May 18, 2024
9am
Saturday, May 18, 2024
9:00am Welcome—Beth Hill, President and CEO, Fort Ticonderoga.
9:15-9:45am “Continually at the Fort”: The Many Lives of Fort Loudoun—While historians have long focused on the military importance of North America’s frontier forts, these forts also served crucial roles as trading posts, centers of missionary activity, and hubs for interracial relationships and families. This presentation focuses on the variety of individuals who called South Carolina’s Fort Loudoun home during the Seven Years’ War, from its inception as the westernmost British outpost in the Southern colonies to its besiegement and surrender to its former Cherokee allies during the Anglo-Cherokee War (1759-1761). Tracing the ways these individuals forged compromises, however short-lived, demonstrates the limits of imperial strength in the backcountry and the power that Native Americans held over their allies in the Seven Years’ War. Dr. Jessica L. Wallace is an associate professor of early American history at Georgia College & State University, where she teaches courses in colonial, digital, and Native American history. Her research focuses on Anglo-Cherokee relations on the Southern frontier.
10:00-10:30am The Conestoga Massacres: Frontier Genocide in the Shadow of the American Theater—In the aftermath of one global war and the dawn of new domestic one, the intimate relationship between settlers and peaceful Indians collapsed along the Pennsylvania frontier. The Paxton Boys, a force with too little manpower to act defensively, moved against all their presumed enemies including a small town of Indians in Lancaster who they murdered to the last. Michael E. Carter is an adjunct professor of History at Kean University; his focus is on American history, settler colonialism, and genocide studies.
10:45-11:15am The Whitings on the Wall?: Re-evaluating a Provincial Officer—Portraits of American Provincials who served alongside the British regulars during the French and Indian War are exceedingly rare. Most images are closely identified with their sitters, but those attributions can get muddled over time. Fort Ticonderoga’s Curator, Dr. Matthew Keagle, uses new insights into the uniforms of the Connecticut Provincials to reevaluate and unravel the identity of one of the few surviving provincial portraits from the conflict.
11:30am-1:45pm Lunch Break (Box lunch from America’s Fort Café included).
1:00-1:30pm Book Signing at the Museum Store in the Log House.
2:00-3:00pm The Road to Ticonderoga: The Campaign of 1758 in the Champlain Valley—Beyond being one of the largest battles fought in North America until the onset of the Civil War, the Battle of Ticonderoga also falls within a small class of military engagements by being a victory against the odds. The Road to Ticonderoga explores the components behind this unexpected outcome, and how a series of small mistakes can cascade into a catastrophe under weak leadership or be exploited by a strong one. Michael Laramie is the author of eight books on colonial America and the Civil War. His upcoming work, King George’s War and the Thirty-Year Peace, will complete his trilogy on the first three French & Indian Wars.
3:15-3:45pm “Give It to Them, Jersey Blues!” A look at the New Jersey Regiment, “The Jersey Blues,” in the French & Indian War 1755-1760—This presentation will focus on the Jersey Blues and their participation in the actions at Oswego, Sabbath Day Point, Fort William Henry, Ticonderoga, and Frontenac. It also includes some of the unique characteristics of the regiment. John Hayward is a retired public school teacher of 43 years and is currently an adjunct professor of History at Southern New Hampshire University. He is the author of two books on the American Civil War: “Give It to Them, Jersey Blues!” A History of the 7th NJ Regiment and “Follow Me, Jersey Men!” A History of the 5th NJ Regiment.
5:00pm Dinner at America’s Fort Café (pre-registration only).
