In this year of continuing recognition and celebration of the 250th birthday of the United States, it seems particularly fitting on this Memorial Day to remember those who gave their lives in service to a newborn nation.

In 2019, a construction site in Lake George, New York, revealed the burial ground of Revolutionary War era soldiers.

Construction workers digging an apartment building foundation on Courtland Street in the village of Lake George in February 2019 uncovered the remains. By the time the crew reported the discovery to the Warren County Sheriff’s Office, they had already relocated roughly 70 dump truck piles of soil from the site.

Beneath the disturbed ground in the Lake George village was an 18th-century cemetery. Graves had already been badly disrupted by the excavation.

“We weren’t able to properly recover complete individuals. It was pieces, bits and pieces of people,” Lisa Anderson, curator of bioarcheology at the New York State Museum, told Spectrum News, which has reach throughout Central and upstate New York.

Anderson supervised the recovery alongside Charles “Chuck” Vandrei Jr., the Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) preservation officer, who championed the re-interment effort before his death. More than 100 volunteers worked with museum and DEC archaeologists over the course of 15 months, sifting through excavated soil to recover bone fragments and artifacts.

Julie Weatherwax, a bioarcheology technician at the state museum, spent nearly a year reassembling more than 800 loose teeth into individual dental records to establish the minimum number of remains buried at the site, according to WRGB, the local CBS affiliate in Albany.

The New York State Museum determined that the remains of 44 individuals were recovered, and that the area was the site of a graveyard containing the remains of some Revolutionary War Continental Army soldiers.

The remains were mostly young men– some as young as 14. Pewter pins found on their uniforms tied the remains to the 1st Pennsylvania Battalion, which only existed in 1776. Researchers and historians believe that they died from diseases like smallpox at the Fort George military hospital, where the park now sits.

“According to some estimates, the small smallpox epidemic of 1776 claimed over 300 lives right here in Lake George in a single five-week span,” said Amanda Lefton, commissioner of the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC). “By the summer of 1776, an estimated 3000 short soldiers were being quarantined right here.”

Lisa Anderson, New York State Museum curator of bioarcheology, helped to study and identify the remains.

“Among them was a woman and a child, possibly from families traveling with the soldiers. A woman’s role during the war was crucial, providing support and care, even serving as nurses here at Fort George in that summer,” said Anderson.

Anderson explained what was done with the 44 remains (that) were found.

“Some were given coffins, most were not. But that did not diminish the honor that each was due,” said Anderson.

The museum even commissioned a facial reconstruction of one of the bodies, which they determined to be a teenage boy. Then the decision had to be made about what was to be done with these remains. Eventually, a memorial that would hold these 44 people – and any future remains that might be found in the area – was constructed near the site of the original graves, at Lake George Battlefield State Park.

The memorial, called “Repose of the Fallen,” sits on a knoll along Fort George Road in the park. The project cost nearly $700,000, paid for with a New York State Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant and private donations. The design includes secured columbaria, a seating area, interpretive signage and a memorial plaza.

Karl Remmers, president of the NY-Penn Military Vehicle Collectors Club, called it “an extremely high honor to transport the remains of 44 Revolutionary War soldiers.”

The New York State Museum began moving the majority of the remains to the memorial this last week. Last Friday, the remaining four bodies were escorted to their final resting places inside the memorial, alongside the rest of the remains, with military honors befitting their service in the Continental Army.

“It’s something that they deserved 250 years ago. We’re happy to finally give it to them today,” said Dan Barusch, the director of planning and zoning of the Town and Village of Lake George.

On Friday afternoon, four wooden coffins were led and followed by Revolutionary War reenactors through Lake George Battlefield Park. After speeches and the playing of taps, the remains were placed into the columbarium at the “Repose of the Fallen” Memorial.

“There was so much that happened here leading up to the revolutionary time during the Revolutionary War era itself. There were critical battles that took place here,” said Barusch.

BONES OF FOUR CONTINENTAL ARMY DEAD REINTERRED AT LAKE GEORGE, NY-In the 250th year of our countries birth, this Memorial Day Weekend, Soldiers, likely who died of smallpox are reinterred and buried with honor at Lake George, NY. The remains of 44 dead were found in 2019 during a… pic.twitter.com/46sdJ3jjyo

— Doreen Linder (@DorLinder) May 23, 2026

And yes, there may very well be future discoveries of Continental Army soldiers in the Lake George area.

Officials say the remains of at least 1,000 soldiers are still believed to be buried in and around Lake George. When they are found, there is now a dedicated place for them to be laid to rest alongside their fellow soldiers—ensuring their service and sacrifice are never forgotten.

This country owes so much to these soldiers, these boys who joined up to fight for their brand new nation. They might not have fallen in combat – though any and all of those stories and their identities are lost to the centuries that have passed – but they died in service to their country. Without their willingness to fight, along with so many others like them, we would not be celebrating a 250th commemoration of our American Revolution. It is entirely fitting that these 44 people were honored this Memorial Day weekend, and while their names will never be known, their legacy remains. On this Memorial Day, remember those Continental Army soldiers, like the soldiers of the 1st Pennsylvania Battalion, who were among the first in our nation’s history to give their lives for their country’s freedom.

Featured image: original Victory Girls art by Darleen Click