Mile-long procession to escort Revolutionary War patriots’ remains from Albany to Lake George

On Wednesday, May 20, a motorcade of New York State Police, Korean and Vietnam War-era military trucks, and members of the New York Patriot Guard Riders will escort the skeletal remains of Revolutionary War patriots from the New York State Museum in Albany to their final resting spot in Lake George Battlefield Park. The mile-long convoy will travel along State Route 9, passing through more than a dozen communities in Albany, Saratoga, and Warren Counties, ending at the “Repose of the Fallen” memorial on Fort George Road.

The remains were discovered in February 2019 by a construction crew excavating for a project on Courtland Street in Lake George Village. The remains have been held at the State Museum for the past seven years, where researchers have concluded they were patients at the 1776 smallpox hospital in Fort George at the head of Lake George.

At approximately 10 a.m. on May 20, following the dignified transfer of the pine caskets to three vehicles, the procession will begin its journey.  It will pass through downtown Albany, Colonie, Latham; the Saratoga County towns of Halfmoon, Clifton Park, the Village of Round Lake, Malta and Saratoga Springs. The procession will pause in Saratoga Springs for a brief patriotic observance in front of City Hall at 474 Broadway.

The motorcade will then continue north through Wilton, Moreau and the Village of South Glens Falls; into Warren County and the city of Glens Falls, where there will be a brief stop at the intersection of Route 9 and Bacon Street for an observance.

From Glens Falls, the motorcade will travel through Queensbury to Lake George. Upon entering Lake George Village, the motorcade will turn north onto Elizabeth Little Boulevard (West Brook Road), head east on Beach Road, then turn onto Fort George Road and stop at the memorial site. The estimated time of arrival is between noon and 1 p.m.

According to Dan Barusch, Lake George Planning Director and Chair of the Reinterment Committee, 40 of the caskets will, upon arrival in Battlefield Park, be interred in the memorial. The remaining four, designated as the Ceremonial Caskets, will be transported to Sacred Heart Catholic Church, where sentries will stand vigil 24/7 through Friday, May 22.

On Friday, May 22, at 11 a.m., a formal reinterment ceremony will be held at the Memorial. The Ceremonial Caskets will be transported by horse-drawn carriage to Battlefield Park, passing a flag line formed by New York Patriot Guard Riders. The Repose of the Fallen Ceremony will be attended by local, state, and federal officials. Organizers expect as many as 1,000 people to attend.

“We have spent the past seven years painstakingly working to piece together the story of the individuals whose unmarked graves were destroyed,” said Lisa Anderson, New York State Museum Curator of Bioarcheology. “As we close this chapter, it’s hard to put into words the gratitude my team and I have for being part of this project. It has been a privilege to help uncover the story of these veterans, and we look forward to them receiving the dignified burial they deserve.” 

Hundreds of Continental Army soldiers who participated in the 1775 invasion of Canada were infected with smallpox and sent to the hospital at Fort George, along with civilian family members and supporters. Many perished and were buried in unmarked cemeteries. Shortly after the remains were discovered on Courtland Street, archeologists recognized the remains were of those who died from illness, not the trauma of battle, and were formally buried.

“Within a day, we knew it was a burial ground or a cemetery because of the conformity and the pattern of the grave shafts that were found,” said Barusch, in a recent interview with John DiNuzzo, Lake George Battlefield Park Alliance President. “It wasn’t a hodgepodge thing.” Barusch continues, “I mean, we found basically, evenly spaced-apart burial shafts and different types of soil strata while we were removing them back in February 2019. So, we knew it was a burial ground. There was at that time a little more research to do to kind of corroborate that theory, but it [the burial ground] had been untouched — it had been untouched until 2019.”

The Courtland Street Reinterment Committee developed a plan to respectfully reinter the remains in Lake George Battlefield Park, where these individuals last served. The memorial plaza, which overlooks Lake George, includes six columbaria, interpretive signage and seating. The “Repose of the Fallen” project is funded through the New York State Downtown Revitalization Initiative and private donations.

Featured image: The New York Patriot Guard Riders at the 2018 POW/MIA Ceremony on Prospect Mountain in Lake George, New York.