Combat· American Revolutionary War
Capture of Liberty at Skenesborough
In May 1775, while Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold took Fort Ticonderoga, a detachment of Allen's men under Captain Samuel Herrick went to Skenesborough (Whitehall) at the head of Lake Champlain.
There they seized Major Philip Skene, a loyalist landowner, his family, and a small schooner. On May 11, 1775, the schooner, rechristened the Liberty, set out for Ticonderoga under Captain Eleazer Oswald. She arrived on the 14th and was quickly armed with four carriage guns and six swivels. The force controlling the lake could control the passage of all troops in the area. On May 16 the Liberty sailed north to join Arnold's expedition to St. Johns, her sailors commanded by Captain John Sloan and her soldiers by Oswald. The Americans took the fort there and the sloop George III, which was renamed the Enterprise. Seven men of Herrick's company were drafted or volunteered to serve as Marines in the Enterprise, which carried 4 officers, 10 sailors, and 17 Marines.
Record no. 160