--- Gary Zaboly's painting of the Military Road between Fort Edward and Lake George during the French and Indian War, 1750s
(Click on the buttons above for a guided tour of the region today.)
THE GREAT WARPATH
For countless centuries, Native Americans traveled in dugout and birch bark canoes along the natural highways formed by the lakes and rivers that linked Canada to Manhattan Island and points in between. For seventy years (beginning in the late 17th century) the English and the
French vied for domination of North America. One of the major strategic areas was the stretch of land above, the only place along the route where the natural water highway was broken by several miles of wilderness.
Up and down the great warpath the French raiders and their Indian allies would come and go with their prisoners in tow, traversing the trails between the waters that would lead them back to New France from the settlements along the New England and New York frontier. It was just a matter of time before each of the great powers would seek to control this wilderness trail.
GROUND ZERO
In 1755, these conflicts exploded in what is commonly known as the French and Indian War (in Europe, the Seven Years' War).
Fortifications would be drawn up by British military engineers to create a staging ground for launching armies and armadas to drive the French from the land. These forts would be raised and manned by New York and New England
colonial militia anxious to protect their farms and families from the threat of attack and treachery along the frontier.
Tens of thousands of men enlisted and began their tours in this region in the service of the King between 1755-1760. Some stayed on to become skilled frontier guerrilla scouts who offered little mercy to the enemy and could expect little in return. All were subject to the rigors of a harsh and dismal military existence in these fortifications and camps, where life was reduced to weeks of servile manual labor and banal boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror.
For these men, many of whom were still in their teens, the psyche was seared by this experience. Twenty years later they would rise up and rail against the arrogance they had encountered here at the hands of British officers, officers who felt it necessary to crush the individuality that was so essential to survival on the frontier. Putnam, Stark, Revere, Arnold and many others were molded by this experience; in 1775 they would set out to forge a new nation according to the convictions that had their germination during the French and Indian War.
NOT DEAD
Thousands upon thousands of mothers and fathers grieved the losses of sons and daughters in the tragedies and triumphs that unfolded along this great warpath. Today tourists unknowingly park cars over their asphalt covered and long forgotten graves. Though they have returned to the elements, they have not died. They are still telling their stories.
The trick is to listen.
Some were lucky enough to be blessed with an education, and their diaries shed light on how we became who we are as a nation. For most of the rest, their tales are told with the scrape of a trowel and the shake of the screen. It is a story that we as a nation must recover and listen to. Their story is our own story.
GOT HISTORY?
We should be more diligent in seeing that we do not lose the past. We have to teach children and others to see the value of history, to take pride in a rich heritage. We must not dismiss such a major part of our nation's history as trivial or unimportant.
History lives only if we take an active role in it. If we wish to survive as a nation, what will it mean if we neglect our heritage? Look to past civilizations that rose and fell for the answer.
RECOMMENDED READING:
Grades 6-8:
High School and beyond:
