Battlefields & Campaigns
General Wooster in the capture of Louisburg (1745), the French & Indian War (1754-1763), and the American Revolution (1775-1777)
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During the French and Indian War (1754-1763) Wooster served under British General Jeffery Amherst in the campaign to take Fort Ticonderoga from the French. His Orderly Book of 1759 is a treasure trove of daily military life in the British Army. Wooster was the Colonel of the Day for the majority of the campaign, which was successful in taking the fort. This experience serving in the British Military proved invaluable to Wooster in the up-coming American Revolution. The capture of Fort Ticonderoga by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold in 1775 was due in large part to Wooster's planning and strategy - a result of his time and experience spent at Ticonderoga in 1759.
In the collections at Fort Ticonderoga,s Archives is a wooden canteen (seen above) with the name "D. Wooster" on the side. David Wooster was at Fort Ticonderoga in 1759. If you click on the web-page above you will see that the date the archivist has given the canteen fits the time when Wooster, serving as a Colonel of Connecticut Militia, was stationed there under British General Jeffery Amherst.
The Map of New England, seen below, shows a great portion of the American Colonies that General Wooster helped to defend. In 1775, at the age of 65, David Wooster was the oldest general officer in the American Continental Army. He was 22 years older than the Commander-in-Chief, George Washington, and 31 years older than Benedict Arnold, who served under Wooster in Connecticut until turning traitor in 1780. Arnold's raid on the Connecticut coast in 1781 destroyed Wooster's property, along with countless others.
The maps below show the many locations of General Wooster throughout his involvement in the American Revolution (1775-1777). Wooster was first promoted to Brigadier-General of Connecticut troop (before there was a Continental Army). When the Continental Congress created the Continental Army and placed Washington in command, they "promoted" David Wooster as third Major-General of Continental troop (this was actually a demotion from his position in Connecticut).
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