Abbott will bring war to life Oct. 21

NORTH CANAAN — Tim Abbott, a Revolutionary War living historian with the 1st New Jersey Regiment, will give a presentation at the Douglas Library Friday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m.Abbott is a North Canaan resident and a Nature’s Notebook columnist for The Journal.He will appear in the dress of a Continental soldier and talk about his effort to document the route and encampments of British and German prisoners who marched under guard through Connecticut in November 1778. The men surrendered with Burgoyne at Saratoga, and under the Articles of Convention were to be detained in Boston briefly before being shipped back to Europe, and pledging not to serve again in America during the war. Instead, they were kept for more than a year in Massachusetts while Congress and England wrangled over their status. Ultimately, the so-called Convention Army made a winter march of more than 700 miles from Massachusetts to internment in Virginia, passing through north-central and northwestern Connecticut in late-November 1778 with both Continental army and militia escorts. The event is free. For more information call 860-824-7863.