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During the American Revolutionary War, in 1777, Jane McCrea was a 17 year old Loyalist living at the farm of her older brother, Col. John McCrea at Fort Edward, NY to be close to her fiancé, Lt. David Jones, a loyalist serving with British General Burgoyne's army. On July 27th of that year, while she was visiting the home of Mrs. McNeil, the two women were captured by Indians allied to the British. Since both women were under the protection of General Burgoyne, they were reasonably sure nothing would happen to them. Their captors separated into two bands, each with one of the women. When Mrs. McNeil, a cousin of General Simon Fraser's, arrived with her captors at the British camp, she wondered where Jane was, since she had departed ahead of Mrs. McNeil. Shortly thereafter, the first party of Indians returned to the camp with a fresh scalp lock. It seems an argument had ensued over Jane McCrea, and to settle the argument, she had been killed. Other reports however state she was accidentally killed by friendly fire as the Indians made off with her. She was buried three miles south of Fort Edward. Though a Tory sympathizer, her death, and those of others in similar raids, inspired some of the resistance to Burgoyne's invasion leading to his defeat at the Battle of Saratoga. But the effect expanded later as reports of the incident were used, almost as propaganda, to excite rebel sympathies during the war, especially before the Sullivan Expedition in 1779. The story had become a part of American folklore when James Fennimore Cooper described some similar events in his novel "The Last of the Mohicans". Later on, 1852, McCrea's remains were removed and re-interred at the Union Cemetery in the Town of Fort Edward. McCrea's remains were exhumed in 2003 and researchers were surprised to find that McCrea's skull was missing, and her bones were commingled with those of another Revolutionary-era woman, Sara McNeil, a landowner and a cousin of British Gen. Simon Fraser. The bodies were exhumed again in 2005 in order to provide separate graves for both women.
This Marker is posted outside the Broadway (Route 4) entrance to the Union Cemetery in Fort Edward.
Tags:
Jane
McCrea
Fort
Edward
Added: 9th September 2007
Views: 427
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Posted By: Ohlhous |
 
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The location is at a small park where the Genesee River crosses Routes 20A & 39 just west of Geneseo, NY. See also keyword "boyd" & background story at "Boyd & Parker torture site".
A higher resolution version of this plaque (and more) can be seen at www.boydandparker.com
Tags:
genesee
castle
seneca
revolution
sullivan
boyd
Added: 21st October 2007
Views: 101
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Posted By: MarkHoward |
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