thinking, but the environmental side of environmental history pushed further. how do those lead particles get formed? mostly by the lead breaking down when a lead musket ball gets stuck in the soil, it slowly gets transformed into compounds. so russ site hydro cirrus site and lead sulfate now in acidic these compounds dissolve fairly rapidly and the little bits of lead get out there and can get in the groundwater. okay but this the acidity of these hudson and rhinebeck silt loans is only little bit acidic. 6.1 to 6.5. so the musket balls would have been fairly stable and the compounds would have released

relatively little of their let so led certain damages human health but not this led sitting in this soil at this time. furthermore even if the lead all released at these concentration zones it probably wouldn't posed a threat to human health, u.s. environmental protection agency, the epa says that lead is a hazard when, quote, for hundred parts per million of lead in bare soil in children's play areas. now the epa has shown that much lower concentrations of harm, different species of plants and birds and mammals, low more than the 119 or the 89 that i came up with. but for now, let's keep the

focus on bass. humans. given the amount of lead and the type of soil why go to all this trouble to describe the concentration of lead. it's because i think conditions have changed since. 77 over the past century there's been a of fossil fuels that have been burned releasing a lot sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides and ammonia into the atmosphere and comes down as sulfuric acid and nitric acid and ammonium has acid rain. acid snow, right from 1998 to 2000. rain in this area of. our adirondacks had, a patch of 4.5, ten times the more acidic than background conditions. and the hudson in rhinebeck,

silt loam don't have the limestone deposits that would buffer or help neutralize that acidity. so. maybe two centuries after the battles of saratoga that cirrus site and hydro cirrus site might have started to breaks down. conditions have also changed because more land has been deposited on the saratoga battle. americans first pumped leaded gasoline in 1923. and by the time stopped in 1985, automobiles had. about 7 million tons of lead into the atmosphere. how much landed saratoga? i can't, but but lead deposited the sky combined with in the soil liberated by acid rain. maybe maybe now 250 years later

might reaching some critical concentrate shows musket balls in 1777 may now be hitting targets that the soldiers had never even thought of. so environmental history reminds us that during the revolution, humans were locked in this intimate relationship with nature just like today. think about the energy we use to move around the food and drink we consume the gasoline or electricity we put into our vehicles. we think about the wastes that fill our dumps, the greenhouse gases pump into the atmosphere. what's true about today can be applied to the 1700s and remembering, i think, will help us understand an event that still fascinates all of us and that's the american revolution

thanks for your attention. it might be question. yet another yet another very interesting presentation you thank you. so when when ferguson's army was ensconced in fort and for those six weeks, where was the bulk their supplies coming from? was that coming from supply line to the north? were they were they commandeering supplies locally? were they buying supplies locally where they come from? i think most of it. okay. the question was when the when bergwijn's army was static. where were they? the supplies. i think they were coming down from ticonderoga and from canada

and were trying to obtain supplies locally. they had a hard time because the local revolutionaries were not staff medic during this time they would move their cattle out of harm's way. they would do other things make it hard for for the germans and the british to to acquire energy. so has been any testing done of the soil to see if this theory could possibly be. yeah come to okay the question has any testing been done of this of the soil. i asked the saratoga battlefield folks maybe a dozen years ago and they said no. could i drill down?

and they said. no, it's federal property. so my son said, dad, i can give you like my black sweats and black hoodies and you can like sneak onto the onto the. so so no. but, you know, times change and so i should i should ask again. thanks for reminding me. have you considered testing water supply in the area? there are farms south of there and you would think percolation of the water through would pick up the lead. yeah, that's a possibility that you could didn't have to do the ninja stuff. you know, the black that the grandson would love to. the question was test the you know the problem with a difficult of testing today is how do you know the results you get are from the time period or

or well i guess we're testing led that's been deposited and all that. yeah. or is it from it is just yeah. my my initial theory is okay the lead from leaded gasoline all that what if there is some factory. dumping wastewater upstream from saratoga sugar. would that mess up the the readings that. are the side of side check water supply here. what the the response was makes some comparisons some testing side by side. okay you yeah so well part not to throw off your calculations too much burgoyne orders is british and german forces to be filled with 100 rounds of

ammunition per man. so i don't know how that affects the overall thing. my question is actually about the forage for animals. and do you have a sense if those animals are entirely living off supplies that are forwarded to the army in terms of oats and hay, how are they feeding on local know, eating on the itself or, you know, cutting fresh, fresh provisions for those animals, all these regiments for supply sides and forage courts to be able to provide provisions and impact. does that have on those environments grazing. you know how, much higher concentration of animals than typically would receive. right. right so how much foraging was done by those animals i think was there was certainly some foraging probably? not enough. okay. also this is by this time august, there other animals would be foraging earlier the

summer through this area, maybe other local farmers. so i think it was i think it was tough if if they getting a decent amount of forage, maybe that raid bennington would have had some different orders. but they were supposed to get cattle meat. they're supposed to get they're supposed to get horses. not just for transportation, but mount some dismounted. and so by and my initial sense is, not enough is still so much a question as a disturbing thought. there's all those civil war battlefields where ten times the number of people are firing even more led. yeah, i mean, i have no comment

that it's just mind boggling very disturbing. thank you. when always happy to you out. i it's it's my understanding that chewed musket balls found on the battlefield after all the fighting is taking of largely been found have been caused by animals chewing on them like pigs. so i'm kind of curious as to whether, you know, how that might have impacted meat for those who eat livestock. right. right. so i was i was taking the the easy approach of of ingesting lead. you just drink some water. but yeah, if you eat an entire musket ball, yeah, i think that's kind of that's going to do something to the pig whether, whether the digestive liquids in

the intel would break down that that led so that when you make a pork chop it's it's like hazardous i don't know or would would a pig just poop out the musket ball ball i don't know maybe more testing and comparison needs to make here like go to go to oh here's pig you know pig chow for the group and then for the test group pig chow with basketball and hate to tell you, one of your options for dinner tonight is, pork chops. we have one last online question in the back yes. one of the attendees online is asking, you can speculate if there might be any impact. the water in the lake champlain

or the hudson river that might have an impact on military metabolism. the the water quality or the the the the left, the water level. if it's if it's the water level and wind resistance, you know, they're coming burgoyne forces coming down from canada and it takes energy to to pull oars. they had sails when possible but there's also if i remember this right, the energy required to cover the distance on like lake champlain is the equivalent of running a half marathon. something that as for water quality i don't know i think i

think i know i was going to i was going to speculate our systems getting used to drinking this kind of water. but 250 years ago they drank water out of streams lakes all the time without had would they have just adapt to that? i'm sorry. i don't, but thank you for the question. thank you, david. and we'll take quick break before our final speaker. all right right. we've almost made it through a

day. these seminars go by so quickly. it's hard to believe we're already at the last presentation for saturday and before introduce our last speaker, i just want to do a reminder for those of you that purchase dinners at the log house, that dinner starts at 5:00 and pork is not on your menu menu. it's actually a nice turkey mashed potatoes and all the all the the fixings for that and that'll be available at five. so please don't show up at 430 give it give cafe a chance to get ready for you at. 5:00 though i'm sure they'd be willing to sell you an adult beverage ahead of time if need to, because i have to kill a little time for the speakers your dinner. is it paper and pencil? there were directions in your in your envelope. but if you have questions, please just let me know. i'll be sure to help you get there. and yes pork is one of your choices. there. so our final speaker this is kieran o keefe.

he asks the question, why horatio gates become a revolutionary. horatio gates is best known as the general who oversaw the american victory at saratoga in 1777, but for much of his life, he was a loyal british army officer. david explores how and why. david sorry, kieran. kieran explores how and why gates went from a dutiful subject the crown to a committed revolutionary. it argues that drift to revolution stemmed from personal grievances with the british military, british ministry, political and resentment against class hierarchy and shifting context. dr. kieran o keefe is assistant professor of history at lyon college. good afternoon and thank you. all right. thank you, everybody, for hanging around to the last, last presentation of today. so, as was said, this is going

to be about horatio gates to i'm sure everybody here knows for for saratoga primarily. and if you're, of course, more familiar with ticonderoga. he was in command of tie in 1776 and helped oversee the construction, the fortifications that prevented guy carlton or discourage guy carlton from attacking in the fall of 1776. but than looking at gates's military background, i actually want to look at his path towards revolution. he's long time british army officer. he's he becomes an officer in 1745 at leeds and leaves in 1769. so 24 years in the service of the british. so in many respects that him a pretty unlikely candidate to sport a sporting revolution across ocean in america. and i think sometimes considering why people revolt sometimes we frame it as ideology or self-interest. and i think what gates helps show is that it's sort of the

intersection of ideology, self-interest. in his case, you can see how they're sort of not mutually reinforcing. and both play a role in his path towards revolution in the years leading up to the revolutionary of the 1760s and 1770s. so horatio gates was born in 1728 and probably in debt for which is new york greenwich in what's now greater. despite his later prominence. we don't know a whole lot about his early life. he's born 1728. that's clear. in april, you know, bits and pieces about his early life. but there's not a whole lot known about the first 20 years or so of his life. but what we do know indicates that he comes from a pretty modest family, from what we call like a middling. his on his father's side, many of his family, they were on the docks in greenwich, which is not surprising, given that's a really big port community. one of his grandfather was was a

tailor. there's not a whole lot of certainly he's not a gentleman it's not coming from a prominent in the london area. and in many respects there's not reason to expect why he would rise to later prominence. but he does have one really important connection that's to be important to him getting it a historic and becoming someone of significance in his life. and that is the individual all on the right of the screen here. the third, duke of bolton. so the third duke of bolton is, obvious member of the house of lords, was a sometime ally of of robert walpole and. somehow he and the gates's each other i think the most persuasive speculation or theory for that is gates his mother may have been a housekeeper for bolton, and they got know each other from from that. but anyway, bolton is going to be really the first patron and gates is going to benefit from a number of different patrons early in his life that's going to allow him to from a pretty

middling background to someone of pretty pretty substantial significance later later in his career. so in 1745 in response to jacobite rebellion in scotland john bolton raises a regiment help put down that rebellion. and gates is going to be commissioned as an engine and then later lieutenant in bolton's regiment. so this connection with bolton is going to give gates his first military commission as a year old in. in 1745. and one thing i want to point out on the screen here, which is one of those crazy coincidences of history, which is almost hard to believe. but if you look on the left there is a record of gates, a 1745 commission at the national archives and in in london and this commission book has a hundreds of pages and even on this individual page it's all the officers in bolton's regiment so that you can see there quite a few names here and i don't have a you don't have a

laser pointer but gates his is maybe about 80% towards the bottom and the person directly below him on the same exact page in this regiment and this book of hundreds of pages is john burgoyne. so it's kind of a funny coincidence that's a little hard to believe that. and burgoyne, of course, will come to have much more significant connection. some 32 years later. but that was a it's kind of an amazing coincidence. so gates is is a probably in germany for a few years after initially entering his military career. the evidence isn't like really solid that he's in germany but i found a few hints that suggest he's in germany at least a little bit but when kind of emerges from from the darkness and when we really learn more about his life is actually when he goes to nova scotia beginning in 1748 1749, he goes there as

an aide to general edward cornwall who who was another early patron, and is the is the uncle of charles cornwallis, who will be gates is a nemesis of the battle of camden and the decades down the road. this is like a pattern you see throughout gates in his early life. is that he recognizes that a somebody somebody a pretty middling background if he is going to advance within the british military establishing it's going to be through establishing connections through the more influential patrons people who have more power and influence than he does. and so one of his earliest relationships to build this build this connection with cornwallis which allows him allows some military advancement early on in nova scotia is going to serve father the looters war is to need his his his wife phillips who comes from a fairly well-to-do nova scotia family. you can see a miniature her on the right there on the screen that is in the villa belongs the new york historical society.

and together they're going to have one son who the name robert who they call bob. he's promoted to captain, ends up being sent to fight in the french and indian war. he partakes in the braddock expedition, which everybody here knows doesn't go very well for the british, which would be think kind of an understatement and goes very and you know, so many officers are either killed or wounded that gates is among the wounded. he is in the advanced guard commanded directly by a badge by thomas gage, will later be a general on the british side in the revolution. i mean, gates is actually shot, shot through the body, left for dead in the ground. and then one of his sergeants in his regiment comes out, makes like a shift for him and terrorism carries them to safety and saves his life. but he nearly dies on the battlefield. it's now western pennsylvania in 1755, along along with many other british and american officers.

he spends the next few years on the on the new york, especially the mohawk valley, where fighting various french canadian and indigenous warriors. and then in 1758, he's going to become brigade major really like a military chief of staff to general john. gates is going to thrive as staff officer. he has he's very organized, has great attention to detail. and this is going to kind of really make his name within the british army during, the french indian or the seven years war. and he impresses as his superiors as as a as a brigade eventually stand will go back to britain and he's going to become the brain major to robert monckton is going to be one of his closest friends, probably his most important patron, the various patrons. gates had in his early life. and even though marked in as a general. he and gates are about the age mountains only two years older. and so they they really become close friends during during the

seven years war. and 1762. monckton is going lead an expedition against martinique. so after the than really the mainland american part of the war has largely died down the war is still really active in the caribbean and gates an aide to mountain and the expedition against martinique the battle is another major victory. i pretty much like all the battles were at the end of the seven years war and a sign of their friendship and the high regard in which he holds gates. monckton sends gates to london to deliver news to the ministry and to the king of the of capture of martinique to become the honorary messenger. with this great news, gets back to london meets the george the third meets the prime minister is the duke of newcastle meets other members of the ministry and as a reward for his for a service for years in america for bringing this news back back to london. he's given a financial reward.

and then also the rank of major in 45th regiment, a foot. and it's a little bit surprising, but actually this promotion and this this this reward is given for his rule, his his his bringing the news of the capture martinique to london. it's this promotion. in the end, the reward that is going to really his path to revolution as we'll see in the next few minutes. so there are a few problems with getting promoted. and the biggest problem that the position that he had been granted already been filled by general geoffrey amherst in america. he had appointed somebody to that same exact position of major in the 45th regiment. so that means the fact that there wasn't a position for gates to get didn't have a position. gates also that he deserved to be promoted to lieutenant colonel, but he had a hard really gathering together the money he needed to purchase lieutenant colonels because of his middling background, doesn't have the financial resources that a lot of a lot of other

officers do. so he struggles to to purchase a commission that he feels like he deserves for based on his service in the seven years war. adding to all this, 1762 is obviously the very of the seven years war. so war is going to wrap up, which means the army is going to demobilize and shrink as. the war ends and peace arrives and that means there are fewer positions be filled. finally, the ministry gives him another another major position, but that's in quebec. he doesn't want to go to canada. and so he basically drags a seat for a while and turns turns down that offer. and by 1765, he's very and he goes on half pipe pipe over next few years, he's going to continue to to to find a commission. pretty much every effort he takes fails, he finds one possible avenue and that fails another avenue might appear fails there. and so by 1769 he so he so disgusted he decides just leave

the military entirely. so he sells his commission in 1769 to actually his mountain's younger, younger brother. and he he leaves he leaves the military entirely. he turns to monckton, who had done this patron during the seven years war and had gotten him this promotion and had helped him really move up the ranks of. the the british military establishment and monckton was really the running to become the commander in chief. the east india company army and moncton's like hey i if i get this this this position i'm going to bring you to india with me and you'll have, you have a position of prominence in india. but he doesn't get the permission for the position. gates really blames monckton for doing enough to help him out and they have a falling out. the friendship ends and they never talk to each other again. after. after 1772 and over all, by 1769, early 1770s, gates is extremely disgruntled and really upset, feeling. he's been he's been dishonored and denied his place of a place of prominence within the british

military establishment establishment. this frustration also leads to personal frustration. he spends kind of wandering around great, trying to trying to find a permanent spends time in bath goes to wales for a while in bristol for a time his personal finances begin weaken as the money from the sale of his commission dries up in 1769. he ends up renting an estate called sandridge in england, where he tries to become a farmer. he's nevebeen a farmer in fe. he grew up on the docks. he knows nothing about farming but is trying to teach himself farming. it's not going very well. friends kind of make fun of him about it, but she doesn't like. he's trying to live like english country gentleman without the money to live like unjust english country gentleman and his wife. to elizabeth is is really upset, too. she's a very supportive in all these years and she shares in his frustration.

so as he's really he looks around and tries to figure out did he failed to achieve the rank he thought he deserved like what was the problem? why was not able to move up the ranks in the way that he wanted to. it felt like he was entitled to and ultimately gates really concludes that it's his relative low birth that prevents him from receiving a position in the british military establishment that he thinks he deserves and that he's qualified for increasingly, by the late 1760s, you see gates moving into radical whig circles, radical politics for. example, while he's in bristol, he becomes friends with henry kruger, who's actually originally from new york, was, is working in bristol point for a promotion company and he's from it. kruger, who's a radical whig, they talk about kruger and others that are a of circle are opponents of britain's towards