GLEN FALLS, NEW YORK—Excavations at Rogers Island in the Hudson River have turned up a range of items dating to when it was a major British military staging ground in the mid-eighteenth century, and even earlier, according to a report from The Post-Star. The dig is part of a long-term project led by archaeologist David Starbuck of Plymouth State University that is investigating the island and nearby Fort Edward, where thousands of British troops were housed and trained during the French and Indian War (1754–1763). The island is named after Major Robert Rogers, who trained a group of special operatives there who are considered the forebears of the U.S. Army Rangers. Among the artifacts recently found by the archaeologists are pieces of porcelain, and steel and brass buckles thought to have come from soldiers’ uniforms or shoes. Starbuck is currently excavating an officer’s house measuring about 16-feet square, which includes a large fireplace. At a site nearby, team members discovered a large ax head. Based on its size and weight, Starbuck believes it was probably used for logging by European settlers in the early 1700s. For more on Rogers Island, go to “Off the Grid.”
