The Peru Gazette

Clinton County will mark the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Valcour Island with three days of education, living history, music, ceremony and public commemoration, October 9-11, 2026. The weekend brings the story of the 1776 Lake Champlain campaign into the present through museum programs, a reenactor encampment, a battlefield legacy-project dedication, trips to Valcour Island, lighthouse tours, performances by a U.S. Navy Band ensemble, a commemorative ceremony and a reenactment of the battle.

The Battle of Valcour Island was fought on October 11, 1776, in the waters between Valcour Island and the New York shore. Benedict Arnold’s American flotilla faced a larger and more powerful British force advancing south from Canada. Although the American fleet suffered severe losses, its resistance helped delay the British campaign until the following year. That delay gave American forces additional time to prepare for the 1777 campaign that culminated at Saratoga, a victory that helped bring France openly into the war on the American side.

Valcour’s importance is therefore larger than the tactical outcome of a single day’s fighting. The battle illustrates the strategic importance of Lake Champlain and the Hudson River corridor, the urgency of the American effort to slow the British advance, and the extraordinary consequences that can follow from gaining time.

A Battlefield That Continues to Reveal Its Story

The underwater battlefield at Valcour Bay has continued to yield evidence of the men, vessels and weapons involved in the 1776 engagement. The Valcour Bay Research Project grew from Edwin R. “Ed” Scollon’s 1999 discovery of a major fragment of a cannon that had exploded aboard the American gondola New York. Over years of archaeological survey and research, the project documented the battlefield and recovered evidence that has helped reconstruct what happened aboard the vessel.

On July 20, 2026, researchers raised the final major fragment of the exploded cannon from Lake Champlain. The discovery brought renewed attention to a story the Research Project has pursued for more than a quarter century. Contemporary accounts and subsequent research identify Lt. Thomas Rogers as killed in the explosion and other crewmen injured.

The 250th anniversary weekend will recognize the Valcour Bay Research Project Team at Friday evening’s Commemorative Dinner. Following dinner, Scollon will present on the team’s research and the July 20, 2026 recovery of the final major fragment of the cannon that exploded aboard the gondola New York during the 1776 battle.

A Community Commemoration

The anniversary observance brings together historical research, remembrance, and living history. Programs range from a school-day presentation by the Native North American Traveling College to museum tours, living-history interpretation, a Legacy Project dedication at the National Historic Landmark at the Peru Boat Launch, boat trips to Valcour Island and the Bluff Point Lighthouse, and a weekend presence by a U.S. Navy Band ensemble.

Sunday’s program at Plattsburgh City Beach includes the Saranac Chapter NSDAR’s 131st Commemoration Ceremony and a Battle of Valcour Island reenactment. The long-running DAR observance connects the 250th anniversary to generations of local remembrance and preservation.