Fort Ticonderoga - Worth the Visit & Ambulance Corps Connection

First off, the folks at Fort Ticonderoga are doing a fabulous job and it is well worth the visit. Of course, the time period is before anything I have focused on - French and Indian War and then the American Revolution.

This year, 2014, they are representing an American group from Pennsylvania, in 1776.

In any event, Stephen H.P. Pell started the restoration of the grounds of the fort, and currently they have three stone buildings, plenty of cannons, a beautiful garden and a house that I believe they are trying to renovate to become a bed & breakfast.

BUT, what has me writing today is that Pell apparently felt very strongly about the events in World War I and he joined before the Americans were engaged, thereby joining the French Army. Later, when the Americans joined in April 1917, he transferred over to the American Army Ambulance Corps.

Here is Pell in his French uniform.


The curators of the fort don't say much here, but on the fort's web site they indicate:

Stephen Hyatt Pelham Pell (1874-1950) was the grandson of William Ferris Pell. In 1883, according to family lore, 9-year old Stephen found a bronze flint tinder box in the ruins of Fort Ticonderoga and pledged that he would restore the Fort someday. During the Spanish American War (1898) he served in the U.S. Navy. In1899, he formed S.H.P. Pell & Company, a Wall Street coffee, cotton, and stock brokerage firm.
On September 2, 1908 he attended the Press Clambake hosted by the Ticonderoga Historical Society to arouse interest in a campaign to have the Federal Government purchase the Fort Ticonderoga Garrison Grounds from the Pell family. On his return to New York City he enlisted the aid of his wife, Sarah Gibbs Thompson Pell, and her father, Colonel Robert M. Thompson, to buy the other family members’ interests in the Garrison Grounds and thereby begin the restoration of the Fort.
In late July1914, the worldwide collapse of the cotton market due to the start of World War I forced his firm into receivership. In 1917, Pell enlisted in the French Army’s ambulance corps. After America entered the war in April of that year, he was transferred to the American Army’s ambulance corps and was wounded in action in August 1918. From his return to the United States in 1919 to his death in 1950, Pell dedicated his time to the management of the Fort and its continuing restoration. Stephen Pell is buried in the family plot just below his beloved Fort.

Pell was also instrumental with the American Numismatic Society and from their web site I learned about his French Medals:

Pell was also a decorated war veteran, having served in both the Spanish-American and First World Wars. In the latter conflict, Pell served initially with the French Army in the the American Volunteer Ambulance Service. After America's entry into the war, he joined the U.S. Army Ambulance Corps. Wounded in action, Pell received both the Croix de Guerre and Legion of Honor for this service.

I'm afraid my research on line about Pell and the Corps has dead ended. It would be interesting to see if I found anything in the Archives, but from this search it doesn't seem that he was a significantly major player in the organization - just that he was very patriotic and he jumped in with both feet.

No mention of him from Herb, so far as I remember.