USS Ticonderoga was a 17-gun schooner built in 1814. She was large for a schooner, with 120 feet in length between perpendiculars and 350 long tons. In September 1814, the Ticonderoga schooner participated in the famous Battle of Plattsburgh. Under the command of Lt. Stephen Cassin, she played a crucial role in the victory that helped end the 1812 war in American favor.

Ticonderoga in the Battle of Plattsburgh:

In September 1814, American land and naval forces in and around Plattsburgh, New York, confronted a British-Canadian invasion force of nearly 10,000 men. The invaders intended to capture large swaths of American territory and thereby coerce American peace negotiators to accept exorbitant British demands.

A small American force had fortified Plattsburgh, on the south bank of the river, and the British force could go no further until the town and river crossing were taken. An American naval squadron under Lieutenant Thomas Macdonough, had sailed earlier into Plattsburgh Bay with his squadron of 14 vessels. Macdonough’s vessels was meant to challenge the British squadron to come out and fight.

The resulting engagement would be among the most decisive in American naval history. Most accounts of the battle focus on Macdonough’s tactical ingenuity and the heavyweight brawl between the squadrons’ flagships. Less heralded in modern sources is the able performance of the schooner Ticonderoga tasked with holding the southern end of the American line. During three hours of battle, the USS Ticonderoga faced 11 British gunboats and a British schooner. Her guns engaged nearly every British vessel on the line, and raked the British flagship at a critical juncture in the battle. Her stand would preserve the American line, helping ensure American dominance of the lake.

On board Ticonderoga, 16-year-old midshipman Hiram Paulding commanded the second division of guns. The young officer found that the slow burning matches to fire his cannon were defective. Determined that his division would join the fight, Paulding struck the flintlock hammer of his pistol over the touchhole of the cannon, producing a spark that fired the guns and exposed his hand to white hot flame. He repeated this painful act for the duration of the battle. The midshipman’s actions at the battle would be well known Navy legend by the time Paulding was commissioned rear admiral five decades later.

Captain Cassin was awarded the honor of carrying the captured British colors to Washington. Cassin later received a promotion to master commandant and a Congressional Gold Medal along with other commanders at Plattsburgh. Across the Atlantic, the defeat at Plattsburgh caused British negotiators to drop their punitive demands and sign the Treaty of Ghent on Christmas Eve 1814, officially ending the war.

After the war, Ticonderoga was laid up and later sold. Her  remains were raised from Lake Champlain in 1958 and are now on public display in Whitehall, New York.

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Learn more about the schooner Ticonderoga 1814 here: https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/wars-conflicts-and-operations/1812/ticonderoga-plattsburgh.html

https://www.navsource.org/archives/09/86/86532.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Ticonderoga_(1814)