The year 1777 was a busy one in the American colonies.

The Revolutionary War was under way, and battles raged across the colonies. Recent American victories in New Jersey were overshadowed by the capture of Philadelphia by the British forces.

Upstate New York was no different, as the region saw most of the fighting between American and British forces during 1777, according to local historian Charles Snyder.

Snyder will tell the story Saturday of one of the gutsiest military stands in the region, let alone the war. In August 1777, Fort Stanwix held off a siege by the British army that was part of a three-pronged campaign to split American forces in New York.

“If these three (forces) got together in Albany, it would have divided the whole state,” Snyder said. “It didn't work out that way.”

During a free lecture at the Morgan Opera House in Aurora, Snyder will tell of the American stand at the fort, located in Rome, and how it affected the outcome of the war.

Snyder, a former history teacher and principal at Southern Cayuga Central School High School, has been giving historical lectures at the opera house for many years. This is the first time he has given an account of the American Revolution.

Most of his presentations have been on the American Civil War, he said. But the two famous conflicts are more similar than a lot of people think, Snyder said.

“The Revolutionary War was even more of a brothers' war than perhaps the Civil War,” he said. “Family after family was divided by those who came with the king and those who stayed with the Americans.”

Mary Ellen Ormiston, who runs the Morgan Opera House, said Snyder's presentations fall right in line with the venue's mission - to provide a variety of history, theater and children's programs that include both local and imported talent on the amateur and professional level.

Snyder's lectures are always popular, and this year's topic offers a little more local interest than those in the past, she said.

“Certainly Fort Stanwix is closer to us than Gettysburg,” Ormiston said.

Snyder said he chose the topic after doing some research into the revolution. The year was active through the colonies, and the campaign in upstate New York included some of the only battles in the region between the British and American forces, he said.

But don't expect play-by-play military analysis, Snyder said. Audiences tend to enjoy stories about the personalities in such battles, according to Snyder.

“Unless they are historians, most people prefer the storytelling,” he said. “People who come out to the talks are interested in finding out information they had not encountered before.”

Staff writer Christopher Caskey can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or christopher.caskey@lee.net.

If you go:

What: Surprise at Fort Stanwix

When: 2 p.m. Sunday, June 29

Where: Morgan Opera House, Route 90 and Cherry Ave., Aurora

Cost: Free

Info: Call 364-5437 or visit www.nps.gov/fost for more information on Fort Stanwix.