The Champlain tercentenary

by New York . Lake Champlain Tercentenary Commission; Henry Wayland Hill

I. PREPARATION FOR DEDICATORY CEREMONIES, INCLUDING MILITARY FEATURES

The Commission decided to have the dedicatory ceremonies of the Crown Point memorial on July 5, 1912, and of the Plattsburgh memorial on July 6, 1912, the anniversary week of the Tercentenary Celebration. Formal invitations to the dedicatory ceremonies of the Crown Point memorial were sent by the New York and Vermont Lake Champlain Commissions, and to the dedicatory exercises of the Plattsburgh memorial, by the New York Commission, to the President and Vice-President of the United States, to the United States Senators of New York and Vermont, to the members of Congress from the Champlain valley, to the French Ambassador, His Excellency, J. J. Jusserand, the British Ambassador, the Right Honorable James Bryce and to Count and Countess de Peretti de la Rocca and to M. Maugras, members of the French Embassy and to members of the British Embassy at Washington, to the Governors, Lieutenant-Governors and other officials of New York and Vermont, including Hon. William Sohmer, State Comptroller, Hon. Andrew S. Draper, State Commissioner of Education, Hon. Henry W. Hoefer, State Architect, Major-General John F. O’Ryan, Adjutant-General William Verbeck and Hon. James A. Holden, State Historian, Hon. John A. Bensel, State Engineer and Surveyor, to prominent members of the State Legislature, to Justice Charles E. Hughes, former Governor of New York, to Hon. George H. Prouty, former Governor of Vermont, to Col. Calvin D. Cowles, to Hon. Frank S. Witherbee, President of the Champlain Association, to Percival Wilds, Secretary of that Association, to Mr. Stephen H. P. Pell, to Hon. James A. Roberts, President of the New York State Historical Association, to Frederick B. Richards, Secretary of the New York State Historical Association, to Dr. George F. Kunz, President of the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society, to Hon. Charles B. Alexander, to Hon. McDougall Hawkes, to Carl A. Heber, the sculptor, to Paul Faguet of the French Line, to Hon. William Cary Sanger, to Hon. Francis Lynde Stetson, Hon. Robert Roberts, to Hon. Job E. Hedges, to President Guy Potter Benton, LL. D., of the University of Vermont, to President John M. Thomas, D. D., of Middlebury College, to President Charles H. Spooner, Ph. D., of Norwich University, and to others, in addition to the invitations sent to members of the New York and Vermont Tercentenary Commissions, and to some prominent citizens of Vermont.

The special invitations included in most instances the ladies of the gentlemen so invited and they were present at all the exercises.

The Board of Governors of the Lake Champlain Association through its Secretary, Percival Wilds, sent to its members notice they were invited to the dedicatory exercises and to accompany the guests on the steamer “Ticonderoga” through the lake.

President Frank S. Witherbee and many members of the Association were present at the dedicatory ceremonies of the Crown Point and the Plattsburgh memorials. The officers and members of the Lake Champlain Association took a deep interest in the Tercentenary celebration and from time to time rendered assistance to the Tercentenary Commissioners in various ways, and especially so in assuming the responsibility and conduct of the banquet to the French delegation at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City on May 1, 1912.

In arranging for the dedicatory exercises, no effort was made to augment the attendance, nor to rival in elaboration the programme of the Tercentenary celebration of 1909.

All that remained on this occasion for the Lake Champlain Tercentenary Commissioners to do was to turn over formally to the properly constituted authorities the Champlain memorials, which had been constructed pursuant to law at Crown Point Forts and at Plattsburgh. The exercises, therefore, were planned with that end in view. They were dignified and stately, but did not extend beyond the formal presentation and acceptances of the memorials as will appear from the record that follows. The President, Vice-President, United States Senators, Foreign Ambassadors and some other specially invited guests were unable to attend on account of the prolonged second session of the Sixty-second Congress, or absence from the country, at the time of the dedicatory ceremonies, to the regret of the members of the Commissions and the people of the Champlain valley. The participation of these officials of the United States, France and Great Britain in the Tercentenary exercises had added national as well as international stateliness to that commemorative celebration, still fresh in the memory of all who chanced to witness it. The unavoidable absence of these distinguished guests was in a measure compensated for, however, in the presence of their representatives, who contributed much to the success of the dedicatory ceremonies. All arrangements were carried forward for the dedication of the Crown Point memorial by Commissioners Witherbee, Knapp, Pell, Lafontaine and Shea with all the forethought and care that had characterized their painstaking efforts from the first. Commissioner Hill, and President John M. Thomas of the Vermont Commission planned the programme and secured the speakers. Commissioners Booth, Riley, Weaver and Knapp were no less vigilant in preparing for the dedicatory ceremonies of the Plattsburgh Champlain Memorial. In this they were materially assisted by the mayor of the city, the Chamber of Commerce and the people of Plattsburgh as well as by Colonel Calvin D. Cowles of the Fifth U. S. Infantry, stationed at Plattsburgh Barracks. The people of Plattsburgh purchased and improved the site for the Champlain memorial, decorated the streets for the dedicatory exercises, provided automobiles for the visitors to make a tour of the city and aided the Tercentenary Commissioners in other ways in carrying to a successful conclusion the dedicatory ceremonies.

The attendance at both the Crown Point and the Plattsburgh exercises was thoroughly representative of the people of the Champlain valley, though not as large as at the Tercentenary exercises. The steamer “Ticonderoga” was chartered by the New York Tercentenary Commission and brought the invited guests from Plattsburgh, Burlington and Port Henry. After the exercises at Crown Point Forts, the “Ticonderoga” took the guests back to their several destinations and the members of the Tercentenary Commissions to Bluff Point, where they registered at the new Hotel Champlain.

The military features of the dedicatory ceremonies are given in the following report of the Military Committee:

The military features of the ceremonies attending the dedication of the Champlain Memorial Lighthouse at Crown Point, N. Y., July 5, 1912, and the unveiling of the Statue of Champlain at Plattsburgh, N. Y., July 6, 1912, were on a much smaller scale than those of the celebration of 1909, but the presence of the United States and State troops added greatly to the dignity of the ceremonies at both places. When the chartered steamboat “Ticonderoga” left the dock at Port Henry at 11:30 A. M., July 5th, Governor John A. Dix and the following members of his staff were on board:

Brigadier-General William Verbeck, The Adjutant-General, S. N. Y.

Lieutenant-Commander Eckford Craven de Kay, Military Secretary to the Governor.

Commander Russell Raynor, First Battalion, N. M.

Commander Edward H. Snyder, 47th Infantry, N. G., N. Y.

Captain Walter S. Gibson, 74th Infantry, N. G., N. Y.

Captain Charles Curie, First Cavalry, N. G., N. Y.

First Lieutenant Griswold Green, Aide, Third Brigade, N. G., N. Y.

First Lieutenant Harry S. Underwood, Aide, Third Brigade, N. G., N. Y.

Major-General John F. O’Ryan, N. G., N. Y., came up on the special car from New York and was the guest of the Commission until evening, when he was obliged to return to review the Sixty-ninth Regiment, N. G., N. Y.

Governor John A. Mead of Vermont was unable to be present but was represented by:

Lee S. Tillotson, The Adjutant-General, representing the Governor.

Colonel D. L. Morgan, Aide-de-Camp.

Major H. R. Kingsley, Military Secretary.

First Lieutenant John B. Barnes, U. S. Infantry, Inspector-Instructor, Organized Militia of Vermont.

Landing Troops and Guests at Crown Point Forts, July 5, 1912

Col. Sanger, Gov. Dix and Others landing at Crown Point Memorial, July 5, 1912

Company “M,” 1st Infantry, N. G., Vt., Captain J. M. Ashley commanding, and forty enlisted men came down from Burlington on the steamboat.

The 9th Separate Company of Whitehall, or Company “I,” 2d Infantry, N. G., N. Y., went into camp at the Lake House, Crown Point Village, on July 4th, and proceeded on a ferryboat early in the morning of the 5th to the Crown Point Forts. Captain R. G. Hays was in command with First Lieutenant J. J. Kelly, Second Lieutenant Dewey A. Forbush, and fifty enlisted men.

CROWN POINT FORTS

On the arrival of the “Ticonderoga” at the wharf at the Champlain Memorial Lighthouse, Crown Point, N. Y., Captain Hays’ Company was drawn up in line to receive the guests. Captain Ashley’s Company marched off the boat preceded by the Port Henry Band. Governor Dix, the Tercentennial Commissioners and the invited guests followed and the line of march was formed under escort of the two companies. Company “I” being on the right. The column then proceeded to the English forts, where the bronze memorial tablet presented to the State by the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of New York was unveiled by Miss Evelyn Witherbee. The two companies were drawn up to the right and left of the tablet which was guarded by a sergeant from Company “I.” At the conclusion of the brief ceremonies, the column returned to the wharf, where the invited guests boarded the steamboat for luncheon while the troops bivouacked on the shore. At 1:30 P. M. the companies were drawn up in line near the Lighthouse, Company “I” being on the New York side of the Government Reservation, and Company “M” on the side toward Vermont. At the conclusion of the ceremonies Company “I” returned to their camp, on the ferryboat, and Company “M” boarded the “Ticonderoga” to be landed at Burlington.

PLATTSBURGH

At 10 A. M., July 6th, Governor Dix, the Tercentenary Commissioners and the invited guests were present at a review of the Fifth Infantry, U. S. A., at Plattsburgh Barracks, ordered in their honor by Colonel Calvin D. Cowles, Commanding Officer of the Post. As Governor Dix approached the reviewing stand, the regulation salute of seventeen guns was fired. At 1:30 P. M. the regiment escorted the party from the hotel through the streets of Plattsburgh to the new Champlain Park, where line was formed and the proper salutes given. At the conclusion of the ceremonies of the unveiling of the Champlain Monument, the regiment returned to its quarters. The names of the officers and number of enlisted men, including the band, participating in the ceremonies are as follows:

Colonel Calvin D. Cowles, Fifth Infantry; Major William F. Martin, Fifth Infantry; Major Armand I. Lasseigne, Fifth Infantry; Major Peter C. Harris, Fifth Infantry; Chaplain Horace A. Chouinard, Fifth Infantry; Captain Edward Sigerfoos, Adjutant, Fifth Infantry; Captain William D. Davis, Quarter-Master, Fifth Infantry; Captain Girard Sturtevant, Fifth Infantry; Captain Robert Field, Commissary, Fifth Infantry; Captain Robert E. Frith, Fifth Infantry; Captain Clement A. Trott, Fifth Infantry; Captain Ralph McCoy, Fifth Infantry; Captain Howard C. Price, Fifth Infantry; First Lieutenant Leonard J. Mygatt, Fifth Infantry; First Lieutenant Auswell E. Deitsch, Fifth Infantry; First Lieutenant Sydney H. Hopson, Fifth Infantry; First Lieutenant Will D. Wills, Fifth Infantry; First Lieutenant Daniel A. Nolan, Battalion Adjutant, Fifth Infantry; First Lieutenant James E. McDonald, Fifth Infantry; First Lieutenant Deshler Whiting, Fifth Infantry; First Lieutenant Walton Goodwin, Jr., Fifth Infantry; First Lieutenant Thomas L. Crystal, Battalion Adjutant, Fifth Infantry; Second Lieutenant Charles F. White, Fifth Infantry; Second Lieutenant Alfred H. Erck, Fifth Infantry; Second Lieutenant Oliver A. Dickinson, Fifth Infantry; Second Lieutenant John M. McDowell, Fifth Infantry; Second Lieutenant Thompson Lawrence, Fifth Infantry; Second Lieutenant Sumner Waite, Fifth Infantry—714 enlisted men.

Howland Pell,
Chairman.