Dawn Attack

Directly ahead, through the gap in the hills, ran the Military Road which connected the American garrison at Mount Independence on Lake Champlain with sites on the Connecticut River. American forces used this road as their escape route during their retreat from Fort Ticonderoga and Mount Independence. It was in this gap that the American pickets fired on the British scouts at about 5 a.m. on the morning of July 7, 1777. This marked the beginning of the battle.<br><br>Down the valley below, the Military Road crossed Sucker Brook where sick and wounded soldiers had encamped the night before the battle. Colonel Nathan Hale had been left in charge of this group of invalids. The main part of his 2nd New Hampshire regiment was encamped to the west of this group.<br><br>Heavy fighting started at about 7 a.m. Major Robert Grant and an advance British force attacked the Americans encamped near Sucker Brook where Grant was killed. Some of the Americans, who had gone down into the valley to assist the American soldiers encamped there, retreated back to the top of the hill where you are now standing.