Sackets Harbor’s Horse Island: A Shared Heritage

Sackets Harbor’s strategic location on the eastern end of Lake Ontario made it the only possible site for the American military command during the War of 1812.

This natural harbor, located in Haudenosaunee territory, became a hub of activity for shipbuilding drawing thousands of personnel and a place to amass war materiel. So, in Northern New York, Sackets Harbor became the site of both offensive and defensive actions during the war years.

Horse Island, linked to Sackets Harbor’s mainland by a submerged causeway, played a significant role in the May 29, 1813 Battle of Sackets Harbor. Later, lighthouse keepers and their families called it home on Black River Bay.

The National Park Service designated Sackets Harbor as one of the “top two War of 1812 sites” in the nation due to the 1813 battle results and today continued threat to battlegrounds development.

In 2017, the American Battlefield Trust recognized the island’s multi-national significance and made the island and mainland parcel their first War of 1812 acquisitions in the country. Consequently, now New York State Parks holds a unique island central to “Our Whole Heritage.”

Indigenous People hunted and fished the eastern shore of Lake Ontario, today Ka-hen-gouet-ta  is a Native American Pathway Archeological District.

The lake, as a thoroughfare, allowed early cultures of the Late Woodland and Iroquois cultures to exchange ideas as they traveled the waterways. Lake Ontario is an environment where the Onondaga (Onyota’a:ka) people lived, fished, hunted and gathered for thousands of years.

Several years ago, Joseph J. Heath, Esq., Onondaga Nation General Counsel said:  “The cultural, spiritual, historic, archeological and environmental connections of the Onondaga Nation and the Haudenosaunee to Lake Ontario and its eastern shore is undeniable; but, unfortunately, it is not currently well known.”

We do not know how the 24-acre egg-shaped Horse Island got its name.

War of 1812 History

As settlers arrived at Mr. Sacket’s harbor, Thomas L. Ogden owned the island. Squire Read’s farm, located on the mainland opposite Horse Island, was ground zero in the spring of 1813. Consequently, both the United States and enemy forces destroyed his farm, home, ashery and the premises. For years Squire Read’s descendants tried to claim compensation for damages from the federal government.

Fortunately, in addition to a recent cultural resources survey on the island, there exists many primary historical documents recounting the battle in the form of diaries, letters, military logs, and published recollections.

Before dawn on May 29, 1813, the British/Canadian 33 troop-laden bateaux and birch canoes of the Mohawk and Mississauga moved toward the Sackets Harbor mainland directly southwest of Horse Island, precisely as the Americans had anticipated.

About three weeks prior, several hundred men of the Albany Volunteers under Colonel John Mills established “Camp Volunteer” to defend the island, and there were men and a six pounder cannon on the mainland shore northeast of that importance submerged causeway. Joining Mills on the island Captain Kellogg’s’ Volunteer Artillery Company positioned their one six pounder cannon.

On the fateful May date, Brigadier General Jacob Brown commanded the NY Militia and Volunteers. He positioned two Lieutenant Colonels, Tuttle and Sprague with their militia battalions along the shore of the mainland, southwest of the causeway.

Two British gunboats led in the 4 am assault force, providing covering fire for the amphibious assault. Detected by the Americans, these boats received devastating musket and cannon shot.  The landing plan changed to the north side of the island after the invading forces sustained many casualties.

With the Crown Forces, Canadian Voltigeur Jacques Viger reported, “We were advancing slowly and with little noise along the canal which divides Horse Island from the mainland, [the causeway] thinking about taking the enemy by surprise! – when, perfectly awake and on guard, we found it [the militia] scattered over the two shores and posted behind the trees which border them.”

He describes the two shores as on the island and mainland. This is a critical juncture as the battle enfolds.

Once on the island, the British quickly drove the Volunteers to the mainland with Colonel Edward Baynes ordering a bayonet charge across the causeway, led by the 100th Regiment of Foot, along with elements of the Royal Scots, and the 8th Regiment of Foot.

On the mainland shore at the causeway, General Brown’s militia fired one volley before they abandoned the Albany Volunteers to face the brunt of the British charge alone. Consequently, Lt. Col. Mills was killed in the assault’s supporting fire from two British gunboats.

Next, Major John Herkimer assumed command. After his troops fired four musket volleys into the British column, a tactical withdrawal began to link up with the American regulars to the northeast.

After about a three-hour engagement, the invaders retreated, again making use of Horse Island where they took time to help themselves in the abandoned Camp Volunteer.

The island’s importance included a British casualty treatment and evacuation point on the southeast side by the causeway where Canadian Voltigeurs surgeon Dr. Toussaint Casimir Truteau tended the crown forces wounded and dying, eventually in late afternoon loading the wounded onto boats for the return trip to Kingston, in Upper Canada.

Today, military “staff rides” are common at the historic site, following along the battle route, stopping at the island’s mainland shore. Here, soldiers study the terrain and logistics for “lessons learned.”

19th Century & Lighthouse History

Over the next two hundred years, despite changes and improvements to the facilities at Sackets Harbor, in-and-around the harbor, there appears to have been little in the way of major improvements on Horse Island where the landing and troop movement focused on the opposite mainland shore.

Of interest is a railroad depot plan proposed in 1853. Here is a map showing an extensive railroad rail shipping complex where rail lines would have crossed from the mainland to a series of wharves where vessels would loan-and-unload freight. Fortunately, that plan didn’t materialize.

In 2017, the American Battlefield Trust bought the island and mainland property from the Martin family, the Trust’s first War of 1812 battlegrounds land purchased in the country.

Subsequently the land became part of the NYS Parks system.

After a more lasting peace had been achieved, in 1831 Ogden sold the island to the federal government for $500, where they built a $4,000 lighthouse with a beacon which could be seen 13 miles away.

Samuel McNitt was a Captain with the militia during the May 29, 1813 conflict and became the lighthouse keeper between 1835 and 1860.

The light was upgraded in 1857 with a fifth-order Fresnel lens. In 1870, a new brick structure replaced the lighthouse, just 300 yards southeast of its predecessor.

The lighthouse’s square tower received a ten-foot addition in 1899, raising it to fifty-five-and-a-half feet.

The list of later head light keepers includes Lorenzo R. Root (1843 – 1844); Orvis Westcott (1860 – 1861);  J. McFarlane (1861 – 1866); Nelson Meeks (1866 – 1883); Civil War veteran Horace G. Holloway (1884 – 1909, he passed away in May 1920 at the age of eighty-four; George H. Ward (1909 – 1926), whose wife was the daughter of Holloway, rescued people when a boat struck the island in 1918; and Schuyler Simmons (1926-1933).

After his death Simmons’ wife Julia farmed the tillable 17 acres.  She kept a horse, a cow, a young bull that was as “friendly as a housedog,” and a flock of Plymouth Rock chickens that were said to be so tame they would perch on her shoulders.

In 1925, the light changed from a fixed oil light to an automated flashing acetylene light.

The following year the lake water level was so low, that vehicles could be driven across the causeway to-and-from the island. The roadway may have existed earlier. But we know of a teenager around 1929, hired to work with other young men building up the causeway road with rocks from the lake bottom.

In 1957-58 an automated light on a Coast Guard metal skeletal tower replaced the function of the lighthouse. The island was sold in December 1958 by the General Services Administration to the Carl Martin family. At that time a bird sanctuary was proposed.

Archeology

In 2019 the National Park Service American Battlefield Protection Program funded a detailed historical and military terrain analysis of the island by SUNY-Binghamton’s Public Archaeology Facility. The goal of the archaeology survey was to identify the location of principle sites such as the British landing, along with any engagement between British and Americans on the island.

Just over two hundred years after the battle, archaeologists reported evidence clearly indicating Americans and British sniped at each other prior to British forces landing on-and-near the island, while the Americans were withdrawing as planned, and the British advancing over the causeway.

The archaeologists used a KOCOA analysis tool that seeks to see a battle commander’s view of the battlefield. KOCOA stands for Key terrain, Observation and fields of fire, Cover and concealment, Obstacles, and Avenues of approach/withdrawal.

The report states the following:

“The American resistance and eventual withdrawal from Horse Island is documented in the primary accounts from both the British and American view point . . . . and today the position of dropped British 0.68 and 0.69 caliber lead balls and fired American 0.64 caliber lead balls.

“The recovered lead balls indicate what the primary documents recorded. The British force landed on the north and northeastern shore of the island. The clustering of American dropped lead balls here shows Americans attempted to resist.

“The position of British dropped lead balls near the landing area indicates the landing was successful and the British firing line established, and pushed the Albany Volunteers southeast towards the causeway, off the island.

“A single British dropped musket ball on the western side of the island and two fired American lead balls may represent British skirmishers along the British right flank clearing the Americans from the island.

“British dropped balls funnel towards the causeway as they began the advance to the main shoreline.”

Overall, using primary documents and today’s archaeology methods such as KOCOA we learn:

“During the retreat Captain Jacques Viger, Provincial Corps of Light Infantry (Canadian Voltigeurs), noted that an American camp with tents was discovered and pillaged by British forces before embarking on their boats to return to the British fleet (Viger 1963).

“American Private Balthaser Kramer wrote to his wife that the Albany Volunteers had lost their clothing and belongings when they had retreated from the island (Kramer 1813). The campsite is a defining feature of Horse Island.

“GIS military analysis applications provided an interpretive model of British gunboat firing positions during the approach prior to the troop landings on Horse Island, the American firing positions on the island and their range of fire, the approximate locations of disembarking British troops, and predicted American rifle positions on the main shore flanking the causeway.”

Great Lakes Underwater Sanctuary

The Sackets Harbor Battlefield State Historic Site falls within NOAA’s proposed Great Lakes National Marine Sanctuaries plan. The Sackets Harbor region boasts a long history of human engagement with the maritime environment. The State Historic Site specifically interprets the tumultuous early history of our nation and the War of 1812.

Results from archaeologically surveying the mainland, Horse Island, and past offshore underwater areas support research and contributes to the understanding of the 1813 Second Battle of Sackets Harbor. These archaeology / cultural resources surveys contribute to ongoing scholarship and offer additional opportunities for site visitors and community members.

The island’s natural environment remains relatively undisturbed with little public access during private ownership from 1957 to 2017.

Geologically, Horse Island and its mainland connection “bridge the divide” between nature and culture. Here geology, human history and climate converge creating this diverse habitat.

The island offers exceptional birdwatching for eagles, kingfisher, plover, and mallards.  Recently, I watched two bald eagles sparring over the island before calmly flying in tandem toward Henderson Bay.

Each aspect of the landscape – cultural, environmental, and physical – is interrelated. In the maritime cultural landscape individual sites are treated as features within the larger landscape. These individual places make up a larger region. The link between the land and water, between prehistoric and historic provide a different way of looking at a place simply called Horse island.

Archaeologist Ben Ford’s work on coastal archaeology is a good source to explore this topic.

A planned environmental management approach will protect native habitats, biodiversity, and freshwater resources. This dovetails perfectly with the NYS Parks goal to manage the island for recreational use while preserving cultural (archaeology) and historic resources (the lighthouse keeper’s home).

This outdoor experience can be explored on preserved land open to the public. The island and contiguous mainland property connect us all to our shared heritage. A place of delight, adventure, curiosity, and beauty.

Recently, Chief Laurie Carr, visited the Horse Island mainland rocky shore where she placed tobacco, recognizing this significant place of her ancestors.

Chief Carr is from the Mississaugas of Rice Lake/ Hiawatha Nation (Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg), in the Mississauga Anishinaabeg territory in Ontario, Canada.

Her gesture at the Horse Island mainland end of the causeway speaks to the Hiawatha First Nation Values Statement which ends with this notion:  “ a healthy way of life through the teachings passed down from Ancestors.”

A perfect example of “Our Shared Heritage and Our Shared Future.”

Illustrations, from above: US Navy base at Sackets Harbor, NY, 1814; a map of the Battle of Sackets Harbor, May 29 1813 (American Battlefield Trust); the Horse Island Lighthouse in 1885 (National Archives); and Sackets Harbor in the 19th century.