[FN-2] W. L. Stone's Reminiscences of Saratoga, p. 14; Irving's Washington, Holly Ed., pp. 17, 18.
And so we leave this famous brook, connected with which are the names of many of those brave men who afterward became celebrated in national fields of glory; and bid adieu to the places made noted by the exploits of the two Putnams, Stark, Schuyler, Warner, Stevens, Waterbury, and a host of lesser military Colonial officers, whose experience, beginning on the shores of this inland stream, was to serve their country in good stead in the days which were to save our land from British thralldom. To-day, no longer reddened by the life-blood of English and Colonial of French and Indian, the "Half-Way" runs a clear and peaceful stream through copse and thicket, field and meadow, swamp and swale; turning, as it goes, the wheels of industrial progress in many a village and hamlet, and doing its appointed work in the upbuilding of our national prosperity. At last, merged in the yellow waters of Wood Creek, it flows into the green depths of Lake Champlain, and then into the broad reaches of the St. Lawrence; but before losing its identity in the surging waters of the North Atlantic, it laves the frowning cliffs of Quebec, thus forming a shimmering and living band, which unites for all time the valley of the Holy Lake and the Plains of Abraham; those two eventful spots where the French dominion received its first check and final overthrow, thus placing, in the end, the North American Continent forever under the progressive control of the Anglo-Saxon race.
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON MARKING
HISTORICAL SPOTS.
To the Members of the New York State Historical Association:
At a meeting of the Committee on Marking Historical Spots, held September 9th, 1904, Dr. Williams was made Chairman and Mr. Holden Secretary of the Committee. After discussion of the matter, it was voted to mark during 1905, or as soon as possible thereafter, the following spots of the greatest historical interest, viz., "Half-Way Brook, including Fort Amherst," "Bloody Pond," "the Burgoyne Headquarters at Sandy Hill," and the "Old Fort at Fort Edward." Judge Ingalsbe was made a committee on the old "Burgoyne House," Mr. Wing a committee on old "Fort Edward," and the matter of providing suitable inscriptions for "Half-Way Brook" and "Bloody Pond" was left to Dr. Williams and Mr. Holden with power.
A site for the marker at Half-Way Brook having been decided on at the intersection of Glen Street and Glenwood Avenue, on the road to Lake George, a glacial boulder as a base for the tablet was placed in position there through the kindness and generosity of Henry Crandall, Glens Falls. A legal title to the spot was obtained, and the tablet ordered from W. J. Scales, Glens Falls. In October, 1905, the tablet was erected. It consists of a dull, natural finish plate of bronze, and bears the following inscription:
HALF-WAY BROOK.
So called because midway between Forts Edward and William Henry. From 1755 to 1780 it was the scene of many bloody skirmishes, surprises and ambushes. Here the French and Indians inflicted two horrible massacres upon the English and Colonials. One in the summer of 1756 and the other in July, 1758.
FORT AMHERST.