Fort Plain Museum’s American Revolution Conference, 9-12 June

The 2016 Conference on the American Revolution in the Mohawk Valley will take place on 9-12 June. I’ll be one of many speakers at this event, organized by folks at the Fort Plain Museum in New York. It’s designed both to introduce visitors to the Revolutionary War sites of central New York state and to bring in speakers on the whole conflict.

On Thursday, 9 June, there will be a “Western Frontier Bus Tour” taking registrants to many historic sites in western Mohawk County: Fort Plain/Fort Rensselaer, the General Herkimer Home, the 1747 Nellis Tavern, the Van Alstyne Homestead & Tavern, Fort Klock, the Palatine Church, the Stone Arabia and Klock’s Battlefields, the Stone Arabia Churches, and the grave of Colonel John Brown.

On Friday, 10 June, a second tour covers the “Sites of Eastern Mohawk Country”: Fort Johnson Historic Landmark, Fort Hunter (Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site), Johnson Hall State Historic Site, the Drumm House, the Tryon County Courthouse, the Colonial Cemetery, the Fort Johnstown Jail, the Johnstown Battlefield, the Montgomery County History & Archives, and the Kateri Indian Museum (Liberty Pole Site).

The conference presentations will take place over the weekend at Fulton-Montgomery Community College in Johnston, New York.

The program on Saturday, 11 June, includes:

• Bruce Venter, “The Battle of Hubbardton: The Rear Guard Action that Saved America”
• James Kirby Martin, “Benedict Arnold, Revolutionary Hero: An American Warrior Reconsidered”
• Edward G. Lengel, “First Entrepreneur: How George Washington Built His and the Nation’s Prosperity”
• Lois Huey, “Molly Brant: A Legacy Of Her Own”
• Todd Braisted, “Grand Forage 1778: The Battleground Around New York City”
• J. L. Bell, “The Road to Concord: How Four Stolen Cannon Ignited the Revolutionary War”

Don Hagist of British Soldiers, American Revolution will deliver the keynote presentation during that evening’s banquet at the Historic 1765 Goose Van Alstyne Tavern in Canajoharie.

On the morning of Sunday, 12 June, the presenters will be:

• Darren Bonaparte, “Colonel Louis Cook, Oneidas at Oriskany”
• Philip D. Weaver, “The 3rd New Jersey in the Mohawk Valley”

The last event will be a panel discussion of archeology at New York’s Revolutionary War fortifications featuring Dr. Amy Roache-Fedchenko on Fort Stanwix (Fort Schuyler), Dr. Susan Maguire on Fort Niagara, Dr. Douglas Pippin on Fort Haldimand, Aaron Gore on Fort Oswegatchie, and Wayne Lenig on Fort Plain/Fort Rensselaer.

Registration for the conference (including Saturday lunch) and the Saturday banquet are each $50 per person. The bus tours are each an additional $35. For more information and registration forms, please visit the host’s Facebook page.