Courtland Street Cemetery historical marker unveiled

“They died not on a battlefield, but in a makeshift hospital lying on planks and pine boughs,” says Lisa Anderson. “They died from disease with little hope of comfort or cure, and this hillside, overlooking the lake, was their final resting place for nearly two and a half centuries.” Anderson, Curator of Bioarchaeology at the New York State Museum, was speaking at the dedication ceremony for the historical marker that was unveiled Saturday morning at the Courtland Street Cemetery in the Village of Lake George.

The General Peter Gansevoort Chapter of the National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution held the ceremony to recognize the burial site of Revolutionary War soldiers and others who died at the 1776 military hospital at Fort George. The cemetery was unearthed in February 2019 by excavators digging a foundation for a housing unit on Courtland Street in the Village of Lake George. The marker was funded by the William G. Pomeroy Foundation as part of the Revolutionary America 1775-1783 historic marker program, a joint effort with DAR to celebrate the 250^th anniversary of the United States.

Lyn Karig Hohmann, Historian with the DAR General Peter Gansevoort Chapter, says that in 1776, then Colonel Peter Gansevoort “was in charge of Fort George and would have been intimately aware of this site.” The DAR Chapter wanted to mark the cemetery as part of their remembrance of his life.

The ceremony opened with remarks by the DAR Chapter Regent Theresa Kusche. She thanked the Town and Village of Lake George officials for their help with the ceremony, the volunteers who worked on the preservation crew, the representatives of other DAR chapters and “anyone else involved in this endeavor to remember soldiers from the Revolutionary War who may still be buried here.”

Father Joseph Busch of Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church gave the blessing. He spoke of the soldiers buried there in the Courtland Street Cemetery saying, “Dear Lord, we thank you for granting these men the strength to defend, the resilience to endure and the compassion to protect. May we never take for granted the peace their service has bestowed upon us nor the freedom that was secured. Guide us to ways to show our gratitude that go beyond mere words with actions that affirm their sacrifices as the soul of our nation.”  

Those in attendance paused for a moment of silence in remembrance of Charles Vandrei, who passed away last month. Vandrei was the New York DEC Historic Preservation Officer and was very involved in the work to recover and preserve the remains found at Courtland Street and other historical preservation projects in the region.

Anderson gave those assembled at the ceremony a brief history of how the military cemetery came to be on this ridge above Lake George. “248 years ago, at the beginning of the American Revolution, Continental troops from Pennsylvania to New Hampshire were ordered to invade Quebec and secure the Northern Border against the British.” The Northern Campaign of 1775-1776 failed. The Canadians did not join the Continental Army to fight British control, and the defeated Continental Army, after struggling through a bitter Canadian winter, was forced to retreat in the spring, bringing disease with them.

To curtail the smallpox epidemic that took hold among troops at Crown Point and Ticonderoga, the ill were separated from the healthy and sent to the Southern Shore of Lake George where a rudimentary hospital was established in July 1776. “Over the course of the summer,” says Anderson, “thousands were sent from Crown Point to be housed at this hospital to get whatever treatment was available, but at this time it was very limited. By the end of August, right around now, a physician at the hospital remarked on the melancholy sight of 300 new graves that had been dug. Later counts suggest this number could have been as many as a thousand.”

When the February 2019 construction project unearthed human remains, archaeologists were called to assess the site and recover the partially damaged graves. A team of 140 volunteers spent 15 months, through winter’s cold and snow, summer’s heat and the COVID pandemic, tediously sifting through mounds of sand that had been removed by the construction crew while digging a foundation.

Though the damage to the remains was severe, Anderson says they were able to confirm that more than 40 individuals were disinterred. While the condition of the remains made it difficult to learn much about the people who were buried on Courtland Street, Anderson says most appeared to be young men. A handful of buttons found with the remains bear the markings of the First Pennsylvania Battalion.

“This is where America started,” said Lake George Village Mayor Ray Perry, recognizing the critical role the soldiers who died in Lake George played in the formation of the nation. Lake George Town Supervisor Vincent Crocitto also spoke at the ceremony. “I recognize that our history is part of what makes Lake George special for visitors and residents, and we’re proud to be part of a project that will result in these early patriots having a permanent, beautiful resting place.”

The remains are now at the New York State Museum where analysis continues. Shortly after the cemetery was discovered, the Town and Village of Lake George formed the Courtland Street Reinterment Committee. The Committee has developed a plan to reinter the remains in Lake George Battlefield Park. The Repose of the Fallen project, which gained state approval this spring, calls for the building of a memorial plaza with columbaria along Fort George Road in Lake George Battlefield Park.

 A Hallowing of the Ground ceremony was held in June on the site selected for the Repose of the Fallen. The Committee plans to hold an unveiling ceremony for the reinterment structure on May 29, 2026. At that time, according to Karig Hohmann, the remains will be escorted from Albany back to Lake George by the Patriot Guard Riders.