America’s 250th birthday is bringing new attention to some of the country’s most important Revolutionary War landmarks, including two right here in Upstate New York: Saratoga National Historical Park and Fort Ticonderoga. 

Saratoga marks one of the war’s great turning points. Ticonderoga gave the Continental Army one of its first major victories. Today, the distance between these key locations feels attainable: a drive through northern New York, from one historic landmark to another. But in 1777, that path was anything but simple.

Soldiers couldn’t drive or catch a flight over the hills and dense forests from their homes to camp near the battlefield. They marched, rowed, camped, crossed, fought, retreated, and pushed forward through the landscape.  

They followed waterways, old military roads, rough forest paths, and river corridors. They passed through settlements, forts, farm country, and places where families were trying to live through the uncertainty of war.

Much of that route ran through what is now Washington County.

For travelers looking for historic sites near Saratoga Battlefield, or searching for places like Fort Ticonderoga to better experience the America 250 celebration, Washington County offers a different kind of Revolutionary story:

A story of the road between the landmarks. The hard miles before Saratoga. The smaller battles, military decisions, and local resistance that helped shape what happened next.

By the summer of 1777, General John Burgoyne’s army was coming south from Canada to the Hudson River Valley, hoping to cut New England off from the other colonies. Fort Ticonderoga sat near the strategic connection between Lake George and Lake Champlain, making it one of the most important gateways into northern New York. 

Its capture by American forces in 1775 had been a major early victory, and its recapture by British forces in July 1777 kicked off the next phase of Burgoyne’s campaign.

Dive into Burgoyne’s 1777 Saratoga campaign >>

For the American side, Patriot forces needed to slow Burgoyne’s army, gather reinforcements, protect the Hudson River corridor, and prepare for a larger defense farther south. 

That meant every road, creek, bridge, fort, and settlement between Ticonderoga and Saratoga mattered. The campaign that ended at Saratoga moved through real terrain, with exhausted soldiers, heavy equipment, and civilians living directly in the path of the war.

Whitehall sits at the southern end of Lake Champlain. During the Revolution, it was known as Skenesborough, a settlement tied to Philip Skene and positioned along one of the most important travel routes in the region.

Armies, boats, supplies, and information moved along Lake Champlain, which connected Canada to Albany and beyond. Control of the lake meant control of a route into the interior of New York.

Fort Ticonderoga stood near the connection between Lake George, the La Chute River, and Lake Champlain. From there, movement could continue south by water toward Skenesborough. In an era when moving troops and supplies over land was slow and difficult, that water route carried major military value.

In 1775, American forces captured Skenesborough in one of the first aggressive actions in New York. The following year, Benedict Arnold built his Lake Champlain fleet in Skenesborough Harbor. Those boats would fight at Valcour Island, delaying British movement and buying time at a critical moment in the war.

Skenesborough’s Revolutionary role continued later in the war, too. 

Around 1780 and 1781, it became a kind of neutral ground, where American and British forces met to spy, exchange prisoners, and conduct negotiations. 

Fort Ann may be one of the most important Washington County stops for understanding the road between Ticonderoga and Saratoga.

After Burgoyne’s troops forced the American evacuation of Fort Ticonderoga in July 1777, he pushed south from the Lake George and Lake Champlain passage. Part of that movement came through Skenesborough, now Whitehall, and then toward Fort Ann, where the route narrowed into rough country.

Earlier armies had used the same corridor during the French and Indian Wars, and fortifications were built there because the route carried real strategic value.

On July 7 and 8, Patriot forces made a stand. While they couldn’t defeat Burgoyne’s army, they did manage to significantly slow their march. American troops began felling trees as they retreated, blocking the road for the British army. That sabotage delayed the British advance long enough for Colonial forces to call for reinforcements and prepare defenses farther south.

By this point, Burgoyne’s army had momentum, but the march was becoming more difficult. Roads had been blocked. Supplies were strained. Patriot forces were retreating, regrouping, and looking for stronger ground farther south. The British still intended to reach the Hudson and continue toward Albany, but every mile through this corridor took time.

Fort Edward stood near one of the most important passages in the region. Long before the Revolution, the area had been tied to the Great Carrying Place, where people moved between waterways and overland routes. 

Forts had stood in the area during earlier colonial wars, too, and Rogers Island had been part of a major military complex during the French and Indian War.

Built in 1772, the Old Fort House served as a place where military, civic, and everyday life overlapped. Built by Patrick Smyth using “timbers salvaged from the ruins of the French and Indian War fortification, it was used by both British and American troops as headquarters. American General John Stark also used it, calling it Fort Stark; it was also utilized by British General John Burgoyne for a time.”

Visitors today can still step into that layered story at the Old Fort House Museum. The house, outbuildings, collections, and grounds connect Fort Edward’s military role with the people who lived, worked, and later preserved its memory there.

Fort Edward also carries one of the most widely remembered civilian stories of Burgoyne’s campaign: that of Jane McCrea.

McCrea was killed near Fort Edward on July 27, 1777. Her death spread quickly through Patriot circles and became part of the outrage surrounding Burgoyne’s campaign. The story was repeated, politicized, and used to shape public feeling during the war. 

Read more about Jane McCrea >>

South of Fort Edward, the route continued toward the Hudson crossings that led closer to Saratoga.

One marker identifies the position of Burgoyne’s bridge of boats across the Hudson River. For an army moving south, crossing the Hudson was a major operation: Troops, supplies, artillery, horses, and wagons all had to move across the water.

Nearby was also the British Army Camp marker where Burgoyne’s forces stayed before crossing the river, and Captain Furnival’s Battery, where artillery was placed to protect crossings.

George Washington’s later visit to Greenwich, Fort Edward, and Kingsbury in 1783 adds a postwar note to the route. After the fighting had ended, Washington toured northern battlefields and places tied to the conflict. 

Rogers Island, just off Fort Edward, adds an earlier but important layer to the route.

During the French and Indian War, the island was associated with Major Robert Rogers and Rogers’ Rangers. Military sites on and around the island included barracks, a hospital, and other infrastructure tied to the larger Fort Edward complex. Robert Rogers wrote his Rules of Ranging there in 1757, shaping military tactics that carried influence beyond that war.

By the time the Revolution began, this region had already been used, mapped, fortified, and fought over. 

Today, the Rogers Island Visitors Center helps visitors understand that longer timeline through exhibits, archaeology, and interpretation connected to Indigenous history, colonial warfare, Rogers’ Rangers, and Fort Edward’s role in the northern military corridor.

In the winter of 1775 to 1776, Henry Knox transported artillery from Fort Ticonderoga to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Those guns helped force the British Army to evacuate Boston, and the campaign became one of the Revolution’s best-known early successes. Learn more about Henry Knox >>