Battle of Lake George heroes remembered for blazing path to American independence

“These were farmers and craftsmen, people who joined the militia to protect their country, to protect them from Indian raids,” says Lyn Karig Hohmann. “These were just average Joes who took their time to learn some military techniques, to learn how to shoot so they could protect their families. These were the militia that came to Sir William Johnson.”

Hohmann, President of the Lake George Battlefield Park Alliance, was speaking by the grave of the Four Unknown Soldiers in Battlefield Park at a Memorial Day 2021 ceremony. Alliance members were joined by the Lake George American Legion Post 374 and Auxiliary, reenactors with Fort William Henry and the Lake George Volunteer Fire Department for the annual remembrance.

The men buried at the site along Fort George Road died the morning of Sept. 8, 1755, in the Bloody Morning Scout, an ambush by the French that took place along the Military Road between Lake George and Fort Lyman (now Fort Edward.) The Bloody Morning Scout was the first of three engagements between the British and the French that collectively make up the Battle of Lake George.

“What’s critical about the Battle of Lake George,” says Hohmann, “… is there was only one British soldier here. When Sir William Johnson was given instructions to take Crown Point, Fort Saint-Frédéric, from the French in 1755, he got together soldiers from Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York… these were Americans. These were American colonists. They beat a trained French army. This is where they began to get the gumption to know that they could fight European troops, which eventually led to the confidence of the American Revolution. That’s why we need to honor these men today as unknown soldiers who gave their lives to begin that path to our independence.”

Hohmann explained that the area contains burials for many soldiers who died in the colonial wars and the Revolutionary War. “We run across them when we build houses and so forth. They’re forgotten, but we don’t want them to be forgotten. They died for our country; they should be remembered as our heroes and our patriots from the past.”

Two years ago, a construction project was halted in Lake George Village when excavators unearthed a Revolutionary War cemetery. “(A)pproximately 40 of our patriots’ bones have been recovered, and they will no longer be unknown to us,” says Hohmann. “Their names will be unknown, but their heroics will not be unknown, and we are hoping that in two years they will be buried also in this park so that we’ll have more of our men to remember.”

The Memorial Day service included a wreath-laying and prayer. Members of the American Legion Auxiliary presented bouquets of poppies. Reenactors from Fort William Henry fired a musket salute.  

The Lake George Battlefield Park Alliance is a private, not-for-profit education group. The Alliance is currently working to establish a Visitors Interpretive Center in the park on Fort George Road. The Alliance anticipates a Summer 2021 opening for the VIC.