STILLWATER — The LaPidus children of Clifton Park had a good reason for being excited about seeing on Saturday the old cannon returned — albeit, if temporarily — to Saratoga National Historical Park.

One of their ancestors fought at the battle where the historic British war implement was captured by American colonists fighting during the American Revolution.

Steven LaPidus said his family discovered about five years ago that Sarah and Jacob are related to Pieter Ouderkirk through their mother’s side. The youngsters joined the Bemis Heights chapter of Children of the American Revolution (CAR), youngsters’ version of Daughters of the American Revolution and Sons of the American Revolution.

They also participate in re-enacting as a family with the Second Albany Militia, of which Steven LaPidus is a member.

“We spend lots of time going out and camping on the weekends,” Sarah LaPidus, 12, said.

The British cannon was celebrated during a ceremony at the site where it was used during the Battles of Saratoga on Oct. 7, 1777.

The date’s particular battle was the one in which Benedict Arnold was hailed as a hero for his work in the assault that led to the cannon’s capture.

After the war, the cannon was engraved with the date of the battle and has a blank space where Arnold’s name would have been had he not switched allegiances to the British. It reads, “Taken at the storm of the British line near Saratoga by _____ October 7, 1777.”

The cannon later was used during the War of 1812 and is owned by the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center in Fremont, Ohio. It is on loan to the Saratoga National Historical Park, where it will be on display in the Visitor Center until the end of December.

On Saturday, the cannon sat in the spot where one of two cannons were positioned behind British lines. Archeologists have determined where the cannons sat, said Chris Robinson, curator for the historical park.

About 90 people attended the ceremony for the cannon, 231 years after its capture.

A reproduction cannon was fired during the ceremony, which featured a ceremonial “capture” by re-enactors portraying American troops. Flowers also were laid to remember soldiers on both sides that died during the battle.

German troops were among those that died, Robinson said.

“This particular spot was a spot that was manned by German troops,” she said as she stood by the cannon.

Nearby, Loyalists — colonists who sided with the British — had their fort, as well as French-Canadians who fought on the British side.

“It was kind of a motley assortment of people speaking different languages,” Robinson said.

Conducting re-enactments and seeing where history happened is a valuable lesson to children, Steven LaPidus said. “I can guarantee that they — just through the CAR and through re-enacting — learn more about history than they do at school.”

Jacob LaPidus, 8, knows the steps to lighting a cannon, and can recite them. “All of a sudden, when it burns down into the hole, BOOM! The cannon goes off,” he said. “You don’t want to be near this thing when it goes off.”