Originally Posted by Maggie Drawers

Gizamo - I am delighted that you like that article. The latest "Journal of Military History" [Oct. 2010] has an article of mine on Timothy Murphy at Saratoga. In that article I believe I conclusively prove that Murphy did not kill Simon Fraser. I traced the "history" of the Murphy story and unfortunately it originated in the 1850's - in his own lifetime Murphy was not credited with making the shot. Historians have simply parrotted the Murphy story for 150 years. Also, there is the question of ballistics of a roundball at great distances and the unsurmountable problems with making such a shot which apparently had not been considered before.
But! History is never set in stone - it is constantly evolving as new information comes to light or we see old information in new ways.
Hugh Harrington