Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site

I've been reading through the three-volume biography of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris for a few years now.  While he wasn't perfect he was definitely a fascinating individual.  He contributed quite a bit towards the conservation movement and specifically towards the National Park Service via his frequent usage of the Antiquities Act to preserve National Monuments.  Six units in the NPS are actually associated with him and so far I've been to only three of them, and one of those visits was after our trip to Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site in Buffalo, New York.

Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site in New York City, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site in Oyster Bay, New York, Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site in Buffalo, New York, Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, and Theodore Roosevelt Island in Washington, DC, all trace his career and memorialize his contributions to America. Additionally, Theodore Roosevelt is one of four Presidents gracing Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota. The National Park Service is honored to administer these park sites, and the many others Roosevelt made possible during his storied career as a conservationist.
--from Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace NHS site

Thankfully we were able to find parking in the site's parking lot, which isn't large, but is reserved for visitors, which is a good thing for a location in the middle of the city.

We approached the house from the rear as we left the parking lot.

We then made our way to the visitor center which is now connected to the house.

Inside we thankfully didn't have to wait too long before we were able to join a tour.  The house was owned by the Wilcox family in 1901 when Roosevelt was inaugurated during the Pan-American Exposition.

The first stop on the tour is a room full of the story of the exposition.

In 1901, President William McKinley visited the Pan-American, a large international fair being held in Buffalo, NY, to address the international crowds. While on the grounds of the exposition, President McKinley was shot by an assassin. After President McKinley had undergone surgery, Vice-President Roosevelt was summoned to Buffalo and stayed as a guest at the home of his friend, Buffalo attorney Ansley Wilcox. 
--from Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural NHS site

Our tour guide did a good job explaining the various rooms that we passed through on the tour and describing the circumstances that surrounded the inauguration.

This video captures the sounds of the site's recreation of the inauguration.  No microphones or cameras were in the room to capture the moment.

We were able to read a facsimile of the new president's first proclamation.

When the official tour ended we were able to walk around several exhibits.  Did you know that the West Wing was added to the White House during Roosevelt's years as president?

We were able to step into a recreation of Roosevelt's office in the West Wing.  From behind his desk we were able to select actions that we would take based on choices that faced him as president.  We even had the opportunity to have a picture from behind the desk.

Before we headed out I walked to the front of the house to get a picture of that side of the structure, though sadly I couldn't get a clean shot due to the construction.

You can view even more pictures from the site in this album.

~Matt

Fort Stanwix National Monument

After leaving the Saratoga battlefields we drove across much of upstate New York until we reached Rome late in the afternoon.  I had been to this city many years ago as my brother-in-law used to be stationed at an Air Force base in the area and I'd visited with my mother when one of my nephews was born.  While were were traveling on further before stopping for the night I wanted to make sure that we saw Fort Stanwix National Monument before we drove on.

Known as "the fort that never surrendered," Fort Stanwix, under the command of Col. Peter Gansevoort, successfully repelled a prolonged siege, in August 1777, by British, German, Loyalist, Canadian, and American Indian troops and warriors commanded by British Gen. Barry St. Leger. The failed siege combined with the battles at Oriskany, Bennington, and Saratoga thwarted a coordinated effort by the British in 1777, under the leadership of Gen. John Burgoyne, to take the northern colonies, and led to American alliances with France and the Netherlands. Troops from Fort Stanwix also participated in the 1779 Clinton-Sullivan Campaign and protected America's northwest frontier from British campaigns until finally being abandoned in 1781.
--from Fort Stanwix NPS site

We found parking along the street and then headed towards the visitor center.

 This bateaux represents centuries of trade passing through this location.

Once inside I made sure to stamp my passport book and those of all three kids as well.  I bought each one their own book when we visit their first National Park site after they were born.

I really enjoyed the cartographic artwork above the welcome desk.

The reconstructed fort is a bit over forty years old, something I didn't realize until we visited.

The exhibits did a good job presenting multiple viewpoints including Colonial and Oneida women.

Also you saw the perspective of traders and American soldiers. I really appreciate exhibits that try to tell the stories of as many of the participants as possible and don't just present one perspective.

The area now occupied by the fort was known as the Oneida Carrying Place, as it was a portage spot between two different bodies of water and thus a vital link along the local trade routes.  Multiple forts were built in the area by the Americans and British over the years.

Fort Stanwix was also on the border of lands allocated to European settlement by the British Crown.  Colonists were prohibited from going further inland into lands reserved for Native Americans by the Proclamation of 1763.  Many settlers resented this limitation and wanted to extend speculation and settlement further west.

After we'd been through the exhibits we headed out the back of the visitor center towards the reconstructed fort.

The reconstruction is built on the foundations of the original 18th century fort.

As you approach you can definitely see signs of modernity outside, but if you're careful you can get a great view just of the fortifications and feel like you've gone back in time.

Inside are quite a number of different buildings.

How would you like to sleep in the beds in these barracks?  As many as forty men would have been housed in this room in the casemate.

These were the missionary's quarters.  During the Revolution "[b]oth the Americans and the British used their missionaries in attempts to sway the Indians to one side or another by mixing politics into their religious messages." (exhibit signage) I'm more than happy for religious people to be involved in politics, but religion and politics themselves do not mix very well, inevitably religion is corrupted.

The sutler was a trader who was kept connections alive between the fort and other locations.

Artillerymen were housed in these quarters.  This position "was a specialist discipline, requiring knowledge of math and the use of measuring tools to calculate trajectories of cannon and mortar.  Artillery soldiers therefore received better pay and living conditions than regular soldiers, although their job was also far more dangerous." (exhibit signage)

While this room appears to be nicer than the rooms in the casemates it would have been draftier and thus not quite as pleasant.

The junior officer's quarters were definitely nicer than those for the regular men and with many fewer people in the room of course.

A number of the rooms were closed for construction.

We also entered another exhibit area inside the fort.  It was interesting to see that the area now occupied by the fort had long ago been fully urbanized and the land had to be cleared before the structure could be reconstructed.  This view shows the site in 1969.

Not quite a decade later you can see the reconstructed fort as it appeared for the national bicentennial in 1976.

I'm a sucker for models of buildings.  I find that they really help me to visualize what the site would have looked like in its heyday.

I also enjoyed this model of the fort under construction

The area included several learning activities for children, but we were very close to closing time and didn't have an opportunity to fully explore everything.

You can see quite a few of the fort's buildings from this perspective up on the embankment.

I also ventured into the depths of the bombproof.

While intended for storage it functioned as a hospital during the siege of 1777.

This is another photo I took with the Google Cardboard app that when viewed directly in Google Photos (click here) is shown as a full 360º view.

We were one of the last (or maybe the last) visitors to leave the fort for the day.

It looks like quite an impressive structure.

I walked back to the car via another route so that I could capture several pictures of the fort's exterior.

You can view more pictures of the museum and fort in this album.  The next fort we stopped at would prove to be a very different experience.  Look for that post coming soon.

~Matt

Saratoga National Historical Park

From Vermont we headed further west into upstate New York.  Our first historic stop of the day was at Saratoga National Historical Park.  This site commemorates the turning point of the Revolutionary War.

After a week of negotiations, Burgoyne surrendered to Gates, on October 17, 1777. The American victory demonstrated that American troops could fight a European army, on their own terms, and win. It also convinced the French to ally themselves with the Americans and declare war against England. Later, the Spanish and Dutch did the same.

This multi-national alliance turned a civil uprising for the British into a world war, as they would have to then fight not only in North America, but in the Caribbean Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, North Africa, South Africa, and India --among other places.

Because of the incredible impact caused by the American victory in the Battles of Saratoga, they are known as the "Turning Point of the American Revolution", and are considered by many historians to be among the top 15 battles in world history.
--from Saratoga NHP site

Our first stop was at the park's main visitor center, up a path from the parking lot.

 Once inside we watched the orientation film.

 While the video isn't online, you can watch the map presentation online.

The visitor center had a set of costumes that kids could use to play dress-up.  I love interactive elements like these that have been added to many National Park sites.

We walked around the visitor center and saw a number of exhibits about the history of the battles.

 This was a light 6-pound cannon on loan from the United States Army Center of Military History.  It was made in England in 1756.

The best description of the Revolution that I've heard was that it was much closer to a civil war than to a revolution.  This was true even amongst some Native American tribes, for example the Iroquois Confederation was torn apart as some tribes sided with the British and some sided with the rebels.

Going through battlefields can be sobering when you realize that some who fought were not much older than your children.

These British cannons were captured at Saratoga in 1777 by victorious American forces.

One of the exhibits covered the history of Benedict Arnold.

Arnold may have worn a coat like this as an American Major General (though uniforms weren't standardized during the war).

He was wounded at Saratoga when a musket ball shattered his leg "the same one wounded at Quebec in 1775." (from exhibit signage)

This is a British Army Brigadier-general's Frock, which was the rank given to Arnold when he switched to the British side, technically a step down from his American rank.

You can get an idea of the exhibits with this panoramic shot.

We next headed to the park's tour road, our first stop being the Freeman Farm overlook.  In these fields "the first action of the Battle of Saratoga began.  Shortly after noon on September 19, American pickets posted in the Freeman House fired on advance elements of the center column of the British army." (from exhibit signage)

I love how 360º pictures can give you a good perspective on the battlefield.  Take a look at the original picture here in Google Photos where you can view it in a full 360º.

As we continued down the tour road we passed behind what were the American lines.

The lines were helpfully marked by a series of posts with blue tops marching off across the landscape.

Our next stop was at the Neilson Farm where we got out and walked around for a while.

In busier times I think they have the building open with staff inside, but it was shut tight when we came by.  I did take a glimpse in through the window and go this shot.

This monument honors the unknown American soldiers who perished in the battles of Saratoga.

Across the road is a monument in memory of Thaddeus Kosciuszko, a native of Poland who fought in the Revolution.  There is also a National Park site in Philadelphia named after him that I want to visit.

Our next stop took us down by the Hudson River where this position marks one of the American units overlooking the river and was the location of a redoubt defended by cannons and strengthened by batteries down by the edge of the river.

As we drove back towards the direction we had come (but not on the same road) made our next stop where his view overlooks what was once the Chatfield Farm, where advance pickets exchanged musket fire following the September 19, 1777 battle.

The fifth stop along the road tour is the Barber Wheat Field.  Here a number of New Hampshire troops overran part of the British lines, claiming two cannons.  It was also here that British Brigadier General Simon Fraser was hit by rifle fire.

The British advanced on this position on October 7, 1777, but after the wounding of Fraser and other setbacks Burgoyne and others fell back to their fortifications on the Freeman Farm (the area overlooked on the first stop on the driving tour.  As we drove that way we entered the location of the British lines.  The Americans tried to take the farm, known as the Balcarres Redoubt, but failed, so they moved on to the Breymann Redoubt (see below)

After the Freeman Farm site we drove on to the Breymann Redoubt stop, the seventh on the tour.  While there we saw this monument to Benedict Arnold that deliberately does not include his name.  It describes his exact situation and circumstances, but due to his later traitorous actions it doesn't include his name.  The boot symbolizes the wounding of his leg during the battle.

Here you can see the markers that show the location of the British lines.

Of course there were more cannons.  What about a battlefield be without cannons?  ;-)

Finally we reached the location of the British positions directly near the Hudson River.

Not far from here Burgoyne's troops were finally cornered and on October 17, 1777 they surrendered.  This victory encouraged other European powers like France to take up the American cause and ultimately contributed towards the ultimate British defeat.

You can see even more pictures from the battlefield in this album.

~Matt