"On Monday Morning, Recruited By The Previous Day's Rest, I Left
Saratoga, And Travelled Forty-One Miles By Railway Through
A partially
cleared, and, in many parts, very beautiful country, to Whitehall,
which is at the southern end of Lake
Champlain, where we took a
steamer, a nice, orderly, and comfortable boat, and steamed to Rouse's
Point, 132 miles further. The scenery of the lake is very beautiful.
The ruins of the old fortress of Ticonderoga rise upon it, standing
upon a steep rocky headland, and commanding the lake, which narrows at
this point; a wide expanse of water swelling out both above and below.
Ticonderoga was taken from the French by the English, by the use of
artillery fired down from the mountain above it. In the American war of
independence it was taken from us by surprise by one Colonel Ethen
Allen. It is reported that Allen awakened the commandant, who was in
bed, and told him to surrender. 'By what authority?' said the half-
awakened officer. 'By the authority of the Lord Jehovah and the
Continental Congress,' replied Allen.
"About the middle of the lake is the thriving town of Burlington, the
chief town of Vermont. Here we stopped to take in passengers, and were
pleased with the bustle and activity of the place. The wharf was
crowded; and, as the day was hot, straw hats and shirt-sleeves, also
the mitigated form of comfort - viz., coat and trousers without
waistcoat - were abundant.
"It was dusk when we arrived at Rouse's Point, and we had not so good a
view as I could have wished of the extensive wharves and landings; the
boat, 300 feet long, built to carry over whole trains; and the
extensive station works of the Northern or Ogdensburgh Railroad, which
is just opened.
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