Posted on 06/30/2006 7:03:46 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
Diver Dennis O'Neil of Plattsburgh, N.Y., poses with a piece of a cannon muzzle which he discovered during a dive Friday, June 30, 2006, in Peru, N.Y. Divers have spent the last seven years combing the bottom of Lake Champlain in search of 'battlefield scatter' from the crucial 1776 Battle of Valcour near Peru. O'Neil has made about 100 dives during the project.
PERU, N.Y. - Gen. Benedict Arnold led a "wretched, motley" crew of sailors on Lake Champlain against a far superior British fleet near here on Oct. 11, 1776. The rebels lost.
But their dogged fight delayed British movement south for a year, when they would be defeated in the Battle of Saratoga. Historians today consider the Battle of Valcour Island a "victory in defeat" that gave Colonial forces a chance to win at Saratoga — and eventually win the Revolutionary War.
Divers who have spent the last seven years combing the lake bottom in search of "battlefield scatter" from the pivotal fight pulled up dozens of artifacts this week. They displayed them by the shores of the battle site Friday: cannon fragments, solid iron cannonballs, a brass powder scoop, a trigger guard, spectacles, bombs.
"The battlefield objects unveiled here today are tangible connections to the people and times when the concepts of liberty, independence, insurgency and freedom were being debated and defined by this country," said Art Cohn, executive director of the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum in Ferrisburgh, Vt.
The museum, a partner in the Valcour Bay Research Project, will begin exhibiting the artifacts Saturday. A first peek was given during a lakeside ceremony across from Valcour Island.
The jewel among the finds is a cannon from a Colonial gunboat called the New York. The cannon exploded — no one knows why — sending fragments flying into the water and killing a lieutenant named Thomas Rogers.
Portions of the gun were found a few years ago. Divers have now recovered three more fragments, allowing them to jigsaw the pieces together. They also have discovered a heavily oxidized sword nearby with the tip broken off that "may well have been Thomas Rogers' sword," said Adam Kane, an archaeologist with the museum.
Most people working on the project are volunteers, including one of the lead divers, Ed Scollon. He has spent countless hours searching the silty lake bottom off of Valcour Island with a metal detector. Many of the artifacts are a few feet down in the silt, which has helped preserve them. Still legible on many of the cannonballs are distinctive "broad arrow" markings that identify them as British.
The finds so far come from where the Colonial ships lined up for battle, though divers hope to work their way to the British line.
"We've now mapped the equivalent of eight football fields of the American line," Kane said. "We're certainly not one-tenth done."
Had Arnold died in the Battle of Valcour, he would be famous mostly for cunning and bravery, instead of treachery. He took on the bigger British boats in a narrow straight that made it difficult for them to maneuver.
Pummeled by the British fleet all day, Arnold sneaked his boats past them that night in a retreat. The British gave chase the next morning. Arnold burned some of his boats to keep them out of British hands and led hundreds of men to Fort Ticonderoga on foot.
By the time fighting was over, snow was falling. The British, fatefully, paused their campaign for the winter.
Arnold stalled the British attempt to take the Hudson Valley and cut the colonies in two.
"His battle plan was brilliant," Scollon said.
RevWar ping
BUMP
It was genius
As a commander Arnold was brilliant, but he let his bitterness get the better of him and the rest is history. Still a cool find, though!
Agreed. And, ultimately received the very same perceived treatment from his new British counterparts.
A&E broadcast a made-for-tv film on Benedict Arnold, starring Aidan Quinn as Arnold, approx. five years ago. I actually felt sorry for the traitor by the end of the film, his was a pathetic life.
If I remember correctly, there's a small monument near the site of the battle, opposite Valcour Island, on the New York side of the lake.
I guess the thing to do with Arnold is to remember that "Once a traitor, always a traitor..." isn't true.
He wasn't a traitor at all when he carried out his spectacular heroics at Montreal and Quebec, and Valcour Island, nor when he provoked the Americans to fight at Saratoga, ensuring the victory that Gates may well have let slip through his fingers. He was an American hero at all of those battles. They are not tainted by treason.
Then came his fall, without redemption. But that's later.
When he won his great victories, he was a hero. And in truth he was the best American field commander of the war.
Take a moment to silently thank our nations
TRUE Patriots on this July 4th, 2006God Bless America
Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?
Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.
Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army, another had two sons captured.
Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War. They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. What kind of men were they?
Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.
Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.
Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton. At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.
Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months. John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.
Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.
Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education.
They had security, but they valued liberty more.
Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged:
"For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor".They gave you and me a free and independent America. The history books never told you a lot of what happened in the Revolutionary War.
We didn't just fight the British. We were British subjects at that time and we fought our own government!
Some of us take these liberties so much for granted.....we shouldn't.
So, take a couple of minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots...
I will. Thanks for the great post.
The naval war in Lake Champlain saved the Union.
The Smithsonian had a fantastic exhibit in 1995 with a gunboat they had raised from Lake Champlain.
Unfortunately, the schoolgirls who were there with me weren't impressed.
Despite the cannonball lodged in the hull.
Chicks.
The Short List--for subjects of more limited appeal and/or limited to Northeast region (Freepmail me to get ON or OFF the Short List):
Here's the traitorous b*stard (but a brave fighter when he was in it):
LOL! You got that right.
Happy Fourth of July to everyone.
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