Yesterday was the 245th anniversary of the firing at Lexington and Concord. The stamp above is a commemorative, one of a three-stamp set, from the 1925 sesquicentennial. As I understand it, one of the reasons people associate Massachusetts and Virginia–but not New York–so closely with the Revolutionary War is that in the 1920s the former two states out-hustled the latter in the heritage tourism game. It is something I intend to delve into more in these next few years during the 250th, which we are already in right now. I think the role the sesquicentennial in the 1920s played in our understanding of the Revolutionary War is under appreciated.
Today is Patriot’s Day in New England. The Red Sox would have played a morning game in Fenway concurrent with the running of the Boston Marathon. Even though I have not lived in New England for more than 40 years I still have many relatives there and feel a strong connection to Patriot’s Day. My relatives usually watch the marathon from a small town outside Boston itself. Also, I ran cross-country in high school and remember Bill Rodgers and the runners of that period so vividly. Hopefully they will get the race in this coming September as they plan.
The Strawfoot 
Ticonderoga,Lake Champlain, Brooklyn,White Plains, Stony Point, Forts Clinton&Montgomery, Saratoga plus the constant skirmishes in Westchester and the Mohawk Valley supports Gov. Clinton’s assertion that New York had the most sustained conflict of any state in the Revolutionary War. The War began in Massachusetts and ended in Virginia. B .
Sent from my iPhone
>
Thanks for the comment, Bob. I’m thinking out loud here, but perhaps a reason for so little interest overall in New York State’s role in the war comes from the fact that the events you mention above took place outside of New York City itself. (Even Brooklyn was not yet part of the NYC.) For one thing the city was taken out of the war pretty quickly and occupied until November 1783. In the ensuing decades and centuries the areas north of NYC did not have the cultural sway that the city had, Gotham being the media capital of the state and country. It’s just a thought I’m throwing out there.
I’m looking forward to these next several years.