Expeditionary· American Revolutionary War
Lake Champlain Operations
In 1775, soldiers serving as Marines sailed aboard the American armed vessels on Lake Champlain, where there were no roads and the lake itself was the only route.
The schooner Liberty and the sloop Enterprise cruised all summer to protect the outlying settlements and for reconnaissance. Soldiers were drafted or volunteered to act as Marines, and the Enterprise carried 4 officers, 10 sailors, and 17 Marines. One Ephraim Bills was a sergeant of Marines in her and was discharged on July 1, 1775. In late July the Liberty stopped along the lake so that Captain James Stewart and his lieutenant of Marines could go ashore to learn about British positions to the north. On August 28, 1775, the Enterprise and Liberty escorted a 1,200-man American force as it left Crown Point for St. Johns. After a failed attack in mid-September, the Americans occupied the British fort on the Richelieu River the following month. Both vessels were still part of the American fleet on the lake in late July 1776.
Engagements in this conflict (4)
Record no. 159