Southern Defense Trail

Southern Defense Trail. . This walkway is a loop approximately 0.2 mile long with stairs and gentle slopes. It leads you past the remains of a blockhouse (near the parking area), provides a look at the Mount’s rock formations, and provides a vista of the lake south of the Mount. A spur from this walkway leads down to the M/V Carillon boat dock., The theme of the walkway, southern defenses, represents British rather than American concerns here at Mount Independence. Although a dock for supply ships was located a short distance east of the present M/V Carillon dock, and the Hubbardton military road ran approximately where the modern road is today, the Americans paid little attention to defending this part of the Mount. They expected a British attack from the north. Following the American retreat during the night of July 5-6, 1777, the British hastily constructed blockhouses and artillery positions that would defend against an expected American counter attack from the east and south., The attack came on September 18, 1777. Americans commanded by Colonels John Brown and Thomas Johnson attempted to recapture Mount Independence. But the British garrison was prepared. Blockhouses had been completed and artillery batteries had been set up. Cannon fire from British warships on the lake below and from the Mount was kept up day and night, creating a kind of no man’s land on the neck to the east, causing the Americans to withdraw.