On 8 July 1758, a small French army of some 3,500 men commanded by General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm won an important victory over the 15,000 British troops of General James Abercromby at Fort Carillon.

The capture of Fort Ticonderoga was the first offensive victory for American forces in the Revolutionary War. It secured the strategic passageway north to Canada and netted the patriots an important cache of artillery.

The British finally captured Fort Carillon after the French retreated and destroyed a large part of the fort on July 26, 1759. The British forces, and the American serving with them, then renamed the site Fort Ticonderoga and maintained it until the Revolutionary War.

In July 1759, the British under General Sir Jeffrey Amherst did attack and the French abandoned the fort. As a result, the British gained a base from which to launch naval operations on Lake Champlain and into Canada.