The 1777 March of the Saratoga Convention Army

What do trolley rides, an asparagus festival, and the Brimfield Flea Market have to do with the march of the Convention Army?  Nothing directly, but each is associated with an event [that occurred in 2023] in towns along the route of the 1777 march of the Convention Army.  Exploring history doesn't mean we can't look beyond primary sources and historical sites to learn a little more about the people and places along the way.     First to consider is the  Brimfield Flea Market .  The "spring show", one of three held each year.  If you have never been to Brimfield, it's an experience worth considering.  It is not a single flea market or antique show, but a collection of overlapping sales in the fields along Route 20 west from the center of town.  Vendors offer a dazzling array of items, ranging from traditional antiques to industrial salvage, fine pieces and some junk, as well as food and beverage.  Some fields are open every day, som...

On October 21 and 22, 1777, the now extended British column of the Convention Army left the state of New York.  In doing so, they briefly left the United States as well.  The anonymous journal of an officer of the British 47th Regiment of Foot records overnight stops in Saint Croix, New York, on the 20th and Williamstown, Massachusetts, on the 21st.  Lord Napier's journal lists the same stops on the same days, but not the route he and his colleagues followed to Williamstown.  Massachusetts Militia Private David How noted however, that after stopping five miles from Saint Croix on the night of the 21st:  "[October] 22 This morning Set off march'd Through Whosuck And pownal and at night We Over Took the Body of Regulars at Williams Town And Stopt there" . [1]  How had passed this way before, while traveling in the opposite direction to join the Northern Army.  On that trip he had passed through Williamstown, and then Pownal, Vermont, on October 9th,...

When the British column left Tulls Mills, New York, on October 20, 1777, they did so without their German comrades.  Once again they made little progress.  Massachusetts Militia Private David How noted "This Day march'd 5 miles to Saint Cork."   British Lieutenant (Lord) Francis Napier recorded  "Marched to a place near St. Coicks Mills" .  Both were challenged by the spelling of rural place names.  They stopped that night at Saint Croix, the site of its church now marked  with a signpost  outside North Hoosick, New York, on Route 67. [1] October 20th was not How's first time in Saint Croix.  He had marched through the area ten days earlier, on the way to reinforce Major-General Horatio Gates and the Northern Army.  His militia company's route north from Pownal, in the southwest corner of Vermont, to Bennington, then east into New York took them through towns How called  "old Whosuck And Saint Cook" on October 9th and 10th. [2] Aft...