Trip to New York State April 20-23, 2008

I was sent to Rome, NY last week for a couple of days of training. I arrived in Albany shortly after lunchtime on Sunday and spent the afternoon at the Saratoga National Historic Site which encompasses the battlefield of the two battles in September and October of 1777. It's considered to be the turning point of the war since the British attempt to gather three armies at Albany (Burgoyne's from from Montreal, St.Leger coming from Lake Ontario, and Clinton from Manhattan) to isolate troublesome New England was stopped cold. The picture at the left in me with the Hudson River in the background. The picture was taken on the bluff's where the British guns protected the staging area on the river flats. The picture above is of Bemis Heights where the Americans dug in on high ground during the first Battle of Saratoga in September 1777.

There were two very interesting memorials on ther battlefield. The one at the left is a memorial to an officer in ther British Army, and the one on the right is to Benedict Arnold. Here's the inscription on the "boot memorial." Arnold is not mentioned by name on the inscription. Erected by John Watts de Peyster Brev: Maj: Gen: S.N.Y. 2nd V. Pres't Saratoga Mon't Ass't'n: In memory of the "most brilliant soldier" of the Continental Army who was desperately wounded on this spot, the sally port of BURGOYNES "GREAT (WESTERN) REDOUBT" 7th October 1777 winning for his countrymen the Decisive Battle of the American Revolution and for himself the rank of Major General

Arnold's boot memorial is the only memorial on the battlefield with a fence around it. The pictures below are places around Rome, NY where I was attending the training class. In Rome is the Fort Stanwix National Historic Site which is a reconstructed 18^th Century fort, originally built to cover the narrow portage between Wood Creek (flows into Lake Oneida then into Lake Ontario) and the headwaters of the Mohawk River (flows into the Hudson River then to the Atlantic). The picture on the left is one parapet of Fort Stanwix. On the right is the tree where a wounded General Herkimer directed the New York militia against British, Loyalist, and Indian forces in the Battle of Oriskany. Herkimer and his force were on their way to Ft. Stanwix to reinforce it's garrison when they were ambushed about 8 miles from the fort. This engagement and the failure of St.Leger to take Fort Stanwix contributed to the British loss at Saratoga weeks later.