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"Clinton’s Ditch": The Erie Canal at 200

DeWitt Clinton mingling the waters of Lake Erie with the Atlantic by Philip Meeder (1826) ( New York Public Library via flickr.com ) Two hundred years ago, the Erie Canal was completed. It was a project so ambitious that many thought it foolhardy: building an massive artificial waterway some 363 miles across New York State that would connect the Hudson River at Albany and Lake Erie at Buffalo. The concept of the canal first emerged before the American Revolution , finally c

Stephen Gould

Oct 263 min read

Alonzo Foster: A Civil War Hero from Good Ground

October 15th was an important date for Alonzo Foster ( 1841–1913 ) of Good Ground (Hampton Bays): it was the day he was born in 1841, the day he married Georgianna Squires in 1865, and the day he volunteered for the Union Army in 1861. When Alonzo reported for duty, he was assigned to Company F of the 6th New York Cavalry , then forming on Staten Island. He fought with the 6th New York in some of the most significant battles in Virginia and Maryland. Alonzo's cap was shot

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Stephen Gould

Oct 152 min read