Fort Ticonderoga has unveiled its newest exhibit, Bullets & Blades: The Weapons of America’s Colonial Wars and Revolution. The exhibit highlights over 150 of the museum’s most important weapons and is a comprehensive and expanded reinterpretation of its world renowned historic arms collection.

Divided into seven sections and including a wide variety of muskets, pistols, swords and powder horns (some of which are one of only two or three of their types known), the exhibit explores the weapons used in America from the early 1600s through the end of the American Revolution. The exhibit is included in Fort Ticonderoga’s general admission price and will be on display throughout the 2012 season.

“This is the first major new weapons exhibit the museum has undertaken in over half a century. The creation of this exhibit is an important step in a process to improve Fort Ticonderoga’s exhibits and make them more engaging and informative for the public,” said Chris Fox, Fort Ticonderoga Curator of Collections.

Bullets & Blades: The Weapons of America’s Colonial Wars and Revolution features important, never before seen, pieces from the Grafton H. and Barbara W. Cook Collection of historic weapons donated to Fort Ticonderoga in 2009. Highlights in the collection include numerous rare and important examples of British cavalry swords and pistols and the massive basket-hilted swords carried by Scottish Highland troops.

Additional important highlights from the Cook Collection include an extremely rare British military pistol used during the reign of England’s King James II and a fine example of the important Ferguson patent breech loading rifle whose technological innovations resulted in the British army’s first breech loading firearm adopted in 1776. The oldest weapons in the exhibit were donated by Mr. and Mrs. Cook including a rare early 17th century matchlock musket similar to the type used by Samuel de Champlain during his brief engagement with the Iroquois Indians on the Ticonderoga peninsula in 1609.

For more details visit www.fortticonderoga.org or call 518-585-2821.