Go to the link to see a pic of the cannon fragment.
hillbilly
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060701/ap_on_sc/benedict_arnold_artifacts
Battlefield objects pulled from lake By MICHAEL HILL, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 5 minutes ago
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.
hillbilly
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060701/ap_on_sc/benedict_arnold_artifacts
Battlefield objects pulled from lake By MICHAEL HILL, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 5 minutes ago
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.
