For the past 15 months, WCNY production crews have travelled to northern and southwestern New York communities to explore four Revolutionary War battlefields, all sites of pivotal battles and all on the list of the National Park Service’s endangered battlefields. Along the way, WCNY has interviewed historians and tribal leaders, archaeologists and preservationists, battlefield friends and interested citizens, to uncover each battlefield’s past and present story. In addition WCNY has hosted community engagement events in the communities where the battlefields reside bringing such noted speakers as Dr. Andrew O’Shaughnessy, Vice President of Monticello and author of The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire and military history Glenn Williams, author of the award-winning Year of the Hangman: George Washington’s Campaign against the Iroquois, who helped broaden knowledge of each battlefield’s significance.
Lindsey Morrison of the Civil War Trust also was a guest speaker. The Civil War Trust, in 2014, expanded its mission to foster the preservation and interpretation of Civil War battlefields to include battlefields from the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 via its Campaign 1776. Congress enacted legislation to expand funding to preserve endangered American battlefields. According to a 2007 survey, of 243 principal Revolutionary War and War of 1812 battlefield sites identified by the National Park Service, 141 are either lost or unable to be preserved in a meaningful way. 100 other surviving battlefields retain only about 37% of their original historic landscape, with 82 of then partially owned and protected and 18 lacking any sort of protection.
The result of WCNY’s work is a new hour-long documentary, Hallowed Ground: New York’s Forgotten Revolutionary War Battlefields, which will debut on WCNY at 8:00 p.m. on June 26. The documentary was made possible, in part, by a grant from the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program. Two battlefields near Elmira, NY – Chemung and Newtown – were part of the Sullivan-Clinton campaign’s goal to eliminate the threat of Iroquois warriors fighting alongside the British while the battles in northern New York, at Fort Ann and Walloomsac (the battlefield is actually named for Bennington, VT about 10 miles away) were essential to delaying British troops from a timely arrival at Saratoga, which loomed large in that American victory, which became the turning point for the war.
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| Chemung Marker Tour:
Seneca and Delaware Nation representatives examining the language on a 100 year old historical marker near the site of the Battle of Chemung. Part of a battlefield tour given by archeologists from SUNY Binghamton. |
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| Ft Ann meeting Moore:
Ft Ann Town Supervisor Richie Moore speaking at an informational meeting with representatives of the Civil War Trust, concerning the preservation of the battlefield on “Battle Hill.” |
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| Gino Vona:
Property owner Gino Vona who was at the center of the controversy surrounding the site of the Battle of Ft Anne when he applied to mine for granite there. |
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| Jacobson Robinson:
SUNY Binghamton archeologist Michael Jacobson explaining troop movements during the battle of Chemung. Fought in the backyard of Dr Earl Robinson who has been actively trying to preserve battlefield and local history in the Chemung Valley. |
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| John Stark Monument:
John Stark, the hero of the Battle of Bennington. His statue is at the base of the tallest structure in state of Vermont commemorating a battle that was actually fought miles away, in New York. |
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| Newtown Drone of Park:
The Newtown Battlefield State Park is a camping park that overlooks the actual site of the battle which is on private lands in the valley. |
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| Newtown Encampment:
Newtown Battlefield State Park, living history encampment at the final commemoration of the Battle of Newtown |
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| Posing with Found Ball:
Public archeology day at the Bennington Battlefield Park. Amateur archeologists Marie Frye and Cheryl Huxhold posing with a lead ball they found under the guidance of professional archeologists mapping the battlefield. |
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| Soldiers Shooting:
Re-enactors engaging in war games in the woods at Newtown Battlefield State Park. |
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| Tory Redoubt Bennington:
Archeologists and Historians assessing the “Tory Fort” area of the Bennington Battlefield. |
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WCNY
8/28
1 p.m.
9/5
9 p.m.
11/13
9 p.m.
