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Of Bumps and Obelisks
By Joe Craig, Park Ranger When the Prospect Hill Cemetery was established in 1865, remnants of General John Burgoyne’s final entrenchments were still visible. The construction of the cemetery resulted in the complete eradication of that direct link to the events of 1777. Such actions often elicit a yelp of pain from modern historians, but
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Mythinterpretations
“Contrariwise”, continued Tweedledee, “if it was so, it might be; and if it were so it would be; but as it isn’t it ain’t. That’s logic”. Through the Looking Glass: and what Alice found there Lewis Carroll For quite a few years now the TV show “Mythbusters” has been trying to prove or disprove long
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Loyalist John Peters
By Joe Craig, Park Ranger When General Burgoyne’s army capitulated its roster included four titled nobles, perhaps a half dozen members of Parliament (including General Burgoyne) and one former member of the Continental Congress: John Peters. Peters in 1774 had been appointed from his district in what is now Vermont to be part of the FirstContinental Congress that met
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Looking for General Monk or Somebody Like Him
By Park Ranger Joe Craig Rangers love “kid mail”. School programs are quite a workout, but getting a bundle of thank you notes from students can make it all worthwhile. Often, there is a formula to the notes, probably dictated by their assignment: “Thank you for teaching us about the Revolutionary War and Battles of
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La Belle Dame Sans Merci
By Joe Craig, Park Ranger Visitors to Saratoga National Historical Park seem to have a variety of reactions to the resources of the site and stories it tells. The views from the visitor center (when not obscured by summertime haze) elicit appreciative gasps over the beauty of the valley. Newborn fawns in the spring bring
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Jekyll or Hyde?
By Joe Craig, Park Ranger 20th [August 1777]. Our landlady had a child, 9 months old, that she was carefully hiding. I was curious to know the reason and asked Captain O’Connell [a captured English speaking Irishman serving with the German general staff] to question the woman as to the cause. I was very much humiliated
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How Rank Can You Get?
By Joe Craig, Park Ranger Americans highly regard the people who won our Independence during the Revolutionary War. Considering the accomplishment of surviving a war against the top power of its day, it’s understandable that when our first national myths were created the “Founding Fathers” would be in for a good deal of admiration. By
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Honour Among Gentlemen
By Joe Craig, Park Ranger In the middle of nowhere, far from centers of power and gentility, two gentlemen conferred and the results would set off shock waves throughout the globe. Amid the remote, near wilderness American General Horatio Gates accepted the capitulation of British General John Burgoyne’s trapped army at Saratoga. Burgoyne’s invading force had come to
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Hard Times
By Joe Craig, Park Ranger It is almost a commonplace observation that Americans do not know their Revolutionary War history. This is vigorously noted through many media outlets by pundits of varying political leanings (and often muttered by park rangers between clenched teeth). The pundits in their pronouncements seem to have a fixation upon the
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Gone for a Soldier
By Joe Craig, Park Ranger “…The burial was located outside the redoubt wall, at the northernmost end of the fortification. The burial pit was basin shaped, but very shallow, such that both the head and feet were just below the surface. The individual was buried, face up, but both the skull and the feet were
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