Ever since it opened to traffic on April 11, 1960, thousands of Saratoga County residents have daily passed over the Mohawk River on the Northway and think they are on the Twin Bridges. Few realize that the bridge is really named for one of America’s greatest heroes – Taddeus Kosciusko.

Tadeusz Kosciuszko (Taddeus Kosciusko is the Anglicized version) was born to minor Polish nobility on February 4, 1746 and educated at the School for Knights in Warsaw. There, he studied not only military science but also history, philosophy, Latin, French, German, geography, and engineering. He completed his studies in France attending lectures at the Academy of Fine Arts and at military schools.

Because Poland was dominated by its larger neighbors Prussia and Russia, ambitious young men such as Taddeus found opportunities lacking and so he immigrated to America in 1776. His military skills were sorely needed in the Continental Army which was composed mostly of farmers. He was immediately given a commission as a Colonel of Engineers and later promoted to head engineer of the Army.

He was soon attached to the Northern Army in response to Gen. “Gentleman Johnny” Burgoyne’s impending invasion from Canada. Assigned to assess the defenses of Fort Ticonderoga, he recommended that a battery of artillery be placed on Mount Independence. The commander foolishly ignored this advice and the British captured the Fort after they placed their artillery on Mount Independence. As the Americans retreated south from Fort Ti, Kosciusko destroyed bridges, felled trees and dammed streams thus providing the needed time to regroup and select a good defensive position from which to meet the enemy. That place was Saratoga.

Kosciusko’s array of defensive positions, particularly on Bemis Heights overlooking the Hudson River, frustrated the British Army when they attached on September 19 and again on October 7, 1777. When Burgoyne realized he could not proceed and was unable to return to Canada due to the approaching winter, he surrendered. General Gates, the Commander at Saratoga, later wrote that “the great tacticians of the campaign were the hills and forests which a young Polish engineer was skillful enough to select for my encampment.” If the Battle of Saratoga was the turning point of the American Revolution, then Taddeus Kosciusko was at the hub of the turn.

Other sites where Kosciusko applied his talents were at Peebles Island at the confluence of the Mohawk and the Hudson in Waterford and at West Point. His earthworks at Bemis Heights and Peebles Island can still be seen today while his plans for defending West Point were those that Benedict Arnold tried to sell to the British. After Saratoga, he transferred to the Southern Department as Chief Engineer and participated in most of the important battles in that area until Cornwallis’s surrender in 1781.

At the conclusion of the war, a grateful Continental Congress promoted him to Brigadier General, granted American citizenship and gave him a land grant. He was also admitted to the prestigious Society of the Cincinnati and the American Philosophical Society. Prior to returning to his native Poland, he wrote to his good friend Thomas Jefferson, “I hereby authorize my friend Thomas Jefferson to employ the whole thereof (his estate) in purchasing Negroes from among his own or any other and giving them liberty in my name”. To his shame, Jefferson neglected to carry out Kosciusko’s wishes. In Poland he led the opposition to Russian interference in the internal affairs of Poland. When war broke out with Russia (referred to as Kosciusko’s Uprising), he won many battles but eventually was wounded and captured. Released in 1796, he was destined to wander throughout Europe until his death in 1817.

The poet Byron said that “Kosciusko was that sound that crashes in a tyrant’s ear” and Jefferson pronounced him “as pure a son of liberty as I have ever known.” Next time you cross his bridge, shout out a hardy “Dziekuje” for our liberties.

Paul Perreault has been the Malta Town Historian since 2009. He served as principal in the Ballston Spa School District from 1978 until 1998 and as a history teacher at Shenendehowa High School from 1967 until 1975. He is the editor of the Gristmill, published quarterly by the Saratoga County History Center. Paul can be reached at historian@malta-town.org

With the holiday season in full swing, many of us are making frequent stops to the baking ingredients aisle at our favorite supermarket. You may not be aware that 150 years ago some of these products were manufactured in the Town of Halfmoon.

In the 1800s, most of the commerce in Halfmoon was located close to the Mohawk & Hudson Rivers. Joshua Anthony however, developed his spice factory in a remote part of northern Halfmoon on his grandfather’s farm on Farm to Market & Anthony Roads. The three-story tower in the center of the factory once boasted a windmill that provided power for the machinery. Anthony heated the farmhouse and buildings in the winter with steam from the factory. Imagine, that technology that we are still trying to perfect was used a mere 153 years ago by Mr. Anthony!

He began his operations in 1869 under the name “Anthony and Co’s Universal Baking Powder” with the manufacture of Baking Powder and Cream of Tartar. He was known to manufacture a very superior and pure baking powder and it is said to be the best Baking Powder ever introduced to the public. One 1893 advertisement boasted: “It is the Best in the World.”

Spice grinding and the production of extracts for flavoring were introduced in 1892. It was said that he made visitors weep when he was grinding the Simon Pure Pepper! He could grind up to 3,000 pounds of pepper in a day! The factory was a two-story building and was equipped with “perfected and rapid machinery”, and most of the employees were women!

In 1882, the success of his business prompted Mr. Anthony to approach the Delaware and Hudson Railroad. He was able to work with them and secure a station of the Schenectady branch to make a stop in Ushers. The following year, Mr. Anthony had a private telegraph line running from Ushers, Clifton Park and Round Lake to his factory keeping him in constant touch with the rest of the business world, and in 1883 he secured the Ushers Post Office.

Around the turn of the century, Mr. Anthony was dealing exclusively with the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. (aka the A&P) With rising costs of shipping, the operators of the A&P chain tried to entice Mr. Anthony to move his operations to NYC, but he refused. His contributions to the community were improvements from which many benefited and changed the footprint of the Halfmoon community forever. The Spice Factory ceased operations in 1920.

Joshua was born February 16, 1839, in Adams, Mass. He and his three younger brothers were orphaned at a young age when his parents tragically died. They were raised by Zephaniah and Joanna Wells Buffington, their maternal grandparents who were devout Quakers. They moved to NY and the boys were raised on what was to become the Anthony farm. At 18, Joshua left the farm and clerked in local mercantile stores gaining business experience, returning to the farm in 1867 at age 28 and started the Baking Powder business two years later.

At age 93, he was interviewed by a local newspaper and recalled voting for Abe Lincoln in 1860, which was his very first ballot. He cast his ballot for “Honest Abe” again four years later. He recalled the grief that shook a nation when the great, kindly heart of America’s “Martyr President” was stilled by the assassin’s bullet. Mr. Anthony voted for every Republican President since Lincoln, including Hebert Hoover in 1928, with whom he shared the Quaker faith.

Mr. Anthony passed away at age 94, below is an excerpt from his obituary:

JOSHUA ANTHONY, 94, MASON FOR 66 YEARS, DIES HERE STILLWATER, Oct. 31 (Special)— Following an illness of three days, Stillwater’s oldest citizen, Joshua Anthony, died at his home here Saturday evening. Mr. Anthony who was in his 94th year was New York State’s oldest Mason, having been affiliated with the order for 66 years. He was a member of OnDa-Wa Lodge in Mechanicville where he has held an office for 35 years.

So, as you drive by Anthony & Farm to Market Roads, glance over and see the factory building and farmhouse that remain relatively unchanged to this day and think back to the time not so long ago when one man changed the history of our area. His name on the road is a daily reminder of his many contributions to the Town of Halfmoon, and the names of the roads in the Old Dater Farms development next door, remind us of all the products he manufactured and sold.

Joshua’s famous first cousin was Susan B. Anthony, also born in Adams, Mass., and a Leader of Women’s Suffrage. She was no stranger to this area. She visited the Anthony Farm at the time Joshua operated the Spice Mills. In fact, a third cousin, Mrs. Arthur Collins, says that Susan when she was 19, used to babysit for her grandfather Joshua shortly after he was born. Susan and her friends Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Matilda Gage, to name a few, changed the course of history for women and dedicated their lives getting women the right to vote.

One Halfmoon man and his family know this story firsthand. It is lifelong Halfmoon resident Harvey Hayner, the great grandson of Joshua Anthony. Harvey & Carol Hayner’s son Craig Anthony Hayner is our County Clerk, and I wonder where he got his middle name! The Hayner Family has farmed in Halfmoon since Joshua ran his spice factory and still does today. This certainly is an amazing family!

Lynda Bryan, a life-long resident of the Town of Halfmoon, serves as Town Clerk since 2010, and is Town Historian and President of the Halfmoon Historical Society.

Marble tombstones are usually considered permanent objects in a cemetery.  Yet, the stone erected to remember Phillip Rice has been found in several locations before finally returning to the Veteran’s Circle at Corinth Rural Cemetery.

Phillip Rice, born in Albany in 1822, was the son of Thomas Rice.  By 1855 he was married to Martha Stead, a native of England, and living in Corinth.  Phillip was a leather worker and was also listed as a shoemaker.  At the age of 38 he enlisted in the army in the 30th Infantry Co. G that was organized in Saratoga Springs.  He was the first to answer the call to arms in Corinth to help quell the rebellion by the southern states.  He was given the rank of sergeant in 1861 and after participating in the Battle of Fredericksburg he was promoted to Second Lieutenant.  During the Battle of Second Bull Run, also known as Groveton, in Virginia he was mortally wounded on August 29, 1862.  According to local records of soldiers from the town clerk’s, his remains were buried on the field.  Rice was the first recruit from Corinth to die in the Civil War and the G.A.R. Post (Grand Army of the Republic veteran’s post) was named in his honor. 

A modest marble marker was presented to the family and it was placed on the family plot at Corinth Rural Cemetery.  As reported in the summer of 1893 “a fine Scotch granite monument, 15 feet high, purchased in Scotland, has just been put up in the rural cemetery this week for J.T. Rice and Mrs. F.W. Walker families.  The monolith was set upon the lot where their parents and Mrs. Walker’s first husband, Alanson Young were interred.” (From the July 28, 1893 Corinthian Newspaper) It is believed at this time the previous grave stones were removed when the large stone was placed on the lot. 

Rather than discard Phillip’s marble stone it was moved to Palmer Avenue and used as a foundation stone under the front porch of John T. Rice’s home (Phillip’s son).  There it remained until the 1980s when the porch was repaired by unsuspecting owners.  They discovered the tombstone and proceeded to sell it at their garage sale.  Eventually it ended up at Stan’s Flea Market on Route 9 in Wilton where a Civil War reenactor purchased it and returned it to Corinth.  The stone spent a year or two at the town garage before finally being erected in the Veteran’s Circle at the Corinth Rural Cemetery.

Tragedies continued to plague the Rice family.  The Troy Whig newspaper reported in April 1871 that Mrs. Matilda (Martha) Rice had shown signs of lunacy for a few weeks.  Two local doctors and a neighbor testified about her condition to a local judge who granted the certificate of lunacy.  She was sent to the Willard Asylum near Utica where she died eighteen years later.  Phillip and Martha’s daughter Martha (Mattie) married Alanson Young who worked as an engineer at the local paper mill.  In 1879 while working on the Hudson River he was swept over the falls and drowned.

Like the tombstone, Phillip’s body was not to remain where he was first laid to rest.  In 1866 all Federal troops who had been hastily buried on the field at Second Battle of Bull Run were exhumed and reinterred at Arlington National Cemetery.  A large sarcophagus was placed over a burial vault where the remains of over 2,000 unknown soldiers rest in eternal peace.

Rachel Clothier is historian for the Town of Corinth, operates the Corinth Museum, and is retired from Crandall Public Library in Glens Falls.

Although the mineral springs that made Ballston Spa famous in the late 1700s were surpassed in importance by the industries of the 1800s, several of them were retubed and became part of the manufacturing interests of the village well into the twentieth century. Some mineral springs quickly failed, others were opened to the public, and still others were bottled and sold around the country.

Perhaps the most successful bottling operation involved the Hides-Franklin Spring. This business is probably one of the few in the country to be founded by a spirit. A Ballston Spa blacksmith and member of the Spiritualist Society named Samuel Hides purchased a farm on Malta Avenue between Hyde Boulevard and Columbia Avenue. One of his friends and fellow Spiritualists, Milton resident John Mitchell, told him that Benjamin Franklin’s spirit said to drill a well on the property that would someday be “for the healing of a nation.” Hides dutifully hired the Artesian Well Company to start drilling a well where Franklin told him. After about a year of effort, water began gushing forth when the drill reached a depth of 715 feet, with an initial gas pressure of 145 pounds per square inch and a continuous flow of 300 gallons of water per hour. In the summer of 1868, Hides and Mitchell brought Elisha Comstock in as a financial backer with one-third interest.

With this funding, Hides organized the Franklin Spring Company in 1870 to bottle and ship the mineral water across the country. After Hides passed away in 1888 the spring fell into disuse for a time, but a few years later was “rediscovered” and went on to be bottled for several more decades. Hides’ son-in-law Abijah Comstock, who married Hides’ only surviving daughter Adaline, was a long-time proprietor of the company and renamed it the Comstock Spring in 1897. An analysis of the water showed that it contained large quantities of sodium, lime, and magnesium, and smaller quantities of potassium. Advertisements for the water in the early 1900s claimed that “no mineral water ever yet discovered by man possesses such quantities of reliable salts, and in such exact proportions, as this water, nor can any compound or even imitation compare with it.”

The company listed many testimonials as to the curative properties of the water. George Woodworth of Troy was supposedly quoted as saying, “In the year 1884, I was sick with dropsy and kidney trouble for over seven months. Both my doctors gave me up to die. I was advised to drink your water, which I did and took no other medicine. The first week I lost 13 pounds, and in a couple of months I was well and have been ever since.” Myron Rose of Mechanic Street testified that he was cured of kidney and liver troubles within one month of beginning a regimen of the spring water.

After Comstock’s death the business was operated by the Sowle brothers, who introduced flavorings to the carbonated water. The most successful use of the spring came in 1927 when a company called Natural Mineral Waters of Saratoga County, comprised of the two surviving Sowle brothers (Wilbur and Walter) and several other businessmen took over. The firm was headed by Fred Hoyt, an internationally known yacht enthusiast and naval designer. Once some improvements were made to the spring and machinery, the company began to manufacture ginger ale and assorted flavored sodas such as lemon sour, birch beer, sarsaparilla, orangeade, and chocolate. The soda was said to be “an absolutely pure cathartic water aiding the liver and kidneys.” Charles Dake, future founder of Stewart’s Shops, was President, Fred Streever of Streever Lumber was Vice President, and Percy Dake was the Secretary and Treasurer.

The bottling plant operated in a beautiful circular stone building 80 feet in diameter. The Ballston Journal described the construction as “reminiscent of ancient days and suggestive of the 700-foot deep well beneath it. Its drink hall is of massive beams, hand hewn from local cut native chinquapin chestnut, now about extinct, and is wainscoted with great stone fossils from the dawn of the earth’s organic life taken from the cryptozoic ledges made famous by Lester’s Park and Ritchie’s Petrified Gardens. When the valve of No. 1 well is turned on, the massive stone bottling house vibrates perceptibly as the deep-seated gas and water emerge through the five-inch rock bore and the piped pressure is often above 150 pounds per square inch. The greatest care is needed in seating the artificial hydraulic seals as on two occasions literally tons of pipe have been projected hundreds of feet into the air.”

A 1930 New York State legislative study of the principal springs in the state put the Hides-Franklin at the top of the list, stating it “leads all the rest.” The spring was reported to have the highest sustained gas pressure of any spring in the area at 110 pounds per square inch. The next highest pressure in Ballston was only 25 pounds per square inch. In 1941 the company manufactured one million bottles of naturally carbonated water which included the Spa Vichy and Hides-Franklin brands and several fruited flavors. The various bottling companies of the spring enjoyed great success for about 40 years, but updated scientific data likely discounted such medicinal claims that had been taken at face value years before. Natural Mineral Waters declared bankruptcy in 1959 and the unique (some may say priceless) building was torn down to make room for residential development.

Timothy Starr has published 20 books on local history in Saratoga County and the Capital District and is a former board member of the Saratoga County Historical Society.

Most people remember the first American Thanksgiving being held by pilgrims at Plymouth in what is now Massachusetts in the year 1621. According to the story, the English colonists feasted for three days in the autumn of that year to celebrate their first harvest in the new world.

America’s first national Thanksgiving holiday however came more than 150 years later. It was declared by the Continental Congress to commemorate the victory of the American army of General Horatio Gates over British forces commanded by General John Burgoyne in Saratoga, New York on October 17, 1777.

The triumph at Saratoga, America’s Turning Point in the eight-year War of Independence was the first time in world history an entire British army had been captured. What’s more, the victory reversed a long string of humiliating defeats for the 13 rebellious colonies, including the loss of the American capital in Philadelphia.

Congress responded to the news of the Saratoga victory by appointing a committee consisting of Samuel Adams of Massachusetts, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, and Daniel Roberdeau of Pennsylvania to draft a report and resolution. The motion, which was adopted November 1, declared Thursday, December 18 as day for “Solemn Thanksgiving and Praise” and  “to inspire our Commanders both by Land and Sea, and all under them, with that Wisdom and Fortitude which may render them fit Instruments, under the Providence of Almighty GOD, to secure for these United States the greatest of all human blessings, INDEPENDENCE and PEACE…”

General George Washington issued orders for the holiday to be observed by the Continental Army. He wrote:

“Being the day set apart by the Honorable Congress for public Thanksgiving and Praise; and duty calling us devoutly to express our grateful acknowledgements to God for the manifold blessings he has granted us, the General directs that the army remain in its present quarters, and that the Chaplains perform divine service with their several Corps and brigades. And earnestly exhorts, all officers and soldiers, whose absence is not indispensably necessary, to attend with reverence the solemnities of the day.”

Reverend Israel Evans, Chaplin to General Poor’s New Hampshire brigade, preached at least one of the Thanksgiving sermons.  Discourse Evans urged his listeners:

“Oh give thanks unto the Lord our God, for a brave general, the commander in chief of all our armies. A general possessed of such unparalleled fortitude and patience, and not more patient, than meek, virtuous and humane. And if I am permitted to say anything of a character, which so much outshines the brightest encomiums the writer can offer: I will venture to say, that if you search for faults, in the conduct of that true patriot, and most excellent hero, you will find none, unless you call it a fault to exercise compassion and lenity towards those negligent and guilty offenders, who by their sloth and inattention to the best orders, counteract the wisest plans, and frustrate the best schemes of military discipline and policy. . . . Oh America, give glory to God for such a faithful hero! Then you saw him greatest when most without y.our aid. Collected in himself, he greatly resolved, with his few faithful followers, to be the barrier of liberty, or fall in its defence.”

An accurate account of how the hungry and ill-equipped Continental soldiers spent America’s first national Thanksgiving holiday can be found in the memoirs of Private Joseph Plumb Martin:

“While we lay here there was a Continental Thanksgiving ordered by Congress, and as the army had all the cause in the world to be particularly thankful, if not for being well off, at least that it was no worse, we were ordered to participate in it.  We had nothing to eat for two or three days previous, except what the trees and the fields and forests afforded us.  But we must now have what Congress said, a sumptuous Thanksgiving to close the year of high living we had now nearly even brought to a close.  Well, to add something extraordinary to our present stock of provisions, our country, every mindful of its suffering army, opened her sympathizing heart so wide, upon this occasion, as to give us something to make the world stare.  And what do you think it was, dear reader?  Guess.  You cannot guess, be you as much of a Yankee as you will.  I will tell you; it gave each and every man half a gill [note:  a gill is about four ounces] of rice and a tablespoonful of vinegar!!

After we had made sure of this extraordinary superabundant donation, we were ordered out to attend a meeting and hear a sermon delivered upon the happy occasion.  We accordingly went, so we could not help it.  I heard a sermon, a ‘thanksgiving sermon’, what sort of one I do not know now, nor did I at the time I heard it.  I had something else to think upon.  My belly put me in remembrance of the fine Thanksgiving dinner I was to partake of when I could get it.  Well, we had got through the services of the day and had nothing to do but to return in good order to our tents and fare as we could.  … So I had nothing else to do but to go home and make out my supper as usual, upon a leg of nothing and no turnips.”

Over the years, the word “thanksgiving” has evolved, originally Governors marked days of Thanksgivings by religious services to give thanks to God, or to celebrate a bountiful harvest.  General George Washington frequently declared days of thanksgiving for the Continental Army. As President, Washington proclaimed a national day of Thanksgiving in 1789.  President Abraham Lincoln again established Thanksgiving as a national holiday during the Civil War, cementing the feast as an American tradition. In 1941, the date was established as the last Thursday in November.  

The fires that destroyed both the axe and scythe factories in Bloodville over 120 years ago did not completely end the industrial era of the hamlet, as is widely believed. There were actually a few valiant efforts to reestablish manufacturing in the years that followed. 

The hard-edge tool factories of Isaiah Blood (1810-1870) dominated the economy of Ballston Spa’s suburb of Bloodville for over 50 years. It can be said that Isaiah Blood is the “forgotten” entrepreneur of Ballston Spa. His scythe and axe works were famous throughout the country long after his death, but few documents survive to this day that describe his personal accomplishments and motivations.

Blood did not own the largest scythe and axe factories in the country, but they rivaled or exceeded all but a few. Prior to the Civil War, a factory was considered large if it gave employment to fifty people; Blood regularly employed over two hundred. In the New York Mercantile Union Business Directory of 1850, Blood was one of only seventeen scythe makers in the state, and at the time he was by far the largest. Only a few of the twenty-one axe makers in New York were as large as Blood’s, notably the factories of nearby Cohoes.

One reason Blood’s legacy faded so quickly was the destruction of both of his factories and the extinction of his direct family line. Blood’s own son died at a young age, as did his daughter’s children, so that by the 1920s there were no direct descendants left. The absence of any descendants to retain family photographs and records leaves a void that cannot easily be filled. Although his son-in-law continued to operate the business for twenty years after Blood died, both the scythe and axe factories were consumed by fire in 1900 and never rebuilt. This sudden and complete loss was devastating to the hundreds of skilled workers employed there, most of whom were forced to move away.

Bloodville presented a tempting location for businessmen who wanted to start up a mill. The Kayaderosseras Creek still provided adequate water power that only had to be supplemented by steam engines during the summer. The Ballston Terminal Railroad passed through town and was designed to haul freight cars to the Delaware and Hudson interchange in Ballston Spa. Nearby lived hundreds of well-motivated men looking for employment close to home. 

A man named John Butler began investigating what it would take to build a paper mill on the site of the old axe factory. He told a newspaper reporter that he was planning to erect a concrete dam that would utilize the water power of both the axe and scythe factory sites, giving the mill “a power of over 40 feet head and at the same time a large storage capacity.” His plans at the time also called for erecting a large, four-machine mill that would manufacture paper specialties and employ about 150 men. Local residents were saddened when Butler died unexpectedly before he could begin construction on the project. 

In August 1904, J. E. Weatherbee of Carthage, New York announced that he and several capitalists were interested in picking up where Butler left off. He recruited Bloodville resident James Lowell to become the superintendent in charge of building the mill. Lowell was considered a good choice for the job since he had just completed building a giant paper mill in Sturgeon Falls, Canada for the Imperial Paper Company.  

Excitement in the community ran high as construction of the mill actually commenced and reached a rapid completion. It was a substantial building measuring 130 feet by 60 feet in size. The first floor contained the perforating and core-making machines, while the second floor was used to store boxes. 

Once the mill was finished and equipped, it began the manufacture of bathroom tissue and other niche paper products under the name Ballston Pulp and Paper Company. The plant had three 1,000-pound beating engines, one refining engine, and one 92-inch single cylinder machine powered by water and steam. Production amounted to six tons of roll and package bathroom paper per day. 

Unfortunately, the new owner did not have much better luck with avoiding fires. Four years after the mill started operations, fire destroyed what was known as the “Toilet Mill,” causing about $8,000 in damage.  

A smaller paper mill was quietly built closer to the creek that manufactured specialty paper. This mill operated for several years but could not compete with larger paper mills. It closed in 1912 soon after an employee named George Bush died in an old flume while trying to repair the dam.  

The American Axe and Tool Company, which sold the property to Ballston Pulp and Paper, foreclosed on the mortgage in March 1913. The property was purchased at foreclosure by Robert Hunter of Fulton, New York who stated that he planned to open the mill back up again and continue to manufacture tissue paper. However, the mill lay idle for several more years until it was purchased by the United Paper Company of Atlanta, Georgia in 1917. It was only in operation for one day when it was destroyed by fire, causing $50,000 in losses.  

This was yet another heavy blow to the hamlet of Bloodville, as the mill had just been renovated and would have provided jobs to several dozen men. No other mill activity is recorded at the site of Isaiah Blood’s old axe and scythe works thereafter but many of the homes in the hamlet today still harken back to that era.

Timothy Starr has published 18 books on local history in Saratoga County and the Capital District and is a former board member of the Saratoga County Historical Society.

Over the years, much has been written about the Freemasons (or Masons) involved in the American Revolution, including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Paul Revere. Freemasonry is a voluntary self-betterment association that teaches moral, intellectual, and spiritual lessons through three initiation ceremonies. It was the preeminent fraternal organization in the 18th century, especially in American, English, and French cities and ports as the political, commercial, and intellectual elites gathered within a lodge or meeting.

The Battles of Saratoga, America’s Turning Point ended with the victory of the American army of General Horatio Gates over British forces commanded by General John Burgoyne at Saratoga, New York, on October 17, 1777. Historians have always pointed to America’s Turning Point as being the most significant in the world’s history, as there was a transfer of territory so vast, and the influences were so far-reaching. Saratoga’s capitulation triggered two centuries of revolution elsewhere. It ushered in the end of the British Empire and brought the United States of America to life.

There were many freemasons involved in the American victory, but probably none as important as Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was not on the field of battle but was positioned in France. Benjamin Franklin helped to build support in France by using French Masons to help the American Revolution. One of his tools was the Lodge of the Nine Muses — the intellectual center of French Freemasonry. Franklin was admitted into the Nine Muses and was elected Master of the Lodge. He devoted himself to a propaganda campaign that leaned French public opinion in favor of the American cause. A clandestine method to secure and deliver military supplies to rebel forces in America was designed and implemented. In the spring of 1777, a shipment of French military material bought by the United States arrived at Portsmouth, NH. It included 1,000 barrels of powder, 12,000 muskets from Charleville, thousands of blankets, and other military articles. These supplies enabled the American victory at Saratoga in the autumn of 1777.

The Surrender of General Burgoyne was painted by John Trumbull on the exhibition at the rotunda of the United States Capitol. The painting depicts the sword surrendering at the end of the battles of Saratoga. There are 27 people in the picture, 20 of them Masons. Not all masons were members of the fraternity before the battles.

Three of the masons would become governors: John Brooks of Massachusetts; Morgan Lewis, third governor of New York; and William Hull of the Michigan territory. Morgan Lewis (1754-1844) was the son of one of the signatories to the Declaration of Independence, Francis Lewis (1713-1802). Lewis had an extensive military career as Chief of Staff to General Horatio Gates and Quartermaster General of New York State during the Revolutionary War. He was the United States quartermaster general in the early days of the War of 1812. He later served as brigadier and then major-general on the Niagara frontier and commanded the battle of Fort George. Lewis sat in the New York State Assembly and Senate and was Attorney General and Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court. Lewis County in New York goes by his name. He served as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New York from 1830 to 1843.

The Master’s Masonic Lodge in Albany performed degree work during the war, including initiating Morgan Lewis and making Master Masons of Henry Dearborn, John Stark, Robert Troup, and James Wilkinson. The Albany Lodge was visited by John Greaton. The provincial Grand Master issued a charter to “Union Lodge No. 1” in Albany dated February 21, 1765. On April 12, 1768, the cornerstone of the new Masonic building was placed at the intersection of what became the northwest corner of Lodge Street and Maiden Lane. 

During the 8-year war, there were traveling military lodges, American Union and Washington Masonic, that were convened at the American army’s encampment and were frequented by Brooks, Hull, Rufus Putman, and Thomas Seymour

The St. John’s Lodge in Portsmouth, NH, was the home lodge of Henry Dearborn, Alexander Scammell, and William Whipple (who also signed the Declaration of Independence). Joseph Cilley was a member of a nearby lodge in Lee, New Hampshire. St. John’s Lodge is the oldest Masonic lodge in New Hampshire and claims to be the oldest active Masonic lodge in America. The lodge convened and formed the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire in Wm. Pitt Tavern, which is now part of the Strawbery Banke Museum.   

John Armstrong’s home lodge was in Pennsylvania. Massachusetts’ lodges were the home of John Glover, Elnathan Haskell, Enos Hitchcock, and William Lithgow. Matthew Clarkson’s lodge was the famed Holland Lodge in New York. The Holland Lodge was founded in 1789 and initially used Low Dutch as its primary language.

The Battles of Saratoga, America’s Turning Point, was the first time an entire British army was captured. More importantly, the victory gave Franklin some good news to convince the French to go to war. When the French entered the war, what was only a North American war became global, with battles in India, Africa, Europe, and especially in the Caribbean. It took another five years, but in the end, Saratoga made the words written in the Declaration of Independence an excellent achievement for all humanity. It is not surprising that the masons, members of the preeminent fraternal organization in the 18th century, were involved in the battles of Saratoga, America’s turning point.  

Sean Kelleher is the historian for the Town of Saratoga, the vice president of the Saratoga County History Center, and the vice chairman of the Saratoga County 250th American Revolution Commission.  Kelleher is a contributing writer to More Saratoga County Stories

When the readers of the Gloversville Daily Leader turned to page eight on the morning of January 7, 1901, they were confronted with the news that 70-year-old Hiram Van Buren had shot and killed Edward Eddy in the hamlet of Trevett in Providence, Saratoga County. As we will soon hear, for weeks afterward details continued to emerge that told a story of jealousy, revenge, and obsession.

As is often the case, a woman was at the center of it all. For years before the murder took place, Mrs. “Tug” Wilson had been living in the home of Edward Eddy, where she was said to have been employed as a housekeeper. Towards the end of 1900, Mrs. Wilson was hired by 70-year-old Hiram Van Buren to do his washing. Eddy, not pleased with this new arrangement, told Wilson that if she continued to work for Van Buren, to take everything she owned with her and not come back to his home. When she complied and moved out, he then threatened to “burn her out” if she did not return.

By Saturday, January 5, 1901, Mrs. Wilson had moved into the house where Hiram Van Buren lived with the widow Mary A. Shanley, his 79-year-old housekeeper, and her 39-year-old son, Charlie. That evening a winter festival was held at the schoolhouse in Trevett, an event that brought together nearly everyone in the neighborhood, including Hiram, Widow Shanley, and Mrs. Wilson. One other person who attended that night was Ed Eddy, who, fueled by alcohol and enraged at his loss, was heard to boldly threaten that he would soon cut Mrs. Wilson’s throat.

Van Buren and his housemates returned from the festivities by Midnight, and soon turned in for the night, unconcerned by the drunken threats from Ed Eddy. With the noise of those returning home from the night’s entertainment Hiram slept fitfully, waking as the lanterns of those passing by flashed past his window. One particularly bright light brought him to his feet, suddenly realizing that the house was on fire. Using a nearby bucket of water he was able to quickly subdue the flames that had started climbing up an outside wall. By this time, the rest of the household had woken up, and accompanied by Charley Shanley, Hiram checked the property to make sure the arsonist was not still nearby.

Unsure if the attack would continue, Hiram and Shanley decided to keep watch, with each man posted at open doors at the back and front of the house. By three o’clock, Charley gave up and went to bed, leaving Hiram to keep watch alone. Two hours later, Hiram was shocked to see a face pressed against his bedroom window. Grabbing his shotgun, he rushed out the front door and saw two men standing under a nearby apple tree. When the men realized they had been seen, one ran and the other crotched behind a handpump hoping to conceal himself. In what he later described as an attempt to shoot the man behind the pump “in the leg in order to identify him,” Van Buren raised the shotgun to his hip and fired. Unfortunately, his aim was off, and the shotgun pellets struck the man in both the neck and the heart, knocking him to the ground. The man was Edward Eddy, and though attempting to flee after he had been shot, he only went a short distance before falling down dead.

After the shooting, Van Buren quickly proceeded to the local justice where he told what had happened and gave himself over for arrest. After Justice Allen heard Hiram’s account of the incident, he allowed him to return home until the coroner could determine the cause of death. On the same day as the killing an inquest was held, and after evidence of the attempted arson and testimony of Eddy’s threats were considered, Hiram Van Buren was discharged on the grounds that his actions were justifiable. The second man in the attempt to burn down the house was never positively identified, the only possible suspect being able to provide an alibi for that night.

Unfortunately, Hiram’s difficulties concerning the killing of Edward Eddy were far from over. The day after the shooting District Attorney George R. Salisbury came to Trevett to look over the scene and the next day had Van Buren charged with murder and arrested. Taken to the county jail in Ballston Spa, he was arraigned with an examination scheduled for the next morning, Wednesday, January 9th. For his defense, Van Buren hired town of Ballston attorney Frank H. Brown, who was granted a week’s postponement to build his defense. On January 17th Hiram Van Buren was arraigned before Ballston Spa Justice Esmond, charged with murder in the first degree. At that time, his attorney waived examination for his client and the case was scheduled to be heard before the Grand Jury. It was fortunate that the next session of the Saratoga County Grand Jury was set to convene at the end of January, as Hiram was to be held in the county jail while he awaited his trial.

On Wednesday, January 30, 1901, Hiram Van Buren came before the Saratoga County Supreme Court Grand Jury, presided over by Judge L. W. Russell. At the trial, the grand jury agreed with the coroner’s initial decision from the day of the killing and deemed the shooting justifiable homicide. The local community praised the action of the grand jury, and Van Buren was heartily congratulated all around.

Van Buren was released from prison, and the next day he headed home. Even with this victory, Hiram’s struggles were not over. Destitute as a result of the trial, and with no one to help, he left Ballston on foot to walk the twenty miles home through the severe winter weather. Fortunately, before he has traveled far friends showed up and gave him a ride home.

Dave Waite is a resident of Blue Corners, Saratoga County and has written many articles on upstate New York history, including several in the recently published book, Saratoga County Stories. Dave can be reached at davewaitefinearts@gmail.com