NEWSLETTER
Hold the Line for Liberty, an October 24–25 REAL TIME REVOLUTION® Signature Event, marks the 250th anniversary of the American stand that turned back a British invasion in 1776, with cannon, gunboats, horses and musketry on the ground where it happened
Ticonderoga, N.Y. – Three months after the Declaration of Independence was read to American troops at Ticonderoga, the soldiers who heard it were called on to defend the new United States. This October marks 250 years since that army turned back a British invasion from Canada and carried the American Revolution into another year. Fort Ticonderoga will commemorate the stand on the ground where it happened during Hold the Line for Liberty, Saturday and Sunday, October 24–25.
The two-day REAL TIME REVOLUTION® Signature Event commemorates the 250th anniversary of the American stand at Ticonderoga in late October 1776. As the nation marks its 250th, much of the attention turns to the Declaration of Independence. Hold the Line for Liberty tells the essential, little-told story of what it took to keep the Declaration’s promise alive, on the ground where it unfolded, in the same season, 250 years later.
Through demonstrations and immersive interpretation featuring cannon, gunboats, horses and muskets, visitors will explore how the Continental Army prepared to defend Ticonderoga, and the young nation, against a victorious British force advancing along Lake Champlain. Programs will bring the weapons, tactics, fortifications and daily experiences of the soldiers into focus, revealing the work and decisions behind the American stand. The full event schedule is available online.
“As the nation marks 250 years of independence, the story of October 1776 reminds us just how uncertain that independence was,” said Beth L. Hill, Fort Ticonderoga President and CEO. “The Declaration was barely three months old. There was no guarantee it would survive and no way for the soldiers standing here to know what would happen next. They knew only that a powerful British force was moving toward them and that they had to be ready. What they did here in late October is the reason the Revolution continued into 1777. No other historic site in America is telling the Revolution this way, on the very ground where it unfolded, in sequence and in real time.”
From Valcour Island to the American Stand at Ticonderoga
The story of Hold the Line for Liberty begins with the British advance from Canada. Through the summer of 1776, the Americans at Ticonderoga prepared to meet that invasion on water and on land. The Continentals raced to build a fleet that could defend the lake. On October 11, Benedict Arnold carried the fight north, engaging a larger British force at the Battle of Valcour Island. The Americans lost most of their fleet, and Arnold and the survivors fell back to Ticonderoga, where the campaign would be decided.
Waiting there was an army of nearly 13,000 Continentals and militia. Many had retreated from the failed invasion of Canada earlier that year, sick, undersupplied and overstretched. Under General Horatio Gates, they rebuilt themselves into a fighting force, constructing fortifications at Ticonderoga and on Mount Independence across the lake, mounting cannon and preparing to defend the route between Canada and the Hudson Valley.
On October 28, British vessels advanced within range of the American guns to test those defenses. The Americans held. That determined, heavily defended position, with winter approaching, turned the British back to Canada, ending the invasion of 1776.
The stand came on the same day that George Washington’s army was defeated at the Battle of White Plains. As one American army was driven from the field, another held the line for liberty. The defense of Ticonderoga blunted British efforts to split the colonies and destroy the Revolution, ensuring the United States would endure for at least another year.
America’s 250th at Fort Ticonderoga: REAL TIME REVOLUTION®
REAL TIME REVOLUTION® is Fort Ticonderoga’s commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, following the story arc of the fight for independence, day by day and season by season, 250 years to the moment, on the ground where it happened. Drawing on primary-source research, Fort Ticonderoga presents the people of 1776 not as figures who knew the outcome, but as individuals confronting genuine uncertainty and making choices that shaped the nation’s future.
Hold the Line for Liberty is the third in a series of fall Signature Events that has followed the 1776 campaign as it unfolded, building on Fleet & Fortification: The Science of Defense in August and Lodging as the Nature of the Campaign will Admit in September.
The story continues into Winter Quarters at Ticonderoga. On December 19, Riot! recreates the moment regional tensions within the Continental Army boiled over, as Pennsylvania soldiers turned on their New England comrades in a clash between “Yankees” and “Buckskins.”
In 2027, REAL TIME REVOLUTION® carries the story into 1777 and the 250th anniversary of the Burgoyne Campaign, when British forces return to Ticonderoga, take the heights above the fortress in July and set in motion the campaign that ultimately ends at Saratoga. The 250th anniversary of the fight for independence continues at Fort Ticonderoga.
In 2026, Fort Ticonderoga was named a “Best Living History” site for the nation’s 250th anniversary by USA TODAY 10BEST and served as a primary filming location for Netflix’s The American Experiment and Ken Burns’s The American Revolution on PBS.
Visitor Information
Hold the Line for Liberty takes place Saturday and Sunday, October 24–25, 2026, at Fort Ticonderoga. Signature Event programming is included with general admission and tickets are valid for two consecutive days. Visitors are strongly encouraged to purchase tickets online in advance. For more information and tickets, visit FortTiconderoga.org.
About Fort Ticonderoga: Welcoming visitors since 1909, Fort Ticonderoga is a major cultural destination, museum, historic site and center for learning. As a multi-day destination and the premier place to learn more about North America’s military heritage, Fort Ticonderoga engages more than 70,000 visitors each year with an economic impact of more than $16 million annually. Presenting vibrant programs, historic interpretation, boat cruises, tours, demonstrations and exhibits, Fort Ticonderoga is open for daily visitation May through October and special programs during Winter Quarters, November through April. Fort Ticonderoga is owned by The Fort Ticonderoga Association, a 501c3 non-profit educational organization, and is supported in part through generous donations and with some general operating support made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts. To view Fort Ticonderoga’s electronic press kit, click here.
© The Fort Ticonderoga Association. 2026 All Rights Reserved.
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