The French & Indian War Society Newsletter March 2015 President-­‐Melodie Viele, Edited by Joseph W. Zarzynski, RPA Lake George Battlefield Park, Proposed Archaeology Work for 2015 By Dr. David R. Starbuck (Plymouth State University & SUNY Adirondack)
Some of the recent archaeological fieldwork in the Lake George Battlefield Park was summarized in the October 2014 Newsletter, and a final report on the 2014 season has been submitted to the New York State Museum. Artifacts continue to be identified and computer-­‐coded at Plymouth State University, and the final artifact catalog will be turned in to the State Museum by May. As the project moves forward, a new permit application has also been submitted to the State Museum, requesting work at several historic sites in the Battlefield Park during this coming summer. Because approval from the State Archaeologist’s Office is essential before new work can proceed, plans for 2015 are still tentative at this point. However, what is currently proposed is a field school that will run for a six-­‐week period (July 6-­‐August 14) under the sponsorship of SUNY Adirondack, with the field laboratory again based in the Cemetery Building at Fort William Henry. A team of experienced avocational archaeologists, combined with college students, will work under the supervision of Dr. David Starbuck to conduct survey work in several areas of the Battlefield Park. Once again there will be daily public talks and weekly tours throughout the course of the field season. Given the large numbers of visitors to Lake George during the summer months, we anticipate an enthusiastic public response and a greater visitation to the Battlefield Park than ever before. (We welcomed several thousand visitors to our project in the summer 2014.) As in the past, this new phase of research and public education will focus upon better understanding and protecting the unique historic sites on this hilltop, and students and volunteers will have the opportunity to participate both in archaeological testing and laboratory work. The permit application proposes survey work within the following areas, recognizing that archaeology will need to continue into additional field seasons: 1) The entrenched camp of August 1757, on the eastern side of the modern tour road, was repeatedly “walked” during the 2014 season as we 1
sought to determine its extent. The entrance into the camp is visible today, and there are depressions and earthworks, but no archaeology has ever been conducted to determine whether there are significant remains left behind by Colonel Munro and the 1,800 men who encamped here. Because of this area’s direct tie-­‐in with Fort William Henry and The Last of the Mohicans story, the definition of features here could form a wonderful basis for fresh interpretation and enhanced visitation within the Park. 2) There is an extensive, potentially significant expanse in-­‐
between the sole surviving bastion of Fort George and the rear of the Pavilion Building in the Park. This area also was frequently “walked” in the summer of 2014 in an attempt to determine whether the many depressions here are cultural in nature or simply natural (tree throws or perhaps depressions that have derived from the quarrying of limestone). This “central” area within the Park is extensive. It could easily have held many tent sites when Abercrombie’s and Amherst’s armies were camped in the Park, and only archaeology can establish whether the many depressions are military in origin. 3) The lime kiln that our team identified on the western edge of the Park (see Fig. 1) appears well-­‐preserved, and it has the potential to become a popular site for visitors if it can be properly exposed and interpreted. We recommend trenching to find the interior wall of the kiln, possibly followed by a more thorough excavation if all State agencies can agree on how best to exhibit this to the public. Fig. 1—A lime kiln at Fort George that was excavated in 2014 (credit: Dr. David Starbuck). And 4) The events of the Battle of Lake George (Sept. 8, 1755) have yet to be definitively located, although there are ample opinions as to its location. Battlefield remains often prove to be extremely ephemeral, representing, after all, only a few hours of time. It may prove extremely difficult to differentiate archaeologically between these events and those that occurred in the Park over the next 25 years. Nevertheless, in 2015 we hope to begin efforts to find archaeological traces of the Battle of Lake George.
The Sloop Halifax By Dr. Russell P. Bellico In July 1758 the British assembled the largest military force to date in North America at the southern end of Lake George. The opposing French force of 3,500 men had entrenched itself about a half-­‐mile west of Fort Carillon (Ticonderoga) behind a long breastwork of logs. The 15,000-­‐
man British and provincial army had hoped to easily defeat the French at Ticonderoga, but after six hours of 2
fighting and nearly 2,000 casualties, they retreated in panic. Following the disaster at Ticonderoga, the British and provincial troops remained at the south end of Lake George for the rest of the year, engaged in building warships for use in future campaigns. Ten days after returning from Ticonderoga, Captain Samuel Cobb, an experienced shipwright and officer in a Massachusetts provincial regiment, noted that he “Began to Work on a Sloop to Draft and Mould her.” The vessel was built at a “shipyard at ye southeast corner” of the lake, according to Captain Henry Champion with the provincial troops from Connecticut. In spite of unhealthy living conditions and rampant illness, the provincial carpenters labored on the sloop each day. On August 9, Benjamin Glasier, a ship carpenter from Ipswich, Massachusetts, reported that the sloop became stuck on her ways after moving only ten feet during an attempted launching. The sloop (see Fig. 2) was successfully launched the next morning and was later named the Earl of Halifax. Fig. 2—Sloop Earl of Halifax (drawing: Montserrat Centeno, courtesy of Dr. Russell P. Bellico) Contemporary accounts describe the vessel as “51 Feet Keel, about 100 Tons” while modern sources indicate that the Halifax was 69 feet long and 90 tons. On August 17, the mast was set on the Halifax; four days later the sloop was armed with “ten four pounders…and two more to be carried and twelve swivels.” The Halifax sailed on August 25 to the Narrows on her first cruise. Upon her return three days later, the cannons were test fired, which was met by a resounding 21-­‐gun salute from the shoreline. The Halifax completed six cruises during the remaining season. After receiving reports from scouts, the French called the Halifax “a bark carrying twelve four-­‐pounders” and believed the British and provincial troops were preparing for another attack on Carillon by October. Due to the lateness of the season and other factors, plans for any further military action in 1758 were dropped. On October 20, Lieutenant Leonard Spaulding recorded that the sloop “was Brought a long side the wharf and her cannon all…taken of[f] in order to be Sunk in the Lake”; the next day Lieutenant Samuel Thompson noted “unrigging the Sloop.” Shortly thereafter, the Halifax was sunk using “cribs made of planks fastened on ye sides…and filled with stone to sink, &c…” Since Fort William Henry had been destroyed by the French in 1757, no garrisoned fort could protect the vessels during the winter. Placing the Halifax in “cold storage” at the bottom of the lake, with retrieval planned for the spring of 1759, was the only available option. The French did observe the Halifax underwater, but did not raise the vessel. The late spring of 1759 saw the massing of another British and 3
provincial army at Lake George with the objective to capture Forts Carillon and St. Frédéric (Crown Point) on Lake Champlain. By June 25, Captain Joshua Loring, the commander of the naval forces, was busy trying to bring the sloop Halifax to the surface. On July 4, after 10 days labor, the Halifax was brought slightly above water and “Drag[ge]d” to one of the wharfs at the southern shore of Lake George. It took several more days to bail the vessel out, make repairs, cut a new mast, and dig up the cannons. When the vessels of the expedition advanced toward Ticonderoga on July 21, 1759, the Halifax sailed at the rear of the flotilla. After the successful campaign against the French forts at Ticonderoga and Crown Point, the Halifax was apparently used for transport duty on Lake George for a short time. Years later a British report listed the sloop built at Lake George in 1758 as “Lay’d up and Decay’d.” Another report suggested that the Halifax was “Lost [or] broken Up [in] 1760.” Where the “bones” of this old warship lay today remains a mystery. 1756: Paul Revere at Fort William Henry By Joseph W. Zarzynski, RPA (Register of Professional Archaeologists) (Originally published in the Lake George Mirror newspaper, July 25, 2014). Boston-­‐born Paul Revere (c.1735-­‐1818) is one of our country’s most historic figures from the colonial era. However, the man who was immortalized by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-­‐1882) in the poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride,” also spent time in 1756 as a provincial soldier at Fort William Henry. Longfellow’s poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride,” was first published in 1861 in The Atlantic Monthly. The verse told of Revere’s legendary horse ride (see Fig. 3) on April 18, 1775 to warn patriots in Massachusetts of the British advance from Boston toward Concord. At the time, Revere was a little known silversmith and engraver. Today, practically every American school child has heard the first few lines of Longfellow’s composition: “Listen, my children, and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-­‐Five: Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year.” Fig. 3—“The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere” depicts Revere’s April 18, 1775 ride to warn the Minutemen. In 1756, he served at Fort William Henry (credit: National Archives and Records Administration). Longfellow’s memorable poem, however, was peppered with inaccuracies and omissions including 4
forgetting two other riders, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott, who likewise warned the Minutemen of the British military incursion. Regardless of fact, Revere is amongst our pantheon of American heroes. What is little known to most Americans is that Revere spent time at Fort William Henry, a French & Indian War (1755-­‐1763) frontier fortress. A six decades old document in the Fort William Henry Museum & Restoration collection sheds light upon Revere’s time at the British garrison. In 1954, the Lake George Chamber of Commerce sent a letter to an official at Fort William Henry Corporation informing them of an inquiry the Chamber made to the Massachusetts Historical Society. The chamber letter cited the historical society’s librarian relating a document written by Paul Revere on April 27, 1816, two years before he died. Revere noted that he was at Fort William Henry from May to November 1756. A 21-­‐year-­‐old Second Lieutenant in an artillery company, Revere said he was part of the British force assembled for an expedition into the Champlain Valley to seize the French stronghold of “Crown Point”; in 1756, the fortress was called Fort St. Frédéric. The British would not launch a major invasion into the Champlain Valley in 1756, but did so in 1758 and again in 1759. Britain went on to win the French & Indian War. Afterwards, Revere became dissatisfied with British rule. In 1773, he was among the patriots disguised as Mohawks at the Boston Tea Party. During his April 18, 1775 gallop, he worked for the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, an anti-­‐British group. Later, Revere was criticized for leadership failures in the 1779 Penobscot campaign in Maine. After the Revolution, his foundry made copper and brass fasteners for the 44-­‐
gun frigate USS Constitution (“Old Ironsides”). Largely due to Longfellow’s poem, history is quite flattering to this patriot. For those of us locally, Paul Revere toiled at Fort William Henry in 1756, thus we revere him even more. Some French & Indian War-­‐
Related Events in 2015: June 20 & 21; July 14 & 15; August 18 & 19; September 19 & 20; October 17 & 18—Community Days, Fort William Henry Museum, Lake George, NY: Residents (with proof of residency) of Warren, Washington, Essex, and Saratoga Counties get free admission. For info on all Fort William Henry Museum events: (www.fwhmuseum.com/events.html). June 27-­‐28—Scout Days at Fort William Henry Museum, Lake George, NY: Bring your scout to Fort William Henry for a special day of living history. July 16-­‐19—French & Indian War Grand Encampment 2015 (Western, PA): Cheeseman's Farm/Portersville Steam 5
Show Grounds, Portersville, PA (near Washington's Trail of 1753). Saturday, July 17, 2015 is the 260th anniversary re-­‐enactment of Braddock's Defeat (www.grandencampment.org). August 8-­‐9—Silver Moon Intertribal Pow Wow at Fort William Henry Museum, Lake George, NY: Native American dancers, drums, foods, and storytelling. August 9—258th Anniversary of the Surrender of Fort William Henry, Lake George, NY: Ceremony marking the surrender of the fort to the French under General Montcalm in 1757. Time: 12:00 noon. September 25-­‐27—260th Anniversary of the Battle of Lake George, Battlefield Park, Lake George, NY: British, French, and Native American re-­‐enactors will recreate an 18th century military camp at Lake George Battlefield Park with a re-­‐enactment of the 1755 Battle of Lake George. Camps open: Saturday, 9 am-­‐5 pm; Sunday, 9 am-­‐4 pm. October 2—March to Fort Edward, NY: Re-­‐enactment troops will leave Fort William Henry Museum for a 16 mile march to Fort Edward on the Warren County bike path, similar to location of the old military road, reaching Fort Edward for the “end of the campaign.” October 3-­‐4—“The End of the Campaign” at Rogers Island, Fort Edward, NY: 18th century encampment, re-­‐enactments, camp life, and sutlers. Robert Rogers wrote his rules of ranging while at Fort Edward, the basis of today’s special forces. Join re-­‐enactor troops and Native Americans as they prepare for the “End of the Campaign” for the year. October 7—Home School Day at Fort William Henry Museum, Lake George, NY: Home school students and parents are invited to a special day of living history. October 24—Fort by Firelight at Fort William Henry, Lake George, NY: Escape from the fort in the dark of night while being chased by the enemy! November 7—Field of Flags at Fort William Henry, Lake George, NY: Veterans Appreciation Week. A field of flags, each with a name of a veteran, will grace the west lawn of the fort. Musket salute and wreath laying ceremony on Veterans Day, November 11 at 11 am. _________________________________ ***The French & Indian War Society, Inc. was formed in 1999 by a group of area historians, archaeologists, and enthusiasts working to foster a continuing appreciation for the Lake George region’s involvement in this pivotal event in American History. The Society sponsors re-­‐enactments, lectures, workshops, and produces a quarterly newsletter. For more information about the Society, including membership details, visit the website (www.frenchandindianwarsociety.org). Society Mailing Address: The French & Indian War Society, Inc. P.O. Box 686 Lake George, NY 12845 6