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New France

French Attacks On Old Saratoga During King George’s War (1744-1748)

September 17, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Map of British and French fortifications during King George's War (Hartgen, 2004)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)

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Abenaki, Crown Point, Fort Clinton, Fort Saratoga, Haudenosaunee, Hudson River, Indigenous History, Iroquois, King George’s War, Military History, Mohawk, New France, Peter Schuyler, Saratoga, Saratoga County, Schuyler House, Schuylerville

1745: The First Battle of Saratoga

September 7, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Johannes Scuyler and his wife Elizabeth Staats Wendell Schuyler (New-York Historical Society)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

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Abenaki, Canada, Crown Point, First Battle of Saratoga, Fort Burnet, Fort Saratoga, Fort St. Frederic, Haudenosaunee, Hudson River, Indigenous History, Iroquois, Military History, Mohawk, New France, Philip Schuyler, Quebec, Saratoga County, Schaghticoke, Schuyler House, Warren County, Washington County

300 Years of French Settlement at Prince Edward Island

September 6, 2023 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

 Map of Prince Edward Island in 1775On this episode of Ben Franklin’s World, Anne Marie Lane Jonah, a historian with the Parks Canada Agency, explores the history of Prince Edward Island and why Great Britain and France fought over the Canadian Maritime region.

2020 commemorated the 300th anniversary of French presence on Prince Edward Island. [Read more…] about 300 Years of French Settlement at Prince Edward Island

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Canada, French And Indian War, French History, Indigenous History, New France, Podcasts

New Netherlanders’ Views of Indigenous People

September 5, 2023 by Peter Hess 3 Comments

First Dutch Church at Albany as it appears in several of the works of James EightsBy 1642, the number of inhabitants of Rensselaerwyck (spelled Rensselaerswijck in Dutch), at the time basically what is now Albany and Rensselaer Counties, had grown and Patroon Kiliaen Van Rensselaer willingly complied with a requirement of the Dutch West India Company to secure a clergyman for a Dutch Church to conduct services for the settlers. [Read more…] about New Netherlanders’ Views of Indigenous People

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, Mohawk Valley Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Algonquin, Arendt Van Curler, Beverwyck, Cultural History, Dutch History, Fort Nassau, Fort Orange, French History, Haudenosaunee, Hudson River, Indigenous History, Iroquois, Issac Jogues, Mohawk, Mohawk River, Mohican, New Amsterdam, New France, New Netherland, Religious History, Rensselaer County, Rensselaerswijck, Watervliet

The French and Indian War: A New York Perspective

August 31, 2023 by Peter Hess Leave a Comment

Miniature of Fort Prince George under attack by French troops (diorama in the Fort Pitt Museum, Pittsburgh)In the early 1750s, the French were establishing trading posts and building forts along western the frontiers of the British colonies. In the fall of 1753, in part to protect his own land claims, Virginia Lieutenant Governor Robert Dinwiddie had sent 22-year-old George Washington (then a militia leader and surveyor) to deliver a letter to Fort Le Boeuf at what is today Waterford in northwest Pennsylvania, demanding they stop.

When Washington returned without success, Dinwiddie sent a small force to build Fort Prince George at the confluence of the Allegheny  and Monongahela Rivers (today Pittsburgh). Soon a larger French force arrived, torn down the small British fort, and began and built Fort Duquesne, named for then Governor-General of New France, Marquis Duquesne. [Read more…] about The French and Indian War: A New York Perspective

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Mohawk Valley, Western NY Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Appalachian Mountains, Battle of Carillon, Battle of Lake George, Canada, Crown Point, Detroit, Edward Braddock, Ephraim Williams, Essex County, Fort Carillon, Fort Duquesne, Fort Edward, Fort Frontenac, Fort Oriskany, Fort Oswego, Fort St. Frederic, Fort Ticonderoga, Fort William Henry, French And Indian War, French History, George Monro, George Washington, Hendrick Theyanoguin, Hudson River, Indigenous History, James Abercromby, James Wolfe, Jean-Armand Dieskau, John Bradstreet, Joseph Blanchard, Joseph Brant, Lake Erie, Lake George, Lord Howe, Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, Military History, Mohawk, Mohawk River, Montreal, New France, Niagara River, Ohio, Ohio River Valley, Old Fort Johnson, Old Fort Niagara, Oneida Lake, Oswego, Oswego River, Pennsylvania, Philip Schuyler, Pontiac's War, Quebec, Robert Rogers, Rogers' Rangers, Saratoga County, Seneca Nation, Seven Years War, Siege of Fort William Henry, Virginia, Virginia History, Warren County, William Shirley

Early Inhabitants of the Finger Lakes Region

August 14, 2023 by Guest Contributor 2 Comments

Lamoka Site diorama at the New York State MuseumAccording to archeological records, groups of nomadic Paleo-Indians traveled through the Finger Lakes region approximately 8,000 to 9,000 years ago. Small bands of these hunters and gatherers followed large game during the last stages of the Ice Age when the glaciers that formed the area’s notable lakes were receding.

Somewhat more recent early archaic archeological sites scattered across Western New York reflect a culture that was highly mobile and left little in terms of an archeological record. [Read more…] about Early Inhabitants of the Finger Lakes Region

Filed Under: History, Western NY Tagged With: Algonquin, Archaeology, Broome County, Canadice lake, Canandaigua Lake, Cayuga County, Cayuga Lake, Cayuga Nation, Chemung County, Conesus Lake, Cortland County, Finger Lakes, French And Indian War, fur trade, Geology, Grass lake, Haudenosaunee, Hemlock Lake, Honeoye Lake, Indigenous History, Iroquois, Ithaca, Keuka Lake, Lamoka, Lenape, Lenape - Munsee - Delaware, Livingston County, Material Culture, Monroe County, New France, New Netherland, Oneida Indian Nation, Oneida Lake, Onondaga County, Onondaga Lake, Onondaga Nation, Ontario County, Otisco Lake, Owasco Lake, Paleontology, Pennsylvania, Rochester, Schuyler County, Seneca County, Seneca Falls, Seneca Lake, Seneca Nation, Seven Years War, Skaneateles Lake, Spencer, Steuben County, Susquehanna River, Syracuse, Tioga County, Tompkins County, Treaty of Fort Stanwix, Tuscarora, Valley Heads Moraine, Waneta-Lamoka WMA, Watkins Glen, Wayne County, William Johnson, Yates County

Ste Geneviéve National Historical Park

August 9, 2023 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

ben franklins world podcastIn this episode of Ben Franklin’s World, Claire Casey, a National Park Service interpretative ranger at the Ste. Geneviève National Historical Park, joins us to explore the early American history of Ste. Geneviève. [Read more…] about Ste Geneviéve National Historical Park

Filed Under: History Tagged With: New France, Podcasts, spanish history

Early Forts Near Old Saratoga: Some History

August 3, 2023 by Guest Contributor 2 Comments

Fort Vrooman, Fort Saratoga and Fort Clinton historic sign in 2012 (photographed By Bill Coughlin)Many of the descriptions about fortifications in the Upper Hudson Valley, close to New France, were written by soldiers, travelers and settlers during the wars in the 18th century and into the 19th century.

Since many of the North American colonies were defended by Independent Companies, the regular English and, later, British armies had little direct influence on fortification designs, which created a high demand for the assistance of military engineers. [Read more…] about Early Forts Near Old Saratoga: Some History

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Archaeology, Architecture, Battenkill, Burning of Saratoga, Engineering History, Fort Ann, Fort Burnet, Fort Clinton, Fort Edward, Fort Miller, Fort Nicholson, Fort Saratoga, Fort Vrooman, French And Indian War, Hudson River, Indigenous History, King George’s War, King William’s War, Military History, New France, Peter Schuyler, Philip Schuyler, Queen Anne's War, Saratoga, Saratoga County, Saratoga Patent, Schuyler House, Schuylerville, Seven Years War

The 1757 Siege of Fort William Henry & James Fenimore Cooper

July 27, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

map from the time of the siege of fort william henry in 1757James Fenimore Cooper’s novel The Last of the Mohicans tells a gripping tale of the bloody conflicts that roiled the Lake George region in the middle of the 18th century. In particular, the novel gives a stirring, if inaccurate, description of the Siege of Fort William Henry (August 3-9, 1757) during the French and Indian War and its immediate aftermath. [Read more…] about The 1757 Siege of Fort William Henry & James Fenimore Cooper

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, Events, History Tagged With: Fort William Henry, French & Indian War Society, George Monro, Indigenous History, Lake George, Lake George Battlefield Park Alliance, Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, Military History, New France, Seven Years War, Siege of Fort William Henry, Warren County

Schoharie Valley & New York’s Western Frontier, 1687-1702

July 24, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Skohere and the Birth of New York's Western Frontier Volume IIThe Schoharie Valley is one of New York’s three great colonial valleys, its history closely connected to, but overshadowed by, the more famed Hudson and Mohawk Valleys. When the Palatines arrived there in 1712, the world they stepped into was a century in the making. Until now, this formative period of the valley’s history has never been fully told, nor has the true impact these rebellious German refugees had on New York’s western frontier. [Read more…] about Schoharie Valley & New York’s Western Frontier, 1687-1702

Filed Under: Books, Capital-Saratoga, History, Mohawk Valley Tagged With: Haudenosaunee, Indigenous History, Iroquois, Jacob Leisler, King William, King William’s War, Leisler rebellion, Military History, Mohawk, New England, New France, Palatines, Queen Ann, Queen Anne's War, Religious History, Schoharie County, Schoharie Creek, Schoharie River, Schoharie Valley

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