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image564“We should never despair, our situation before has been unpromising and has changed for the better, so I trust, it will again. If new difficulties arise, we must only put forth new exertions and proportion our efforts to the exigency of the times.”
General George Washington, in a letter to Major General Philip Schuyler, July 15, 1777, regarding the loss of Fort Ticonderoga in New York.
In 1777, the Revolutionary War seemed to be finally turning in the direction of the colonies. However, on July 6th, 1777, the colonies lost Fort Ticonderoga to the British. This was a surprise to Washington and opened the door for the British to split the Colonial Army in two. The defeat was so embarrassing, and such a significant loss, that the two generals who lost the battle were actually court marshaled for their surrender.

[NOTE:  During the American Revolutionary War, the fort saw action in May 1775 when the Green Mountain Boys and other state militia under the command of Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold captured it from the British in a surprise attack. Cannons captured were transported to Boston where their deployment forced the British to abandon the city in March 1776. The Americans held the fort until June 1777, when British forces under General John Burgoyne again occupied high ground above the fort and threatened the Continental Army troops, leading them to withdraw from the fort and its surrounding defenses. The only direct attack on the fort took place in September 1777, when John Brown led 500 Americans in an unsuccessful attempt to capture the fort from about 100 British defenders. The British abandoned the fort following the failure of the Saratoga campaign, and it ceased to be of military value after 1781. – from wikipedia]