Category: Articles and Stories

October 7, 2023

Articles and Stories, Joe Craig, Park Ranger

For the Troops

By Joe Craig, Park Ranger On January 29, 2003, World War II veteran and cartoonist Bill Mauldin was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Mauldin’s cartoons championed the men with eyes that were “just too old for those young bodies” who were called upon to fight a savage war amid appalling squalor and (too often) neglect.…
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October 7, 2023

Articles and Stories, Joe Craig, Park Ranger

Fear and Loathing

By Joe Craig, Park Ranger Check any news outlet, and you’ll be assaulted by the ongoing tragedies of the Middle East. Cruel civil wars, sectarian genocide, and ethnic cleansing have forced millions to flee. Many have sought refuge in Europe, and some seek entrance to the United States. The admission of even a small number…
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October 7, 2023

Articles and Stories, Joe Craig, Park Ranger

Éirinn go Brách!

By Joe Craig If an historian (no matter how serious an historian) tells you that he is immune to the siren call of “What If?” aspect of history, don’t you believe him. “What if?” is something that seems ingrained into the human mind, whether it’s about missed opportunities, relationships gone sour, or why didn’t he…
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October 7, 2023

Articles and Stories, Joe Craig, Park Ranger

Dutch Treat

By Joe Craig, Park Ranger People compress the past. To some of our visitors, the French and Indian War (1754-1763) blurs with the War for Independence and vice versa. Maybe it’s the idea that the participants of both conflicts used muskets and wore tricorns and breeches. Perhaps it’s the use and re-use of some of the…
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October 7, 2023

Articles and Stories, Joe Craig, Park Ranger

Child’s Play

By Joe Craig, Park Ranger ‘Shooting became just like drinking a glass of water’ Ishmael Beah, In his book A Long Way Gone, former child soldier, Ishmael Beah unblinkingly told of the horrors of the civil war Sierra Leone (1991-2002). Kidnapped and forced into becoming a soldier by one of the splinter groups, Beah participated in…
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October 7, 2023

Articles and Stories, Joe Craig, Park Ranger

Casting a Giant Shadow

It is regrettable, but probably understandable that the battles of Saratoga are always under the shadow of Gettysburg. Besides comparisons of their historic importance, even our exhibits come up for comparison to the “Budweiser of American History”. Many visitors comment how the fibre optic map at Saratoga’s visitor center is “just like the one at…
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October 7, 2023

William J. Maloney

An Analysis of the Near-fatal Wound Suffered by Benedict Arnold at Saratoga

Article by: William J. Maloney “What will the Americans do with me if they catch me?” -Arnold’s query to one of his prisoners, a Continental Army officer, while he himself was leading British forces “They will cut off the leg which was wounded when you were fighting so gloriously for the cause of liberty,…
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October 7, 2023

Articles and Stories, Joe Craig, Park Ranger

A Knotty Problem

By Joe Craig, Park Ranger Benedict Arnold’s desertion to the British in 1780 produced a firestorm of anger by Americans. It is arguable that no one was more outraged than General George Washington. Arnold had petitioned directly to Washington for the posting to West Point in order to betray it to the British. Washington saw…
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