Click here to learn more about this site Click here to visit the America's Historic Lakes home page Click here to visit our popular timeline- NOT your ordinary chronology of events! Click here to visit our popular image map of historic sites in the region Click here to visit part I of our Table of Contents- A complete listing of 300+ pages on the site! Click here to visit our Gift Shop- the perfect place for unique and wonderful things! Click here to search the site Click here to learn about the use and reproduction of images from America's Historic Lakes Click here to contact us

The Highly Recommended* Online Resource for Historians, Educators, Students and Visitors
Commemorating the 400th Anniversary of Samuel de Champlain's Explorations on the lake
This is a graphics-intensive publication, to fully experience the site we recommend you have JavaScript enabled.
 Permission to reproduce material from this site must be obtained from the publisher. See copyright notice. Privacy Policy

Click here to learn more about Jim Millard's books!Praise for Jim Millard's  LAKE PASSAGES: A Journey through the Centuries...
"...thank you for having produced such a wonderful book. The book has a haunting theme that thrills. One somehow feels as if being paddled on canoe trips, or steered on board sloops and other vessels alongside the ghostly figures of our heroes through those magnificent lakes and rivers of unequalled beauty. It gives the feeling of being there as no other book of its kind does. For those with a passion for the history of these waters, this book is a must...The many photos of the valley's landmarks, monuments, statues, forts and panoramic views, make all so worthwhile an additive to pleasant reading."  
 Stanley W. Gomez- Gibraltar

Check out our NEW Fort Montgomery Ruins Video Tours! Two different versions, click here.


 
Guest Contributors...            Edwin R. Scollon
 

Researching Lake Champlain...
The Valcour Bay Research Project- XII (b)

Lieut. Thomas Rogers

 


LCMM Researcher and Associate George Quintal discovered a centuries-old, widow’s tribute to her fallen patriot husband in Westford’s Fairview Cemetery.  Roger Harwood captured the essence of the monument on a cold Spring day in April, 2003

 

Historian and genealogist George Quintal has studied the lives of Revolutionary soldiers for nearly three decades.  Concentrating his efforts on participants the war’s northern campaigns, he has identified hundreds of individuals who served the Valcour fleet. 

In the pension records of Jonas Holden, Mr. Quintal uncovered a first-hand account of the tragic misfiring of one of the fleet’s cannon.  In 1835, Holden recounted his wartime injuries to a pension officer:

“The first battle I was in was at Concord, 19 April 1775.  The next, was at Bunker Hill, where I was wounded by a musket shot thru the thigh.  The next was on Lake Champlain under Arnold, on board a gundola, where I was again wounded on the right arm and side, by the bursting of a cannon” ¹ 

Mr. Quintal was surprised to discover a second reference to the exploding cannon during a later, research effort.   He found it in Westford, Massachusetts’ Fairview Cemetery, in the timeless lament of a patriot’s young widow.  There, Mrs. Molly Rogers had erected a monument to her fallen husband, Lt. Thomas Rogers:

 

Drawn by Adam Loven from a rubbing by Edwin
Scollon. LCMM Collection
 


 

Lt. Rogers' stone is in remarkably good condition. The moving inscription can still be easily read. Click the thumbnail at left to see a photo of Ed Scollon doing a rubbing of the memorial.

Once aware of the cannon’s discovery in Valcour Bay, Mr. Quintal shared the stories of Jonas Holden and Thomas Rogers with VBRP members.  His research brought the Valcour discoveries into context with historical record and presented VBRP members with a means to gain exciting new perspectives of the site’s artifact scatter.

Mr. Quintal later expressed the significance of his discoveries:

“I found this stone as part of a long-term project I was involved in at the time to find the gravestone of every Valcour veteran. This all dovetailed with my project of reading the entire 2670 roll U.S. Revolutionary War pension set to find the names of all possible Valcour veterans, among others. This is where the Jonas Holden pension emerged. Finding the two together was the single most exciting and rewarding moment of my entire twenty-seven years of research.  Your discovery of the exact same cannon mentioned by Holden was so truly astounding that ‘serendipity’ was surely at work.”²

The members of the Valcour Bay Research Project couldn’t agree more and are grateful to Mr. Quintal for his meticulous research and his contributions to the Valcour project.

Continued here: Mrs. Molly Rogers

Back to the VBRP HOME PAGE

 

 
In partnership with:

 

Other links about Valcour Island and the Battle of Valcour within
The Lake Champlain and Lake George Historical Site

The Battle of Lake Champlain
: The American Revolution on Lake Champlain

Sources/Notes:

¹ Pension Records of Jonas Holden.  Roll 1306 of M804, National Archives.  Selected documents available on Westford Colonial Minutemen Website:

² George Quintal, personal communication, January 2003.


*America's Historic Lakes is a favorite of educators around the world. You can feel confident that the material
on this site is accurate, well-researched, properly cited and presented.

Copyright © 1997, 2008. All rights reserved.
America's Historic Lakes
The Lake Champlain and Lake George Historical Site
Post Office Box 262
South Hero, Vermont 05486-0262
webmaster2@historiclakes.org

IMPORTANT NOTE:
Please check your JUNK EMAIL or SPAM filter for our reply.
We NEVER spam but have discovered our messages are sometimes discarded by spam filters.
Be sure to add webmaster2@historiclakes.org to your address book or list of acceptable senders.


We regret that we are unable to accommodate personal requests for information or research.


Electronically published materials are protected by the same copyright laws as conventional or printed works.

Permission to reproduce material from this site must be obtained from the publisher.

Disclaimer of Liability

The historical information on this web site is provided as a public service by America’s Historic Lakes. America’s Historic Lakes has attempted to be as accurate as possible in our presentation of this historical material. However, we make no claims, guarantees or promises about the accuracy, currency, or completeness of the information provided. In no event shall the publishers; America’s Historic Lakes or their agents, be liable for any errors or omissions with respect to any information on this site. This website occasionally provides links to sites of other organizations maintained by third parties. These links do not constitute an endorsement of the content, viewpoint, accuracy, opinions, policies, products, services, or accessibility of that website. Links to third-party websites are provided as a public service and convenience to users of our site; America’s Historic Lakes does not control, endorse or recommend the content on sites we may link to. Once connected to another website, you are subject to the terms and conditions of that website.