Distinguished Historian returns to The Turning Point
Friederike Baer to speak in Saratoga with Hessians presentation
Dr. Friederike Baer will speak at the 3rd Women in War Symposium on Saturday May 4, 2024. The prestigious event will feature a panel of experts on Women in the Revolutionary War.
Her address will describe the experience of Saratoga, "With the Battle of Saratoga our Misfortunes began, Friederike Riedesel in the War for American Independence".
The Symposium will be held at the Old Saratoga American Legion Post in Schuylerville, NY. The location stands within musket range of Gen. John Burgoyne’s last stand of the Battles of Saratoga, now site of the Saratoga Monument.
Dr. Baer has spoken recently at the Saratoga Battlefield and at important conferences throughout the United States. Her book Hessians was awarded the 2023 Society of the Cincinnati Prize and most recently was a Finalist for the American Battlefield Trust Inaugural Military History Book. Other awards include the 2022 American Revolution Round Table of Philadelphia's Book Award, and Distinguished Historian by The Marshall House Inc., preserving the site of the Baroness’s immersion in combat.
Professor Baer continues to research in preparation of further publication. Her website is https://friederikebaer.com/ .
Details can be found at Saratoga250 https://saratoga250.com/events/annual-women-in-war-symposium/
What does the future hold?
'Historical Society Seeks Purchase The Marshall House', in a story published by The Saratogian, August 31st, 1927
The historian William Leete Stone in the eighteen seventies advocated the preservation of The Marshall House as a landmark of the Revolutionary War.
Later, in 1901, John Henry Brandow, author of the “Story of Old Saratoga”, urged the same objective. In the nineteen twenties and again in the nineteen thirties, at the time when the State of New York was creating what was to become the Saratoga National Historical Park, attempts made to raise funds for this purpose did not meet with success.
In 2002 The Marshall House was designated a National Historic Place. Some architectural changes made to the house in 1868 disqualified it for National Landmark status though the historical elements of the building were carefully preserved.
Since the time of the Revolution thousands of visitors, many of whom were prominent historians, public personalities and others interested in the riveting story told by the Baroness Charlotte Riedesel about her experiences in the house during the closing days of the Battles of Saratoga have always been welcome visitors.
The Marshall House remains the sole remaining witness building to the victory at Saratoga. Beyond the merit of this claim, the house also tells the story of a house and home that reflects adaptation to changes in the ways people lived and yet live.
Unlike buildings that have been preserved as museums, frozen in time and void of vitality, The Marshall House is alive with an allure official landmarks lack. This distinction, added to its rôle in the Revolution, grants the house an unusual appeal of its own.
The question arises: What shall become of it? First the Marshall family and now the Bullard family have been its devoted caretakers for two centuries. Future owners may be less so. Hence, one wonders, what does the future hold?
