When unmarked graves were discovered during construction in Lake George, NY, it set in motion a multiyear effort to recover, study, and honor dozens of individuals from the American Revolution. Buttons from a single uniform tied the burying ground to a hospital established at Fort George in 1776 to treat victims of smallpox returning from a failed campaign to take control of Quebec. Hundreds died and were buried in a place that was forgotten until 2019. 250 years after they were laid to rest, the remains of at least 44 individuals were respectfully reinterred at Fort George in a community-led memorial service following a procession from Albany by Patriot Guard Riders, members of the NY-Penn Military Vehicles Collectors Club, and state and local law enforcement. Lisa Anderson is a Research Associate at the New York State Museum where, until retirement, she served as Curator of Bioarchaeology. She co-directed the recovery and study of Revolutionary War remains from the Courtland Street Burying Ground in Lake George, NY, and worked with Indigenous Nations, law enforcement, and landowners on other inadvertent discoveries of human remains under the 2023 NYS Unmarked Burial Site Protection Act.

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