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Round Table Talk - Schenectady in the Revolution

On Monday, March 5, 2018, the SUNY Schenectady County Community College-Community Archaeology Program partners with the American Revolution Round Table: Hudson/Mohawk Valleys to present, “Schenectady in the Revolution” by John Gearing.

The program will be held at the Schenectady County Community College located at 78 Washington Ave, Schenectady, NY 12305, in the Stockade Building’s Lecture Hall room 101. The event starts at 6:30 PM with time for socializing and networking. The programming starts at 7:00 PM.

This is a free event ($5 suggested donation); however, space is limited to the first 120 to register. To register, please provide your names(s), telephone number in an email to arrthudsonmohawkvalleys@gmail.com or by phone at 518-774-5669.

Although there never was a “Battle of Schenectady,” the town played a vital role in the war for independence. Her militia, the 2nd Albany Regiment, fought British/Tory/Iroquois raiders determined to conduct a scorched earth campaign in the Mohawk Valley, played a role in the naval battles on Lake Champlain – the birth of the US Navy - and crucially slowed Burgoyne's progress south toward Saratoga. The town of Schenectady became a place of refuge for several different groups of displaced persons throughout the war, including some that may surprise. But were Schenectady's citizens all solidly for independence? The truth is rather interesting. These topics, and more, will be the subject of John Gearing's talk on Schenectady in the Revolution.

Born and raised in Bristol, Connecticut, Gearing developed a deep love for local history first-hand during woods walks to explore the nearby ruins of an abandoned community deep in a forest that had once been open farmland. Two hundred yards from the family home stood a locally-famous oak that was said to have been welcomed home soldiers of the Revolution who stopped for refreshment at the (now vanished) Bartholomew Tavern across the road. His interest in history lay dormant for a time, while he attended Bates College, then grad school at Georgia Tech, and enjoyed a career as a Systems Engineer on the Trident II (D5) missile at the Lockheed Missiles and Space Company. Switching careers in the 90's, he graduated in 2013 from the University of Connecticut, School of Law and maintains a solo practice. Shortly after arriving in Niskayuna in 2003, he explored Schenectady's Stockade neighborhood and found his interest in history reawakened. He is a Trustee of the Schenectady County Historical Society, and the author of a forthcoming history of Schenectady, tentatively titled “Schenectady Genesis, Vol. 2: Evolution, 17620-1798” to be published by SUNY Press under the auspices of The Colonial Schenectady Project.

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