Sad piece of Westford history plucked from lake
Rediscovering a Moment in Time
Westford Museum
2 Boston Road, Westford
Opening Monday, Nov. 1, 7 to 9 p.m.
Sundays, 2 to 4 p.m., except major holidays, through April 2005
Appointments available
Free admission
Phone: 978-692-5550
Website: www.westford.com/museum
Recently discovered artifacts from the Revolutionary War's Battle of Valcour Island will make their way to the Westford Museum as an exhibit that connects the battle directly to Westford.
In 1999, New York State Police diver Edwin Scollon was testing diving equipment in Lake Champlain when he discovered a shattered cannon near Valcour Island, south of Plattsburgh, N.Y. After consulting with the director of the Lake Champlain Museum, Arthur B. Cohn, the two men collaborated to form the Valcour Bay Research Project, whose first mission was raising the long-lost cannon from the bottom of the lake.
The cannon has been linked to the death of one soldier from Westford and the wounding of a second.
"This is an ongoing project," said Dan Lacroix, president of the Westford Historical Society. "They have been able to find new techniques for dealing with underwater archeology; dealing with muck and small particles in the water."
Since the discovery of the cannon, the project has found several artifacts, such as cannon balls, parts of the ship, and soldiers' personal gear, linked to the 1776 naval engagement between
"They are doing things similar to police at a crime scene," said Lacroix. "They are looking at the artifacts and trying to determine how the battle occurred and how the details unfolded."
After painstaking research, the Valcour Bay Research Project linked the fate of two Revolutionary War soldiers from Westford, Lieutenant Thomas Rogers and Sergeant Jonas Holden, directly with that of the shattered cannon from the battleship New York. When the cannon exploded, it killed Rogers and injured Holden.
Researchers were able to link Holden to the cannon, thanks to a pension record that documented the injury. An interesting twist occurred when researchers discovered Rogers's headstone in Westford's Fairview Cemetery. The memorial, erected by Rogers's wife, Molly, clearly stated her husband's cause of death: "He was killed by the splitting of a cannon on the Lake Champlain."
After making the connection between the cannon and the two men from Westford, Scollon contacted Lacroix about bringing the artifacts to Westford.
"Ed and his folks at the museum thought it was important to get the artifacts to Westford because they thought the connection was so important," said Lacroix.
The exhibit, Rediscovering a Moment in Time, will make its way to the Westford Museum for its unveiling next Monday and will feature a presentation by Cohn, the Lake Champlain Museum's director. At the closing of the exhibit next April 19, Cohn will return to Westford with Scollon and members of the Valcour Bay Research Project to give a detailed presentation on their mission as well as hold workshops for local teachers.
"For a small-town museum like this, it is a very big deal for us to have an exhibit like this," said Lacroix. "Most of our exhibits are from the local area and deal exclusively with the history of our town. We have an opportunity to have this exhibit because of the intimate relationship it had had with some of our own soldiers."
CHRISTINA PEASLEE
