If British troops hadn't burned over two hundred buildings in Kingston, NY, over two hundred years ago, this would be a pretty dull weekend in town.
For some reason, commemorating this mass destruction has become a popular annual event.
I like this headline. We have some really old people around here.
"New Yorkers remember 1777 Burning of Kingston by British"
Funny , Jerry. Alot of irony in your words. Going to a fort brings out the worse memories. This time of year, if you go to Fort Niagara, you'll be chased around by people who are dressed as plague victims, war casualties and Native Americans who were caught up in the war between the British and French. Flocks of the living line up each night for the goulish escapades. Go figure. This all being said, it is a feeling of pride and respect for the people who perform a duty others do not want to do and died for it . Really nice photos.
debbie wrazen wrote:
Funny , Jerry. Alot of irony in your words. Going to a fort brings out the worse memories. This time of year, if you go to Fort Niagara, you'll be chased around by people who are dressed as plague victims, war casualties and Native Americans who were caught up in the war between the British and French. Flocks of the living line up each night for the goulish escapades. Go figure. This all being said, it is a feeling of pride and respect for the people who perform a duty others do not want to do and died for it . Really nice photos.
Funny , Jerry. Alot of irony in your words. Going... (
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I didn't attend, and I don't plan to go today, but those were the only two decent photos I could find.
Doddy
Loc: Barnard Castle-England
It was a misunderstanding jerry. What happened was that a cold and wet redcoat, struck a match to light some rags to keep warm ..he burnt his fingers and in a reflex movement he flung the flaming rags into an open window of another building and things got out hand. By the time the horse drawn fire brigade got there it had spread to another 199 buildings...that's the unofficial excuse anyway!!!
Doddy wrote:
It was a misunderstanding jerry. What happened was that a cold and wet redcoat, struck a match to light some rags to keep warm ..he burnt his fingers and in a reflex movement he flung the flaming rags into an open window of another building and things got out hand. By the time the horse drawn fire brigade got there it had spread to another 199 buildings...that's the unofficial excuse anyway!!!
Sounds good to me, and coming from the nation that started the fire, it must be true. I'll pass that along.
was that O'Leary who struck the match?
sye
Loc: The Old Dominion Near DC
jerryc41 wrote:
Sounds good to me, and coming from the nation that started the fire, it must be true. I'll pass that along.
Reminds me of the historical event during the War of 1812 when the British soldiers stuck flaming torches inside the "President's House" and other buildings in Wash DC to admire the interiors. Some torches accidentally fell inside those buildings, burning them down
JCam
Loc: MD Eastern Shore
sye wrote:
Reminds me of the historical event during the War of 1812 when the British soldiers stuck flaming torches inside the "President's House" and other buildings in Wash DC to admire the interiors. Some torches accidentally fell inside those buildings, burning them down
I've never heard that excuse; I was always told the the burning of Washington was a revenge act after their attempt to take Baltimore failed. I think I also read recently that what saved the part of DC that didn't burn was a torrential rain storm.
Cynorman wrote:
was that O'Leary who struck the match?
Yes, the great, great grandfather of Mrs. :D
An Irish friend ones told me, "I LOVE THE ENGLISH, THEY WILL ALLWAYS FORGIVE YOU FOR WHAT THEY DID TO YOU."
Cynorman wrote:
was that O'Leary who struck the match?
Wrong coast- you're thinking of a cow in S.F., yes?
Hal81
Loc: Bucks County, Pa.
romanticf16 wrote:
Wrong coast- you're thinking of a cow in S.F., yes?
I thought that was in Chicago the cow that deed.
It seems odd but the British did not burn houses in Kingston, NY. As was told to me by a Historian lecturer, the British burned down the barns of the Dutch farmers (Kingston was mostly Dutch at that time). The American rebel army in New York depended on a large amount of wheat that the Dutch farmers grew to make bread. The Dutch farmers learned that if you harvest the wheat early in the summer before it ripens and store the unripened wheat in their barns, the wheat will ripen in their warm barns.
The Dutch farmers planted another crop of wheat and harvested it in the fall. This way the Dutch farmers were able to get two crops of wheat in one year supplying the American troops with a good amount of wheat for breadmaking. The British were smart; leave the houses alone but burn the farmers barns.
Doddy wrote:
It was a misunderstanding jerry. What happened was that a cold and wet redcoat, struck a match to light some rags to keep warm ..he burnt his fingers and in a reflex movement he flung the flaming rags into an open window of another building and things got out hand. By the time the horse drawn fire brigade got there it had spread to another 199 buildings...that's the unofficial excuse anyway!!!
I had never heard that story and am not disputing it but you might want to get ahold of Pete Seeger's album "Fifty Sails on Newport Bay". A song on that album tells a very different story but it is a very humorous song and could be complete fiction. Worth a listening to anyway.
Hal81 wrote:
I thought that was in Chicago the cow that deed.
It was Chicago, in fact the Chgo Fire Academy now stands on the spot where Mrs. O'leary's stable was. Or at least it did when I lived there.
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