A frontier fortress in New York, USA, commanding the Champlain‐Hudson valley between Lake Champlain and Lake George. Built by the French as Fort Carillon in 1755, it held out against British attack in 1758, but the next year fell to Amherst, who renamed it. In the War of Independence it was surprised by Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen in 1775, recaptured by Burgoyne in 1777, but recovered by the Americans after Saratoga (1777).