Colonial soldiers honored in Lake George Battlefield Park Memorial Day ceremony

“The Battle of Lake George was 1755. That was a pretty disastrous year for the British,” says Lyn Karig Hohmann, President of the Lake George Battlefield Park (Fort George) Alliance. Hohmann was speaking at a Memorial Day ceremony held at the Grave of the Unknowns in Lake George’s Battlefield Park. The remains of four Colonial soldiers killed in the Bloody Morning Scout, one of three engagements collectively called the Battle of Lake George, are buried beneath a monument there.  

Lake George American Legion Post 374, the Lake George Volunteer Fire Department, reenactors, who came as individuals and with Fort William Henry and Lake George Town Councilwoman Marisa Muratori participated in the Memorial Day ceremony with speeches, a wreath laying, prayer and musket salute.

“Since the very beginning of the United States, there’s been an international fascination with the story of America, our story, the idealistic government that rose from two wars, two wars represented remarkably in the conflicts here in Lake George.”

Marisa Muratori, Lake George Town Board

Hohmann explained the importance of these Colonial soldiers to the creation of the United States. It was early in the French and Indian War, and the British had suffered a major defeat two months earlier in Western Pennsylvania under the command of General Braddock. Other actions in the British effort to drive the French from North America were not going well, Hohmann explained.  “But here, about 1,500 men, Colonists under William Johnson, 250 Indians with King Hendricks, came up here from Albany, to Fort Edward to here.” The French marched down from the North, planning originally to attack Fort Edward but then turning to attack the encampment on Lake George.

 “The folks here sent out men down the original Military Road to defend Fort Edward. They ran into a death trap of the French. King Hendrick was killed; about 140 of these fighters were also killed. They did a spirited retreat, shooting and running, shooting, running,” explained Hohmann.

On the shores of Lake George, the Colonial army shot and captured French Commander Dieskau. They drove the French back, preventing further conquests that would have left Albany vulnerable.

“There was only one British soldier here,” says Hohmann, “he survived. All the other people who fought here were American Colonists who were so distant from England at that time they thought of themselves as Americans.” The Colonial Army, made up of farmers and tradesmen, had just defeated a trained, European Army. Though the United States was not yet a country, these Americans now knew what they could do. They beat the French, they could also beat the British.  “So,” says Hohmann, “it started here, that gumptious belief that they could fight and earn our independence as a nation.”

Following the ceremony, Hohmann gave a tour of Battlefield Park, pointing out the remains of buildings, quarries and limekilns. The Lake George Battlefield Park (Fort George Alliance) is a friend group of the park and past initiatives have included funding the preservation of artifacts uncovered in the park, commissioning a painting to depict the park as it looked in 1759 and creating a self-guided Colonial Wars in Lake George tour.

Planning for a Visitors Interpretive Center in the park is underway. Hohmann says fundraising for this project will begin soon. The Alliance estimates it will need $100,000 for the first stage of the VIC, which will be housed in the lower level of a to-be-built Lake George Park Commission building on Fort George Road.  Many artifacts found in Battlefield Park are at the State Museum in Albany. The VIC will give them a local home. “We hope to be bringing the artifacts back,” says Hohmann. “They are pretty spectacular.”

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Photos: Memorial Day Ceremony in Battlefield Park