History, Natural History & the Arts
In 1775, as the American Revolution had begun, Baron von Steuben joined the fight against the British with the assistance of then ambassador to France Benjamin Franklin.
Appalled by the state of the Revolutionary army, Steuben began teaching soldiers military drills, tactics, and discipline based on Prussian techniques. [Read more…] about Baron von Steuben’s Oneida County Estate
Shakespeare, of course, wrote acclaimed plays about history. But sometimes history takes the pen from the playwright’s hand and fashions a scenario of such startling tension and originality that the story seems destined for the stage. One of these dramas took place in September 1780. It involved the plot by Benedict Arnold to betray the patriot cause and to help the British prevail in the Revolutionary War. [Read more…] about ‘I Hope You Are of Our Party’: Fidelity and Benedict Arnold’s Betrayal
Major Christopher Carleton led an expedition of the British Army’s 29th Regiment of Foot comprising soldiers, Loyalists and Native Americans, to implement “The Great Burning” of Continental forts and patriot homesteads in Washington, Warren and Saratoga Counties during the fall of 1780. [Read more…] about The Great Burning: Carleton’s Raid of 1780 Being Memorialized
When the call went out for volunteers in the winter of 1846 to fight in the Mexican War (1846–1848) one of the first from Ballston Spa in Saratoga County to respond was 20-year-old Ransom Pettit.
Enlisting in Colonel Burnett’s 1st Regiment of New York Volunteers, and was sent to Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn to begin their military service. [Read more…] about A Mexican War Monument in Saratoga County
From the winter 1812 “Camp Saranac” (Pike’s Cantonment) to the fortifications built for the defense and protection of the village of Plattsburgh and the important military stores in 1814 (Forts Brown, Moreau, and Scott, the wooden barracks and two additional forts – Forts Gaines and Tompkins – in 1815), the Plattsburgh Stone Barracks in 1838, the brick “brownstones” of the 1890s, to the establishment of the Army’s “Plattsburgh Barracks” in 1945 and the “new base” of the Air Force in the 1950s, the military presence in Plattsburgh have had a long and interesting past. [Read more…] about 1888: The First National Monument to Unknown Soldiers
![Scientific Study of UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) [image cropped] National Archives Identifier 295136808](https://www.newyorkalmanack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Scientific-Study-of-UFOs-Unidentified-Flying-Objects-image-cropped-National-Archives-Identifier-295136808.jpg)
The American cultural phenomena of “flying saucers” started in 1947 when a civilian aircraft pilot saw several objects from his plane that he claimed were traveling at supersonic speeds. Reports of more flying saucers soon proliferated throughout the country and the term “unidentified flying object” was coined by the military in 1952.
When a rancher found unidentified debris including rubber, tape, and tinfoil near Roswell, NM, the most enduring UFO legend was born. [Read more…] about Exploring Records Related to Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs)
During King George’s War (1744-1748), the primary military encounters in the Saratoga area were focused on the Schuyler estate and associated settlements and Fort Saratoga/Fort Clinton.
The most significant event was the November 1745 First Battle of Saratoga in which a force of French and Indian allies from Fort St. Frederic (at Crown Point) attacked the village, burning 30 houses, several mills, and the fort as well as killing, scalping, and capturing soldiers and residents. (You can read about that here.) [Read more…] about French Attacks On Old Saratoga During King George’s War (1744-1748)
By any measure, things were looking very grim for General Alexander Macomb and his army on September 3, 1814. Scouting reports indicated that as many as 11,000 battle-hardened British troops were moving south along the western shore of Lake Champlain with Plattsburgh in their sights, and most Plattsburgh inhabitants had left for safer quarters. [Read more…] about Aitkin’s Rifles: Mementos of the Battle of Plattsburgh
Initially, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (Iroquois) claimed neutrality during the conflict between Britain and the colonists, seeing the disagreement as a civil war and valuing loyalty to their families and to their lands above all else. When the political discontent erupted into the American Revolutionary War, the member nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy split their support between the British and newly formed American forces. [Read more…] about The American Revolution in the Finger Lakes
The First Battle of Saratoga took place during King George’s War (1744-1748) in November 1745. A force of French and Native allies set out from Fort St. Frederic at Crown Point to attack English colonies in either New England or Albany.
When deep snow made travel into New England impractical, they turned toward Old Saratoga, now known as Schuylerville in Saratoga County, NY (near where the 1777 Battles of Saratoga would later take place during the American Revolution). [Read more…] about 1745: The First Battle of Saratoga