A Dominating Presence with Many Names

A Dominating Presence with Many Names. . , Mount Defiance, at 853 feet above sea level, rises 758 feet over the waters of Lake Champlain. The waters of Lake George tumble 220 feet, down 5 waterfalls, into Lake Champlain just below the base of Mount Defiance. , The promontory has gone by many names. The French army that arrived and began building Fort Carillon in 1775 knew it as “Rattlesnake Mountain.” The British referred to it as “Sugar Loaf Hill” for its resemblance to the cones of sugar sold in during the 18th century. Britain's German auxiliaries translated this into German, and called Mount Defiance der Zuckerhut. American forces occupied the Ticonderoga area beginning with the May 10, 1775 capture of Fort Ticonderoga. In 1776, after the 13 American colonies declared their independence from Great Britain, the American army referred to this position as “Mount Defiance.” , Mount Defiance overlooks Lake Champlain, which separates New York and Vermont. Fort Ticonderoga is visible to your left on the New York shore. Lake George is just hidden by the ridge to the west of Mount Defiance and the Adirondack Mountains extend to the west. Directly across the lake on the Vermont shore is Mount Independence. Beginning in 1776, the American army cleared this wooded peninsula to construct an extensive network of fortifications during the American Revolution. Over the winter of 1776 into 1777 a floating bridge connected Fort Ticonderoga and Mount Independence across the narrows of the lake below. The jagged outline of Vermont's Green Mountains is visible to the east. On a clear day the summits of many of Vermont's highest peaks, including Mount Ellen, Camel's Hump, and even Mount Mansfield, over 50 miles away, can be seen.