News stories tagged with "revolutionary-war"

(09/07/10) In today's Adirondack Attic, we'll hear about Fort Ticonderoga's "silver bullet." Andy Flynn tells the story of its significance in the Revolutionary War campaign of 1777.

(04/25/08) During the Revolutionary War, thousands of Americans fought their own friends and neighbors in support of British rule. They lost and were driven away, largely vanishing from the pages of history books. Most headed north across Eastern Canada. The village of Burritts Rapids, on Ontario's Rideau River, was named for its first white settler, Vermont Loyalist Stephen Burritt. Canadian writer Mark Jodoin will detail Burritt's adventurous life next Tuesday evening at the Merrickville and District Historical Society's Annual Dinner. Jodoin discussed Burritt, his turbulent times, and the region's many cross-border ties with Ottawa correspondent, Lucy Martin, along the banks of the Long Island Locks near Manotick, Ontario.

(11/27/06) Jane McCrea was a young North Country woman who became a martyr of the American Revolution. In 1777, McCrea and a neighbor, Sarah McNeil, were captured at Fort Edward by British soldiers. McNeil survived, but McCrea was murdered and scalped -- most likely by native warriors who were fighting as part of the British army. Her death sent a wave of anti-British rage through the American colonies. In the centuries since, a lot of mysteries have grown up around McCrea. How exactly did she die? Is she really buried within the Fort Edward monument that became a tourist attraction? In a new article for Adirondack Life magazine, David Starbuck tries to answer those questions. Starbuck lives in Chestertown and teaches anthropology at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. Over the last three years, he led the team that dug up McCrea's remains and used forensic science to learn about her life. Starbuck told Brian Mann that the controversial project didn't answer all the questions, but turned up some pretty big surprises.

Postscript: Last year, after the research was finished, Jane McCrea and Sarah McNeil were reburied in adjacent graves.

(11/24/06) The December issue of Adirondack Life magazine tells the story of Jane McCrea, a young Scottish woman who lived in Fort Edwards in the 1770s. While waiting to meet her fiance, McCrea was murdered and scalped by native soldiers loyal to the British. Her death sparked outrage in the American colonies and served as a major catalyst for the Revolutionary War. In the centuries since, McCrea has become a part of North Country legend. The Adirondack Life article was written by David Starbuck, who lives in Chestertown. Starbuck teaches anthropology at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire and led the scientific team that is working to reconstruct details of McCrea's life. He told Brian Mann that Jane McCrea's story is tangled up in his own family's history.