History at the Old Stone Fort - Regiment Button & Surveyor’s Chain

British King's 8th Regiment Button

Found in 1905 at Fort Erie, this button was donated by Donald A. Keefer and sent to us by the Old Stone Fort’s Clay Edmunds. Detachments (small units) from the British King's 8th Regiment were associated with Butler's Rangers and Johnson's Greens during raids in the Mohawk and Schoharie Valleys during the Revolutionary War. The regiment was also present at the Battle of Oriskany and later served in Canada during the War of 1812.

Surveyor's Chain

This 19th-century measuring chain is 33 feet long, equivalent to two rods, and was typically paired with a second chain to create a full 66-foot surveyor's chain, the standard unit of land measurement at the time. Eighty of these full-length chains equal one mile. This example consists of 50 metal links, each measuring just under eight inches in length, reflecting the precision tools used by early surveyors to map and divide land.