augment the attendance, nor to rival in elaboration the programme of
the Tercentenary celebration of 1909.
All that remained on this occasion for the Lake Champlain
Tercentenary Commissioners to do was to turn over formally to the
properly constituted authorities the Champlain memorials, which
had been constructed pursuant to law at Crown Point Forts and at
Plattsburgh. The exercises, therefore, were planned with that end
in view. They were dignified and stately, but did not extend beyond
the formal presentation and acceptances of the memorials as will
appear from the record that follows. The President, Vice-President,
United States Senators, Foreign Ambassadors and some other specially
invited guests were unable to attend on account of the prolonged
second session of the Sixty-second Congress, or absence from the
country, at the time of the dedicatory ceremonies, to the regret
of the members of the Commissions and the people of the Champlain
valley. The participation of these officials of the United States,
France and Great Britain in the Tercentenary exercises had added
national as well as international stateliness to that commemorative
celebration, still fresh in the memory of all who chanced to
witness it. The unavoidable absence of these distinguished guests
was in a measure compensated for, however, in the presence of
their representatives, who contributed much to the success of
the dedicatory ceremonies. All arrangements were carried forward
for the dedication of the Crown Point memorial by Commissioners
Witherbee, Knapp, Pell, Lafontaine and Shea with all the forethought
and care that had characterized their painstaking efforts from
the first. Commissioner Hill, and President John M. Thomas of the
Vermont Commission planned the programme and secured the speakers.
Commissioners Booth, Riley, Weaver and Knapp were no less vigilant in
preparing for the dedicatory ceremonies of the Plattsburgh Champlain
Memorial. In this they were materially assisted by the mayor of the
city, the Chamber of Commerce and the people of Plattsburgh as well
as by Colonel Calvin D. Cowles of the Fifth U. S. Infantry, stationed
at Plattsburgh Barracks. The people of Plattsburgh purchased and
improved the site for the Champlain memorial, decorated the streets
for the dedicatory exercises, provided automobiles for the visitors
to make a tour of the city and aided the Tercentenary Commissioners
in other ways in carrying to a successful conclusion the dedicatory
ceremonies.
The attendance at both the Crown Point and the Plattsburgh exercises
was thoroughly representative of the people of the Champlain valley,
though not as large as at the Tercentenary exercises. The steamer
“_Ticonderoga_” was chartered by the New York Tercentenary Commission
and brought the invited guests from Plattsburgh, Burlington and Port
Henry. After the exercises at Crown Point Forts, the “_Ticonderoga_”
took the guests back to their several destinations and the members
of the Tercentenary Commissions to Bluff Point, where they registered
at the new Hotel Champlain.
The military features of the dedicatory ceremonies are given in the
following report of the Military Committee:
The military features of the ceremonies attending the dedication of
the Champlain Memorial Lighthouse at Crown Point, N. Y., July 5,
1912, and the unveiling of the Statue of Champlain at Plattsburgh,
N. Y., July 6, 1912, were on a much smaller scale than those of the
celebration of 1909, but the presence of the United States and State
troops added greatly to the dignity of the ceremonies at both places.
When the chartered steamboat “_Ticonderoga_” left the dock at Port
Henry at 11:30 A. M., July 5th, Governor John A. Dix and the
following members of his staff were on board:
Brigadier-General William Verbeck, The Adjutant-General, S. N. Y.
Lieutenant-Commander Eckford Craven de Kay, Military Secretary to
the Governor.
Commander Russell Raynor, First Battalion, N. M.
Commander Edward H. Snyder, 47th Infantry, N. G., N. Y.
Captain Walter S. Gibson, 74th Infantry, N. G., N. Y.
Captain Charles Curie, First Cavalry, N. G., N. Y.
First Lieutenant Griswold Green, Aide, Third Brigade, N. G., N. Y.
First Lieutenant Harry S. Underwood, Aide, Third Brigade, N. G., N. Y.
Major-General John F. O’Ryan, N. G., N. Y., came up on the special
car from New York and was the guest of the Commission until evening,
when he was obliged to return to review the Sixty-ninth Regiment, N.
G., N. Y.
Governor John A. Mead of Vermont was unable to be present but was
represented by:
Lee S. Tillotson, The Adjutant-General, representing the Governor.
Colonel D. L. Morgan, Aide-de-Camp.
Major H. R. Kingsley, Military Secretary.
First Lieutenant John B. Barnes, U. S. Infantry,
Inspector-Instructor, Organized Militia of Vermont.
[Illustration: Landing Troops and Guests at Crown Point Forts, July
5, 1912]
[Illustration: Col. Sanger, Gov. Dix and Others landing at Crown
Point Memorial, July 5, 1912]
Company “M,” 1st Infantry, N. G., Vt., Captain J. M. Ashley
commanding, and forty enlisted men came down from Burlington on the
steamboat.
The 9th Separate Company of Whitehall, or Company “I,” 2d Infantry,
N. G., N. Y., went into camp at the Lake House, Crown Point Village,
on July 4th, and proceeded on a ferryboat early in the morning of the
5th to the Crown Point Forts. Captain R. G. Hays was in command with
First Lieutenant J. J. Kelly, Second Lieutenant Dewey A. Forbush, and
fifty enlisted men.
CROWN POINT FORTS
On the arrival of the “_Ticonderoga_” at the wharf at the Champlain
Memorial Lighthouse, Crown Point, N. Y., Captain Hays’ Company was
drawn up in line to receive the guests. Captain Ashley’s Company
marched off the boat preceded by the Port Henry Band. Governor Dix,
the Tercentennial Commissioners and the invited guests followed and
the line of march was formed under escort of the two companies.
Company “I” being on the right. The column then proceeded to the
English forts, where the bronze memorial tablet presented to the
State by the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of New York was
unveiled by Miss Evelyn Witherbee. The two companies were drawn up to
the right and left of the tablet which was guarded by a sergeant from
Company “I.” At the conclusion of the brief ceremonies, the column
returned to the wharf, where the invited guests boarded the steamboat
for luncheon while the troops bivouacked on the shore. At 1:30 P.
M. the companies were drawn up in line near the Lighthouse,
Company “I” being on the New York side of the Government Reservation,
and Company “M” on the side toward Vermont. At the conclusion of the
ceremonies Company “I” returned to their camp, on the ferryboat, and
Company “M” boarded the “_Ticonderoga_” to be landed at Burlington.
PLATTSBURGH
At 10 A. M., July 6th, Governor Dix, the Tercentenary Commissioners
and the invited guests were present at a review of the Fifth
Infantry, U. S. A., at Plattsburgh Barracks, ordered in their honor
by Colonel Calvin D. Cowles, Commanding Officer of the Post. As
Governor Dix approached the reviewing stand, the regulation salute
of seventeen guns was fired. At 1:30 P. M. the regiment escorted
the party from the hotel through the streets of Plattsburgh to the
new Champlain Park, where line was formed and the proper salutes
given. At the conclusion of the ceremonies of the unveiling of the
Champlain Monument, the regiment returned to its quarters. The names
of the officers and number of enlisted men, including the band,
participating in the ceremonies are as follows:
Colonel Calvin D. Cowles, Fifth Infantry; Major William F. Martin,
Fifth Infantry; Major Armand I. Lasseigne, Fifth Infantry;
Major Peter C. Harris, Fifth Infantry; Chaplain Horace A.
Chouinard, Fifth Infantry; Captain Edward Sigerfoos, Adjutant,
Fifth Infantry; Captain William D. Davis, Quarter-Master, Fifth
Infantry; Captain Girard Sturtevant, Fifth Infantry; Captain
Robert Field, Commissary, Fifth Infantry; Captain Robert E. Frith,
Fifth Infantry; Captain Clement A. Trott, Fifth Infantry; Captain
Ralph McCoy, Fifth Infantry; Captain Howard C. Price, Fifth
Infantry; First Lieutenant Leonard J. Mygatt, Fifth Infantry;
First Lieutenant Auswell E. Deitsch, Fifth Infantry; First
Lieutenant Sydney H. Hopson, Fifth Infantry; First Lieutenant
Will D. Wills, Fifth Infantry; First Lieutenant Daniel A. Nolan,
Battalion Adjutant, Fifth Infantry; First Lieutenant James E.
McDonald, Fifth Infantry; First Lieutenant Deshler Whiting, Fifth
Infantry; First Lieutenant Walton Goodwin, Jr., Fifth Infantry;
First Lieutenant Thomas L. Crystal, Battalion Adjutant, Fifth
Infantry; Second Lieutenant Charles F. White, Fifth Infantry;
Second Lieutenant Alfred H. Erck, Fifth Infantry; Second Lieutenant
Oliver A. Dickinson, Fifth Infantry; Second Lieutenant John M.
McDowell, Fifth Infantry; Second Lieutenant Thompson Lawrence,
Fifth Infantry; Second Lieutenant Sumner Waite, Fifth Infantry—714
enlisted men.
HOWLAND PELL,
_Chairman_.
II. UNVEILING TABLET AT THE ENGLISH FORT.
Upon reaching Crown Point Forts, a tablet was unveiled on the walls
of the old Barracks at the English fort, built by General Amherst
and occasionally called “Fort Amherst,” by members of the Society of
Colonial Wars, which was witnessed by the Champlain Commissioners and
the large assemblage of people. The following report of the Tablet
Committee is of historical interest:
REPORT OF THE TABLET COMMITTEE
To the members of the Society of Colonial Wars, in the State of New
York, your committee beg to report that the tablet has been designed,
cast and erected on the walls of the old Barracks at Fort Amherst in
the State Reservation at Crown Point, New York.
The design was drawn and the details of modeling were carried out
under the supervision of Mr. Walter B. Chambers, of the committee.
The sculptor who made the Tablet was Mr. Herman Wurth.
The tablet was unveiled with appropriate ceremony on Friday, July 5,
1912, on the occasion of the dedication of the Champlain Memorial
Lighthouse, erected by the states of New York and Vermont, at Crown
Point, N. Y.
The members of the Society were guests of the Tercentenary
Commissions on the steamboat “_Ticonderoga_,” leaving Port Henry, New
York. At 11:30 A. M. on the day mentioned, and on landing at Crown
Point, a procession was formed and led by the Port Henry Band, and an
escort of Company “I,” 2d Regiment, N. G., N. Y., and Company “M,”
N. G., Vt., Governor Dix and staff, Adjutant-General Tillotson and
staff, representing Governor John A. Mead, of Vermont.
Major-General John F. O’Ryan, N. G., N. Y., Count and Countess
de Peretti de la Rocca, and Mr. Maugras, representing the French
Embassy.
Members of the New York and Vermont Champlain Tercentenary
Commission, Colonel William Cary Sanger, Governor of our Society,
Frederick B. Richards, Dr. Reynolds Webb Wilcox, George G. Reynolds,
Stephen H. P. Pell, and other members of the Society, and about one
hundred invited guests marched from the wharf to the English Fort
built under Amherst, where the tablet was handsomely decorated with
American flags guarded by a soldier of the 2d Regiment.
Hon. Howland Pell, your chairman, called the meeting to order, and
stated that the committee had finished its task, and asked Miss
Evelyn Witherbee to unveil the tablet. As this was done the band
played the National air, the troops came to attention, and the
audience of several thousand applauded. Its inscription showed
that the tablet was erected by the Society of Colonial Wars in
commemoration of the erection of the Fortress by Amherst and capture
of Fort St. Frédéric.
[Illustration: Unveiling Tablet at Fort Amherst, July 5, 1912]
The chairman then introduced Col. William Cary Sanger, who in a few
well chosen words presented the tablet to the State of New York.
Governor Dix then made a brief address, accepting the Tablet and
placed it in the custody of the New York Historical Association in
charge of the Reservation. Mr. James A. Holden, Treasurer, and Mr.
Frederick B. Richards, Secretary, of the Association, accepted the
charge and made short addresses. Judge Pyrke, of Port Henry, chairman
of the local committee, promised to see that the tablet would be well
cared for. The tablet bears the following inscription:
1759 1912.
THIS TABLET IS ERECTED BY THE SOCIETY OF COLONIAL WARS IN THE STATE
OF NEW-YORK A. D. 1912 TO COMMEMORATE THE CAPTURE OF FORT ST.
FRÉDÉRIC AND THE ERECTION OF THIS FORTRESS A. D. 1759 BY THE BRITISH
AND PROVINCIAL ARMY COMMANDED BY GENERAL SIR JEFFREY AMHERST
BRITISH REGIMENTS
1st or the Royal Regiment of Foot
17th Regiment of Foot “Forbé’s”
27th (Inniskilling) Regiment of Foot
42d Royal Highlanders—Black Watch
55th Regiment of Foot, “Prideaux’s”
77th Regiment Montgomery’s Highlanders
80th (Light Armed)—Regiment of
Foot “Gage’s”
Royal Artillery
Detachment of Sailors
PROVINCIAL REGIMENTS
Col. Lyman’s—Connecticut
Col. Whiting’s—Connecticut
Col. Worcester’s—Connecticut
Col. Fitch’s—Connecticut
Col. Willard’s—Massachusetts
Col. Ruggle’s—Massachusetts
Col. Lovell’s—New Hampshire
Col. Schuyler’s—New Jersey
Col. Babcock’s—Rhode Island Rangers and Indians.
The tablet is of the finest bronze, 30 by 24 inches in size, and
represents a soldier of the Black Watch, and a provincial soldier
holding a scroll of inscription. General Sir Jeffrey Amherst’s head
is in the upper center, and the insignia of the Society in the lower,
the background shows the English forts, and a list of the English and
American regiments in the campaign is given.
HOWLAND PELL,
_Chairman_.
ADDRESS OF ACCEPTANCE OF TABLET BY JAMES AUSTIN HOLDEN, STATE
HISTORIAN AND TREASURER, NEW YORK STATE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
The tablet was formally accepted for the New York State Historical
Association by State Historian James A. Holden of Glens Falls, who
is ex-officio a member of the committee in charge of the Crown
Point Reservation, as well as Treasurer of the New York State
Historical Association. He spoke briefly as follows:
_Your Excellency_, _Tercentenary Commissioners_, _Representatives
of New York and of Vermont_, _of France_, _of Patriotic and
Historical Societies_, _Ladies and Gentlemen_: It is with great
pleasure that I accept on behalf of the New York Historical
Association, the official custodians of the Crown Point
Reservation, this beautiful and distinctive tablet which has just
been presented by the Society of Colonial Wars to the State of New
York, through you, its Governor.
It is especially gratifying to the Association to receive it
from your hands, for it is to you, and your broad and patriotic
conception of the duties of the chief executive of the State,
that our hearty thanks are due for the generous and welcome local
appropriations which you lately have approved, making so largely
for the preservation, the maintenance and popularity of the
reservation.
On this torrid July day whose sun’s rays reflected from these
crumbling walls are full as deadly as any of the bullets which
blazed forth at them in days of old, my words of acceptance must be
brief indeed.
This expressive addition, then, to these historic walls, whose
story is rife with actions of emprise and derring-do, around which
still hover the historic spirits of the olden wars, connected with
which are the inspiring deeds of the knightly souls of Montcalm and
Amherst, of Warner and Burgoyne, yes, even of Arnold the patriot,
not yet the traitor, full of the memories of the now shadowy hosts
of white coated Bourbons, the red attired British, and the buff and
blue covered Revolutionists, we accept and assure your Excellency
that it shall be our earnest endeavor to prove worthy in every way
of the confidence reposed in us in making this Association the
State’s representative for this reservation.
On behalf of the Association I now turn over to the Secretary of
the Association the formal care of the tablet, thanking once more
your Excellency and all who have been concerned in the presentation
of this memorial, for giving to the Association this further
opportunity to prove its historical usefulness, and to justify its
being, and for providing this occasion to exemplify practically the
purposes for which it was founded.
[Illustration: Tablet Unveiled at Fort Amherst, July 5, 1912]
Frederick B. Richards, Secretary of the New York State Historical
Association, at the unveiling of the tablet at Crown Point Forts, N.
Y., July 5, 1912, said:
I supplement State Historian Holden because I feel that it will
take at least two to make up for the absence of our esteemed
President, Ex-Comptroller Roberts, who was to have represented the
New York State Historical Association this morning.
We feel deeply honored that the State has designated our
Association as custodians of this reservation. We are still further
honored by being entrusted with this beautiful tablet, erected by
the Society of Colonial Wars, which, linking as it does the past
with the present, adds to the interest of these old ruins.
I will not detain you longer this morning except to call your
attention to one feature of the tablet in which I am particularly
interested. You will notice that the list of the regiments is
supported on the left by a Highlander, a private of the Royal
Highlanders as they were known in this campaign, otherwise called
the 42d, “Old Forty-Twa,” or the Black Watch.
The Black Watch, the oldest Highland regiment in the British Army
and one of the regiments under Amherst who helped to build this
old fort, was selected for this place of honor because of its
unparalleled gallantry in the assault on Fort Ticonderoga under
General Abercromby the year before, in which engagement it lost
646, killed and wounded, out of a total strength of a thousand men
who went into action, or a mortality of twice that of the Light
Brigade at Balaklava, immortalized by Tennyson.
[Illustration: Col. Sanger, Gov. Dix and Staff approaching Memorial
at Crown Point, July 5, 1912]
III. DEDICATORY CEREMONIES OF CHAMPLAIN MEMORIAL LIGHTHOUSE AT CROWN
POINT FORTS JULY 5, 1912
At the appointed hour for the dedicatory ceremonies at Crown Point
Forts on July 5, 1912, a large multitude had assembled from the
Champlain valley and from the two states to witness the exercises.
Seated on the temporary platform in front of the Champlain Memorial
Lighthouse were: Colonel William Cary Sanger, representing the
President of the United States, Count de Peretti de la Rocca,
representing the French Ambassador, Governor John A. Dix of New
York, Adjutant-General Lee S. Tillotson, representing the Governor
of Vermont, and Commissioners H. Wallace Knapp, Chairman; Henry W.
Hill, Secretary; Walter C. Witherbee, Treasurer; Senator James A.
Foley, Judge John B. Riley, Judge John H. Booth, James Shea, Louis
C. Lafontaine, Howland Pell and William R. Weaver of the New York
Tercentenary Commission; and Lynn M. Hays, Secretary; Judge Frank
L. Fish, Treasurer; President John M. Thomas, Walter H. Crockett,
George T. Jarvis, William J. Van Patten, Arthur F. Stone and F. O.
Beaupre of the Vermont Lake Champlain Tercentenary Commission, and
the speakers, invited guests and others.
The memorial as already stated was not complete in that the bronze
statuary group was represented by the models, as the bronze work had
not been put in position. That did not detract, however, from the
artistic features of the memorial, which were much admired by the
assembled multitude. The platform and memorial were artistically
decorated with the flags of the United States.
The programme at the dedicatory ceremonies was the following:
Hon. H. Wallace Knapp, Chairman of the New York Lake Champlain
Tercentenary Commission, presided:
The exercises were opened with appropriate music by the Sherman
Military Band of Burlington, Vermont. The following Invocation was
then pronounced by Rev. Lewis Francis, D.D., of New York City.
Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, we invoke Thy blessing as we
are gathered here to dedicate a monument which has been erected in
commemoration of the discoveries and achievements of one whose name
is borne by the beautiful lake on whose shores we are assembled.
We thank Thee for his heroism and his faith, for his loyalty to
his beloved country and his devotion to God. We thank Thee for his
desire not only to plant the standard of France upon the land which
he had discovered, but also to uplift the cross upon it. We thank
Thee for the friendship which has existed for many years between
the two countries which are represented here to-day. May this
monument, erected by our country in memory of one of the heroes of
France, be a fresh token of this friendship.
Let Thy blessing rest upon the two States which have united in
making this dedication possible. May this monument by its stability
remind us of those strong and enduring qualities of character which
should mark us as nations and individuals. May the light which
shall shine forth from its summit be a symbol of the light of
knowledge and of truth which as States and Nations we should seek
to give the world, which may be both a guide and a warning; and may
it bring Him to our thought, who is the Light of the world, that
walking in His Light we may be guided aright through every peril of
our lives.
May the blessing of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Ghost rest upon the States and Nations here represented, and upon
all of us who have assembled here to celebrate this glad event.
And this we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.
[Illustration: Champlain Memorial Lighthouse, July 5, 1912]
Then followed the formal unveiling of the Champlain Memorial
Lighthouse by Miss Louise G. Witherbee, daughter of Commissioner
Walter C. Witherbee, as the patriotic strains of the Star Spangled
Banner were being played by the Port Henry Band. As the memorial was
exposed to full view, its symmetry and beauty provoked the applause
of the admiring spectators, who thus saw the fulfillment of their
long cherished hopes, that there be erected in the Valley a stately
memorial to Samuel Champlain. Chairman Knapp, in speaking for the New
York Tercentenary Commission, thereupon formally presented the
memorial to the Governor of New York. In doing so he spoke as follows:
In obedience to the authorization of the Federal Government, the
Commissions of the States of Vermont and New York have erected on
the lands of the United States of America, adjacent to the Crown
Point Reservation, the specified memorial of the discovery of the
Champlain valley, and are now acting in the discharge of their
final duties, with the sincere feeling of gratification that a task
so honorable has been brought to so happy an ending.
Our duty has been to do, rather than to speak, and yet it may not
be wholly out of place to give expression to the general thought,
that the light of peace and safety, that is to glow from this
monument through an unreckoned future, replaces the fitful fire of
early war.
The shores that the discoverer scanned with painful daring are no
longer dark and solitary. He is no longer alone. The temptation to
review the events of his arrival here are strong, but time forbids,
and to do so in detail must be left to the official record. Nor
need we in the discharge of our official functions attempt to
portray the full significance of the deed we now commemorate. We
must wait till the voice of history speaks, with the judgment of
warriors and statesmen, with the inspiration of poetry and the
reverence of enlightened piety.
There seem to be moments in the life of every man, when he pauses
in his career to recall the past and seeks to peer into the future,
and so it is appointed for us to do to-day. While the daily rush of
the outer world passes us by unheedingly in appearance, it is yet
not truly so. From the day of the first visit of the white man, the
eyes of the enlightened world have been upon the Champlain valley
and the attentive good will of all well-wishers of their kind who
are with us now.