Sale of Rogers' Rangers New York site

[Jim]

Great read for Ranger history:

FORT EDWARD, N.Y. — The sale of the Hudson River site considered the birthplace of the U.S. Army Rangers is complete, ending a decade-long effort by an upstate community to secure the public purchase of a historic island and turn it into a heritage tourism attraction.

Officials said the closing on the sale of the 34-acre parcel on Rogers Island in Fort Edward occurred Wednesday. The village and town of Fort Edward, on the Hudson's east bank 45 miles north of Albany, bought the vacant property from a Long Island businessman who inherited it from his father. The municipalities plan to turn it into a public park.

http://www.rogersisland.org/Rogers%20Island.htm

[RangerX]

I take a little issue with this statement:

"It certainly is the birthplace of the American Ranger"

I'm partial to Benjamin Church, but it probably has something to do with growing up in Little Compton, RI.

That said, very cool stuff, and a good reminder that we are not the only ones interested in Ranger history.

[Jim]

That's pretty cool. I wonder if there might be any way for me to volunteer my services as they move forward with their park and trails planning and implementation. Would be cool to organize a Ranger volunteer work crew to help with the construction.

More information:

http://www.rogersisland.org/rogersisland%20history.htm

[Jim]

Today is the day Nathan Hale was hanged for being a spy. Hale was captured by none other than Robert Rogers in 1776.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Hale

[Jim]

Cemetery officials deal blow to Robert Rogers' grave search plans

No one may ever know whether the famed Robert Rogers is buried in a cemetery in New Hampshire.

The trustees of the cemetery have written an addendum to their rules and regulations for the Dunbarton Cemetery prohibiting exploration of the East Cemetery.

The new rules prohibit radar or use of any device above or below the surface.

"PLEASE NOTE," the addendum reads, "All buried in the East Cemetery shall REST IN PEACE."

This decision was a response to a request from Long Island resident Frank Nastasi, who owns the southern portion of Rogers Island in Fort Edward, where Rogers achieved much of his fame as a Colonial American military major and leader of Rogers' Rangers.

Nastasi, a self-proclaimed history buff, has been on a quest to find the true location of Rogers' remains. If he finds them, Nastasi said, he wants to take the remains to Rogers Island, rebury them, and erect a monument in memory of the military major.

Although books about Rogers claim he's buried in a church yard in England, Nastasi contends he may be buried in the Dunbarton Cemetery near the remains of his older brother, Samuel, across the street from where their childhood home stood in the 1730s.

Rogers, who at times was accused of conspiring with the French, illegally trading with American Indians and passing counterfeit money, was ordered imprisoned by George Washington in 1776 on charges that he was a Loyalist spy.

Nastasi has said that Rogers may have covertly returned to America, defying a threat of imprisonment or death to die in his homeland despite claims of history books that say Rogers went to England and died there in obscurity in 1795.

In May of 2000, Nastasi hired dowser Bruce Irwin of Thurman to investigate the hillside cemetery in rural New Hampshire, and Irwin determined a body may be buried in an unmarked grave.

That, however, was not enough to convince a Merrimack County probate court judge that he should allow Nastasi to hire someone to take soil core samples from the cemetery to conduct a DNA analysis.

Nastasi went back to the cemetery for a second time in May of this year, and through ground-penetrating radar, found an unmarked grave in the middle of the cemetery 3-1/2 feet deep, Nastasi said. He requested permission from the trustees of the cemetery to probe again.

However, this time, their answer - a change in the rules and regulations as of June 10- was a resounding "no."

"There is no Robert Rogers remains in the East Cemetery. Period," said John Thalheimer, one of three trustees for the cemetery. "Stuff that is buried there is buried there. And you don't take radar or anything else to mess it up."

Nastasi called the trustees' response a "sneak attack."

"I'm very angry at their small-mindedness," Nastasi said. "If I'm going to probe an unmarked gave, who's going to benefit from it? If Rogers is buried there, New Hampshire's going to benefit from it. If Rogers is not buried there, it's going to hurt nobody."

Nastasi, who said his research is now wasted time, wrote letters this week to the editor of the Bow Times, a newspaper in New Hampshire, and to the trustees of the cemetery, letting them all know what he thinks of their decision.

"I just want to let the townspeople know that I was there to do the right thing for history and not for anybody else," Nastasi said. "I wanted the small-minded trustees to know that they're fools."


http://poststar.com/news/local/article_ ... 95f3a.html

[Jim]

I take a little issue with this statement:

"It certainly is the birthplace of the American Ranger"

I'm partial to Benjamin Church, but it probably has something to do with growing up in Little Compton, RI.

That said, very cool stuff, and a good reminder that we are not the only ones interested in Ranger history.

Did you mean?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Church_(ranger)

[RangerX]

Interesting. Seems they relocated that article. Thanks for the heads up!

[rangerjd]

I've got a book by LTC (Ret) John Lock called, To Fight with Intrepidity: The Complete History of the U.S. Army Rangers 1622 to Present. It's a really good read and it covers a lot about Benjamin Church. I bought it years ago in paperback, but I just googled it and it is on Amazon.com.

[Jim]

Frigid Fury: The Battle on Snowshoes, March 1758

During the colonial period, New York was the scene of many hard fought engagements. None, however, was more bitterly contested than the action fought in the frozen woods west of Lake George some 239 years ago in March 1758 when a long range patrol of Captain Robert Rogers' Rangers got into deep trouble a long way from home.
http://dmna.ny.gov/historic/articles/snowshoe.htm

[rangerjd]

That was a great read and really showed the leadership that Rogers exhibited.

[Jim]

More about Robert Rogers. His role in the American Revolution is often overlooked.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Rogers_(soldier)

[Jim]

Will the REAL Robert Rogers please stand up?


https://spycurious.wordpress.com/2014/0 ... -stand-up/

[Jim]

Ray Mears' Extreme Survival S03E02 - Roger's Rangers
Very interesting program.

ht[url]tps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wufppTptb2g[/url]