We left Hyde Park and drove north to Cambridge,
N.Y. After getting a site at a Passport America campground we drove to
Saratoga National Historic Site. This is the site of the Battles of Saratoga in 1777, the first significant American military victory of the American Revolutionary War. Here, in 1777, American forces met, defeated, and forced a major British Army to surrender, an event which led France to recognize the independence of the United States, and enter the war as a decisive military ally of the struggling Americans. There was a computer in the Visitors Center that could be used to look up participants in the battles. Jim found that his great great great great grandfather, Peter Felt, fought here. We watched a movie about the battles and drove along the road through the battlefield.
Here is the computer listing for Jim's ancestor -
And here is a picture of a monument to revolutionary heroes we found in Peter Felt's home town in New Hampshire when we went there four years ago -
And here is Peter Felt's tombstone -
On the battlefield road we saw the famous "Boot Monument" to the heroism of Benedict Arnold in the battle here. It has no reference to his name but shows his boot (he was wounded in his lower leg).
The battlefield is near the Hudson River in a very pretty area.
We
found an American Legion in Saratoga and stopped for a beer. Then I cooked supper at the Casita.
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