Mysterious Indian Skeleton Found Inside 18th Century British Fort
When 18 skeletons were found at Fort William Henry by Lake George in the 1950’s 17 were European, 
which is not strange. One was of unknown origins, possibly hailing from Africa. Modern forensic technology has revealed the skeleton was not African, but American Indian. Like most questions in history, when one is answered, ten more get asked. How did an American Indian believed to be from the western United States wind up in the Adirondacks?
The skeleton is believed to be from the French and Indian War, or the Seven Years War, when heavy, bloody fighting was going on around the Lake George area. It was discovered in a unmarked grave along with two others. Modern technology was able to identify that the skeleton’s water source for most of its life was located somewhere in the modern day Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Dakotas region. The researchers admit that the finding caught them by surprise.
An easy answer would be that this Indian was fighting alongside the hundreds of Indians who were allied with the French to try to repel the aggressive British Empire. Except when the French and Indians attacked the fort in 1757 the researchers believe this Indian was already dead. It probably isn’t a British allied Indian because they were rarely buried inside the fort. One explanation is that the Indian was a scout for the British which is why he was buried inside the fort.
Either way, the truth can never be fully known. While modern technology is able to answer questions we never would have been able to even 10 years ago, it seems to only lead us further down the endless hallway. There has to be a side to the story that has been lost to history, and unfortunately unless we invent a time machine, those answers will always be lost. For now we will just have to theorize.
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Photo byDoug Kerr
Fenian Brotherhood invasion of Canada commemorated in Buffalo, NY
Fenian Brotherhood invasion of Canada commemorated in Buffalo, New York
A memorial to commemorate the Fenian Brotherhood’s invasion of Canada in 1866 was unveiled on Friday in Buffalo, New York. Political leaders and members of the Irish-American community were all on hand to celebrate and remember the inspiring invasion that happened over 150 years ago.
WKBW News in Buffalo reports that “the Fenian Invasion is an event of international significance, since it helped build momentum toward the independence of both Canada and Ireland.” In 1866, members of the Fenian Brotherhood, many of whom were Civil War veterans, invaded Canada in hopes of taking it as a bartering tool to use against Britain in exchange for independence for Ireland.
Read the rest of the article at Fenian Brotherhood invasion of Canada commemorated in Buffalo, New York | Irish News | IrishCentral.
Story by Kerry O’Shea
Battle Hill’s history lesser-known
During the American Revolutionary War, it is said that the Saratoga campaign was the turning point of the war in favor of the American Continental Army. Would the Continental Army have been victorious if British General John Burgoyne’s forces entered into the fighting? Burgoyne progress through New York state was slowed down thanks to the efforts of about 200 men under the command of Captain James Gray. Was it thanks to Gray’s men, who did everything they could to stop Burgoyne that the tides turned in the war? Jamie Munks of the Post-Star writes about this little known skirmish.
More than two centuries ago, places like Saratoga and Ticonderoga played host to well-known Revolutionary War battles
and contributed to the birth of this nation.
But it was in a small area north of the village of Fort Ann where, according to local historians, a lesser-known battle helped turn the tides in the Americans’ favor.
Called Battle Hill, the site is located west of Route 4 and marked today only by a plaque set in a rock face. And it’s in that vicinity that a local mining company, Troy Topsoil Co., has proposed a rock quarry, causing concern among some residents.
Battle Hill isn’t currently on the National Register of Historic Places and, as a result, isn’t afforded the protection of many other historically significant sites. But historians argue there is much historical significance to protect at the site, including buried bodies and artifacts.
In the summer of 1777, British General John Burgoyne’s forces were traveling south, with plans to unite in Albany with other British forces coming from different directions. They were on their way from Ticonderoga to Saratoga when they met Continental troops in Fort Ann on July 8, 1777. The ensuing battle delayed the British in their trek to Saratoga, allowing American forces to fortify themselves to fight in Saratoga, known as the turning point in the war, Fort Ann Town Historian Virginia Parrott said.
Read the rest of the article at Battle Hill’s history lesser-known.
Henry Hudson’s Voyage of Discovery
Henry Hudson’s name is found throughout North America. His two voyages to find a Northwest Passage to China took him to very different areas of North America, today’s New York State and Northern Canada. Jeff Canning of the Peekskill-Cortlandt Patch writes about Hudson’s voyages through his local area.
It was 402 years ago that Henry (Hendrick) Hudson, an English sea captain in the service of the Dutch, sailed his ship, De Halve Maen (Half Moon), into what is now New York Harbor and pushed north up the tidal river that some Native Americans called Mahicanittuck, or “Tidal River of the Mahicans.” That voyage opened the
way for European colonization of what is now known as New York and its environs and eventually brought a new name to the Mahicanittuck – Hudson River.
Specific details about Hudson’s life are few. He was born somewhere in England between 1560 and 1570 and eventually became a captain. In 1607 and 1608 he made the first two of his four great voyages of discovery, sailing for the London-based Muscovy Company in search of a northerly route to the Pacific Coast of Asia. Neither voyage was successful in that regard.
In 1609, again seeking a northern route to the Pacific Ocean, Hudson left Amsterdam April 4 under the auspices of the Dutch East India Company in the 85-foot Half Moon, following a course that, if successful, would take him past the northern coast of Scandinavia and Russia. Impenetrable ice barred his way north of Norway, so he turned west and eventually reached the coast of North America, initially at Nova Scotia in early July. He was at Chesapeake Bay and then Delaware Bay a month later.
Read the rest of the article at Henry Hudson’s Voyage of Discovery – Peekskill-Cortlandt, NY Patch.
Ellis Island Immigration Museum to Document the ‘Peopling’ of the U.S.
With a frequency that began to trouble directors of the Ellis Island Immigration Museum, visitors to that famous exhibit in New York Harbor
leveled a legitimate complaint.
“’This is a great museum, but my story isn’t told here,’” said Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island spokeswoman Peg Zitko, repeating what patrons had noted. “It wasn’t as compelling to them.”
This grievance is expected to dissipate with October’s opening of the first phase of the island’s Peopling of America Center. Its multiracial advisory board, of mainly university-based researchers, says the center will present a fact-based, un-romanticized panorama of those who’ve landed in the United States, how they got here and what they confronted during and after the journey.
Read More at Ellis Island Immigration Museum to Document the ‘Peopling’ of the U.S..
Story by Katti Gary – Diverse
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