Basket-hilted broadsword carried by Ensign Peter Grant, 42nd Foot, at Ticonderoga, 1758

Fort Ticonderoga was a strategically important position in North America during the Seven Years War (1756-1763). In July 1758, a British force of 16,000 troops attacked the fort and was soundly defeated by less than 4,000 French defenders. Peter Grant's regiment alone suffered over 600 casualties in the attack and Grant himself was one of the wounded. The fort fell to the British in July 1759.