Nearly 250 years after they died during the American Revolution, dozens of soldiers have finally begun their journey home.

This morning, a solemn motorcade carrying the remains of 44 Revolutionary War-era individuals traveled from Albany toward Lake George Battlefield Park as part of the “Repose of the Fallen” project. The procession included vintage military vehicles and a motorcycle escort honoring soldiers believed to have died during the disastrous 1775 to 1776 Quebec Campaign.

The remains were first discovered in 2019 during construction work on Courtland Street in Lake George, where archaeologists uncovered a forgotten cemetery connected to the Continental Army’s smallpox hospital at nearby Fort George.

Researchers with the New York State Museum spent years carefully recovering shattered skeletal remains from the site, even sifting through piles of excavated dirt bucket by bucket with the help of hundreds of volunteers. Investigators eventually identified at least 44 individuals, many believed to be teenage soldiers and young men in their early 20s. Two children were also discovered, likely family members traveling with the army.

One of the biggest clues tying the burial ground to the Revolutionary War was the discovery of a brass military button from the 1st Pennsylvania Battalion, a unit known to have fought during the Quebec Campaign.

Historians say thousands of Continental soldiers passed through the Lake George hospital during a devastating smallpox outbreak in 1776, with as many as 1,000 dying there alone.

The soldiers will be laid to rest Friday during a public reinterment ceremony at the new “Repose of the Fallen” memorial plaza overlooking Lake George. The memorial includes interpretive signs, seating areas, and secured columbaria designed as a permanent resting place for the recovered remains.

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The project has also gained attention for the forensic facial reconstruction created by Jenny Kenyon, giving modern New Yorkers a rare face-to-face connection with one of the young patriots lost nearly two and a half centuries ago.

Officials say preserved DNA samples and excavation records may someday help reveal even more about who these soldiers were and where they came from.