When Thérèse is chosen to do the coveted oral report on Ethan Allen, she learns a great deal about the Vermont hero and also discovers what pleasure she gets from writing and presenting the report.

The author of Vermont Firsts and Other Claims to Fame examines the pivotal American Revolutionary War skirmish and the men behind it. In April 1775, a small band of men set out from Hartford and traveled swiftly north toward the shore of Lake Champlain, recruiting men to their expedition along the way. Within only a few days, this loyal group of volunteers arrived in Vermont and, joining forces with Ethan Allen and his legendary Green Mountain Boys, launched a daring attack to capture more than one hundred cannons stored at Fort Ticonderoga. In this comprehensive look at “America's First Victory,” Richard Smith traces the Patriots’ route from Connecticut, through the towns of western Massachusetts and the Berkshire hills and north to Bennington, Vermont, and Lake Champlain. He chronicles the rival expedition led by Benedict Arnold, his confrontation with Allen, and the surprise attack that changed the course of the American Revolution.

After convincing his uncle to take him along on the expedition to capture Ticonderoga, a fourteen-year-old orphan plays an important part in making the campaign a success.

This book recounts the course of the ill-fated British attempt to capture Fort Ticonderoga in 1758 during the French-Indian Wars. The British foolishly attacked Ticonderoga head-on, leading to their defeat and the preservation of French Canada for the time being.

On July 8, 1758, British General James Abercromby ordered a controversial frontal assault of the French defenses on the Ticonderoga peninsula in upstate New York. Outnumbering the French by four to one, the capture of their fort, named Carillon, seemed all but assured. Once the fort—called the "key to a continent"—was in British hands the road would be open to invade Canada, capture Montreal and Quebec, and end the French and Indian War. The attack, however, would go horribly wrong and result in nearly 2,000 British casualties, the single bloodiest day of the entire war. It would be another year before the British, under a different commander, would capture the fortifications and rename them Fort Ticonderoga. The Epic Battles for Ticonderoga, 1758 examines the skirmishes and raids in the months leading up to the battle, discusses Abercromby's campaign in the larger context of British grand strategy for the year 1758, the roles of key military and political figures on both sides, and the conflict's aftermath.

The French and Indian War (also known as the Seven Years' War), was fought between 1754 and 1763. One of the major battles in the North American campaign was fought at Fort Carillon, also known as Ticonderoga. Fort Ticonderoga had been erected by the French in New York in 1755, on a site which they believed was the key to the defense of Canada. The fort was strategically situated to provide control of both the two-mile portage and navigation northward on Lake Champlain. General Montcalm was ordered to defend it, and the British were determined to take it by force. Although the British had the superior numbers, the battle went badly for them because their commander was killed in a small skirmish with the French before the battle began. On the 8th of July 1758, the French Forces under the leadership of General Montcalm defeated a superior British force led by General Abercrombie. This is the story of Elijah Estabrooks, a Massachusetts provincial soldier who fought in that battle. Elijah kept a Journal throughout his military service, and the purpose of this book is to provide additional details on the people and places that he wrote about during this war.