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Massachusetts

Daniel Shays’s Honorable Rebellion

March 27, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

daniel shays's honorable rebellionThe book Daniel Shays’s Honorable Rebellion: An American Story (Westholme Publishing, 2021) by Daniel Bullen looks back to January 25th, 1787, in Springfield, Massachusetts, when militia Major General William Shepard ordered his cannon to fire grapeshot at a peaceful demonstration of 1,200 farmers approaching the federal arsenal.

The shots killed four and wounded twenty, marking the climax of five months of civil disobedience in Massachusetts, where farmers challenged the state’s authority to seize their farms for flagrantly unjust taxes. [Read more…] about Daniel Shays’s Honorable Rebellion

Filed Under: Books, Capital-Saratoga, Events, History Tagged With: American Revolution, Bennington Battlefield SHS, Massachusetts, Political History, Shays’s Rebellion

The Late Horrid Massacre in King-Street (A Boston Massacre Poem)

March 5, 2022 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

Boston Massacre Poem“The 29th Regimt on Duty. A Quarrell between the soldiers & Inhabitants—The Bells—Rung—A Great Number Assembled in Kingstreet A Party of the 29th under the Command of Capt Preston fird on the People they killed five—wounded Several Others—particularly Mr. Edw Payne in his Right Arm—Capt Preston Bears a good Character—he was taken in the night & Committed also Seven more of the 29th—the Inhabitants are greatly enraged and not without Reason.” – Diary of John Rowe, 5 March 1770

Unlike the quote above, penned by an eventual Loyalist, stating the facts, the poem “A Verse Occasioned by the Late Horrid Massacre in King-Street” propagandizes the events of March 5th, 1770 in Boston when soldiers fired into a crowd of rioting Bostonians. The event is now known as the Boston Massacre. [Read more…] about The Late Horrid Massacre in King-Street (A Boston Massacre Poem)

Filed Under: Arts, History Tagged With: American Revolution, Boston, Boston Massacre, Massachusetts, Massachusetts Historical Society, Poetry

The First Kennedys: Roots of an American Dynasty

February 26, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

the first kennedysPatrick and Bridget Kennedy arrived in the United States following the Great Famine — penniless and hungry. Less than a decade after their marriage in Boston, Patrick’s sudden death left Bridget to raise their children single-handedly.

Her rise from housemaid to shop owner in the face of rampant poverty and discrimination kept her family intact, allowing her only son P. J. to become the first American Kennedy elected to public office — the first of many. [Read more…] about The First Kennedys: Roots of an American Dynasty

Filed Under: Books, Events, History Tagged With: Boston, Irish History, Irish Immigrants, Massachusetts, Massachusetts Historical Society, Political History

A Free Black Man’s Revolutionary World: Jacob Francis, 1754-1836

February 25, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

the revolutionary world bookWilliam L. Kidder’s book The Revolutionary World of a Free Black Man: Jacob Francis, 1754-1836 (Self-Published, 2021) tells the story of Jacob Francis of Amwell township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey who was indentured out by his free Black mother to the age of 21.

Five different men “owned his time” during his indenture and each provided a different experience for him. The last man lived in Salem, Massachusetts and Jacob lived there between 1768 and 1775 during the buildup to fighting in the American Revolution. [Read more…] about A Free Black Man’s Revolutionary World: Jacob Francis, 1754-1836

Filed Under: Books, Events, History, Mohawk Valley Tagged With: American Revolution, Black History, Fort Plain Museum, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Slavery

Lydia Sherman’s Recollections of Saratoga County’s Abolitionist Movement

February 24, 2022 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Edmund J. Sherman homestead in Hadley, 1856 Geils MapHoused in the Saratoga County Historian’s Office is the African American History Index, begun in the early 2000s by former county historian Kristina Saddlemire and continued by longtime volunteer Jane Meader Nye.

This collection includes documents related to people of African descent who were either residents of the county or famous visitors such as Frederick Douglass, and stories of Abolitionists who offered assistance to enslaved people seeking freedom. [Read more…] about Lydia Sherman’s Recollections of Saratoga County’s Abolitionist Movement

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Abolition, Black History, Boston, Hadley, Lake Luzerne, Liberty Party, Massachusetts, Saratoga County, Saratoga County History Center, Saratoga County History Roundtable, Saratoga Springs, Slavery, Warren County, womens history

The Albany Congress of 1754: Native People, Colonists & the Monarchy

January 26, 2022 by Peter Hess 1 Comment

Dec 1754 Map of the English Colonies (LOC)William Shirley was the Royal Governor of Massachusetts, appointed by the King of England. Shirley had been a British official in England serving on negotiating committees with French officials determining boundaries. This had led Shirley to a thorough dislike of the French.

He was very aggressive and had been a stalwart advocate of invading Canada and driving the French out of North America. Shirley had written a strong criticism of the New York Congress for its resistance to an invasion of Canada in 1748. He was upset when New Jersey and Rhode Island refused to cooperate in the invasion because they were not threatened. [Read more…] about The Albany Congress of 1754: Native People, Colonists & the Monarchy

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, Mohawk Valley, Western NY Tagged With: Albany, Albany Plan of Union, American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin, Canajoharie, Colonial History, Connecticut, French And Indian War, French History, George Clinton, Haudenosaunee, Hendrick Theyanoguin, Indigenous History, James DeLancey, Kayaderosseras Creek, Lenape, Maryland, Massachusetts, Military History, Mohawk, Mohawk Valley, Mohican, New France, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Northwest Territory, Oswego, Pennsylvania, Political History, Rhode Island, Saratoga County, Schaghticoke, Stockbridge Indians, Virginia, West Canada Creek, William Johnson

Albany’s Role In Three Little-Remembered Colonial Wars in the Northeast

January 24, 2022 by Peter Hess 2 Comments

New-France_2_6_Map-of-New-Belgium-or-New-NetherlandFrom the time Henry Hudson sailed up the Hudson River in 1609, the area that is now Albany, NY was considered the focal point of trade with Indigenous People.  For over a hundred years, Albany was the trading post furthest west and most remote in the colonies. Most of the other colonies were English; New Netherland was Dutch and settled for the purpose of trade.

With a moderate climate, abundant rainfall, a lake and river system for good transportation and plentiful natural resources, New Netherland was well-positioned. The fur trade significantly raised the standard of living of many European settlers and Native People.  Arriving at Albany with a catch of furs, an native person could trade would usually trade with a representative of the Van Rensselaers, or one of his agents.

Thousands of pelts began to flow into Albany in return for Dutch, and later English, trade goods. News of the Dutch market spread and before long Native People from as far away as today’s Minnesota and Illinois were traveling across the Great Lakes and Mohawk River to Albany to obtain manufactured goods with animal pelts. [Read more…] about Albany’s Role In Three Little-Remembered Colonial Wars in the Northeast

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: Albany, Albany Plan of Union, Burning of Saratoga, Catholicism, Connecticut, Dutch History, Fort Frederick, French History, George Clinton, Haudenosaunee, Hendrick Theyanoguin, Hudson River, Iroquois, King George’s War, King William’s War, Massachusetts, Military History, Mohawk, Mohawk River, New France, New Netherland, Pennsylvania, Political History, Queen Anne's War, Stockbridge Indians, William Johnson

Colonial Conflict, Native People, Anti-Catholicism & The Burning of Schenectady

January 12, 2022 by Peter Hess 5 Comments

In 1652, New Netherland Director General Peter Stuyvesant declared that Fort Orange and everything around it, including the village outside the fort, often called Oranje after the fort, was independent of the ownership of the Van Rensselaer family. He named the small mostly Dutch village “Beverwyck.”

Possibly at the urging of the Van Rensselaers, their earlier manager Arendt Van Curler (Corlear) began planning the construction of a new village. [Read more…] about Colonial Conflict, Native People, Anti-Catholicism & The Burning of Schenectady

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City Tagged With: Abenaki, Albany, Albany County, Arendt Van Curler, Canada, Catholicism, Dutch History, Early American History, Esopus Wars, Fort Crailio, Fort Frederick, Fort Orange, fur trade, https://www.newyorkalmanack.com/tags/fort-frederick/, Hudson River, Indigenous History, Iroquois, Jacob Leisler, King Philips War, Massachusetts, Military History, Mohawk, Mohawk River, Mohican, New France, New Netherland, Peter Schuyler, Peter Stuyvesant, Political History, Religious History, Rensselaer, Rensselaer County, Rensselaerswyck, Schenectady, Schenectady County, Van Rensselaers

Dr. Joseph Warren

July 31, 2021 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

Joseph WarrenDr. Joseph Warren (1741 – 1775) played a leading role in Patriot organizations in Boston at the beginning of the American Revolution, eventually serving as President of the revolutionary Massachusetts Provincial Congress. He enlisted Paul Revere and William Dawes to spread the alarm that the British were moving to Concord and arrest rebel leaders John Hancock and Samuel Adams. Warren was at the Battles of Lexington and Concord the following day.

Warren was commissioned a major general in the colony’s militia before the Battle of Bunker Hill. Instead, he participated in the battle as a private soldier, and was killed when British troops stormed Breed’s Hill. [Read more…] about Dr. Joseph Warren

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Events, History Tagged With: American Revolution, Fort Plain Museum, Fort William Henry, Massachusetts, Military History, Warren County

War of 1812: The Invasion of Sandy Bay (Podcast)

April 24, 2020 by Bob Cudmore Leave a Comment

The Historians LogoThis week on The Historians Podcast, environmental educator Anita Sanchez has history stories from the War of 1812 (the invasion of Sandy Bay, Massachusetts) and the Civil War (President Lincoln and the Shakers). Malta historian Paul Perreault tells the tale of a missing metal eagle. And history authors are interviewed at the 2016 Chronicle Book Fair in Glens Falls. [Read more…] about War of 1812: The Invasion of Sandy Bay (Podcast)

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: Civil War, Massachusetts, Military History, Podcasts, War of 1812

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