It is hard to believe that this tiny village in upstate New York once was an active naval base and the site of major warship construction. Sackets Harbor today is a community of about 1,400 souls, unconnected to the outside world by transportation and free of strip malls and fast-food outlets. It feels like another time.
The village began in 1801 when New York lawyer Augustus Sacket established himself on the shore of a little cove on the east coast of Lake Ontario, not far from the Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence River, to create a trading center for the burgeoning economy of this frontier region. Sacket realized some success, so much so that the Army stationed troops there in 1808 to stop smuggling, and the Navy commissioned a warship in support, the newly built brig USS Oneida (16 guns).
The War of 1812 began on Lake Ontario on 19 July, when five units of the Canadian Provincial Marines attacked the harbor. The Oneida, together with cannon in crude fortifications ashore, caused the British to withdraw with nothing to show for their effort. Commodore Isaac Chauncey, ordered to command naval efforts on lakes Ontario and Erie, late that year cobbled together a makeshift squadron, largely of armed merchantmen. Master shipbuilder Henry Eckford was contracted to undertake conversions and new construction.
On 27 April 1813, in a joint operation with an Army force under Brigadier General Zebulon Pike, Commodore Chauncey assaulted York, present-day Toronto. Pike died in the otherwise successful raid. The British response came while Chauncey was supporting an operation at the other end of the lake.
The Battle of Sackets Harbor began when a force appeared off the hamlet late on 28 May. The British forfeited the element of surprise, and, when they landed the next morning, were greeted by a hail of fire. Although they gained the southern edge of the village, confusing orders soon had the invaders fighting back to their boats, suffering almost 400 killed and wounded.
Sackets Harbor was never again threatened, yet warship construction continued. Eckford built the 44-gun frigate Superior in 1814, and the next January laid down two ships-of-the-line. News of the war’s end stopped all work in March. By June, Chauncey’s force had been placed in ordinary, the men discharged or reassigned, and the hamlet resumed its tranquil pace. By 1825, the squadron was no more, and only the two incomplete liners remained. In 1833, one was sold for scrap, but the other, to have been named New Orleans, remained until being scrapped in 1883. Although no naval personnel remained in the area, the Navy continued to own the station until 1955, when the property was turned over to the State of New York.
Today, one can stand at the lower end of Augustus Sacket’s front lawn (his house is now the village visitors’ center) and imagine the hulking presence of the Superior being built just across the street, literally. In the distance is the spit where, for nearly seven decades, an incomplete ship-of-the-line dominated the view.
The Sackets Harbor Battlefield State Historic Park includes the mid-19th- century quarters of the commandant and sailing master and a small, modem museum interpreting the site. A guided tour of the commandant’s house is available, and site headquarters and a small gift shop occupy the sailing master’s quarters. The site’s minuscule staff is well supported by an organization known as the Battlefield Alliance. This includes not only volunteer guides but also a small Marine guard of reenactors usually in evidence on weekends and researchers and archeologists who continue to uncover artifacts.
The approaching bicentennial of the War of 1812 has people on both sides of the border planning for re-enactments of the abortive Provincial Marine raid, the American raid on York, and the British assault on Sackets Harbor. The dates for these events have been set as 19 July 2012, 27 April, and 29 May 2013.
The site is open from Memorial Day to Columbus Day. Hours until Labor Day are 1000 to 1700 Monday through Saturday, and 1100 to 1700 on Sundays. Between Labor Day and Columbus Day, the site is open only on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays during the same hours. Admission is $3 for adults and $2 for children 13 to 21 with identification. New York senior citizens (over 62), military, and children 12 and under are admitted free. For groups of 15 or more, the charge is $2 per person.
The site can be contacted at (315) 646-3634, on the Web at www.sacketsharborbattlefield.org, or by mail at Box 27, 505 West Washington Street, Sackets Harbor, NY 13685. To reach the site by car, take Exit 45 West off Interstate 81 four miles to New York Route 3, turn right and follow signs.