the lake.

Each caisson was approximately 24-foot square and rose approximately 35-feet from lake bottom to top, with its upper portion extending several feet above the waters surface. To these fixed caissons, the Americans secured a floating "foot bridge".

In early July, 1777, just a year after Baldwin first began to transform this wild place into a defensible fortification, and in the face of overwhelming British force, the American's at Fort Ticonderoga used the "Great Bridge" to escape—to fight again—handing General Burgoyne his first defeat at Bennington, and a decisive, war-changing defeat at Saratoga.

After Burgoyne's defeat, the British forces stationed on the Mount abandoned this place, throwing significant quantities of war material into the lake rather than haul it back to Canada.

Since that time we have spent endless hours trying to figure out just how Baldwin and his men were able to accomplish such a daunting task in so short a span of time.

Today at Mount Independence, through its Visitors Center and trails, residents and visitors can view archaeological material recovered from land and water and view several caisson timbers from the "Great Bridge."

As we celebrate the opening of this new trail, it is a fair question to ask "What value does historic sites like Mount Independence and Fort Ticonderoga have for society today?

To me, walking the Mount today, with access to all provided by the current stewards of this special place, we are provided the opportunity to travel back in time and reflect on the American struggle for Independence.

We are exposed and connected to the events, concepts and governing principles that resulted in this experiment we call the United States of America, and drove Jeduthan Baldwin and the soldiers here to accomplish the seemingly impossible.