Chris: what makes
you think it was a "shield"? Besides, it's hard to imagine something of that
sort being made of cast iron. It must weigh a ton. Actually, from your picture,
it looks like a fireback -- a piece of metal, often cast iron, put in the rear
of a fireplace to radiate heat into the room. -Ted
Burrows
Hello,
I would like to ask a
question to the NY History List
with regard to British Military history
during the American
Revolution.
While working on an archaeological
site in Brooklyn, New York,
the Hendrick I. Lott farmstead, a rather
large, approximately
5 feet long by almost 3 feet wide, cast iron shield
was cataloged.
Family tradition says that this shield was absconded
from Lord
Cornwallis as he, and his troops, marched down The Kings
Highway (modern day Kings Highway) that butted the Lott
farmstead. The family obtained his shield during the march and
kept is as a trophy and a symbol of this particular Dutch family s
resistance to the British Monarch during this period.
Of course we
can only take oral history as a starting point.
However, none of us
associated with the Brooklyn College
Archaeological Research Center has
any experience with British
Military shields from this time
period.
Does anyone out there have information with regard to this
subject?
Or, can you direct us to someone who may be able to help us
authenticate this find? If it is Cornwallis shield, it will be a
major
discovery for not only the project, but with regard to the issues of
Dutch resistance during the Revolution.
I have put a rather poor
jpeg image of the shield up on a
separate web page for anyone who may be
interested in it.
The web page is:
http://www.lotthouse.org/shield.jpg
Thank you for
any help with regard to this issue.
Regards,
Chris Ricciardi