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Photo Diary: Sackets Harbor Battlefield State Park, New York [1]
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Date: 2022-07-20
The Battle of Sackets Harbor, during the War of 1812, was an attempt by the British to destroy the American naval base on Lake Ontario. The British failed in their goal—but the United States sailors accomplished it for them.
For those who don't know, I live in a converted campervan and travel around the country, posting photo diaries of places that I visit. I am currently in New York.
Although the British were stung by their loss at Fort George in 1813, General Sir George Prevost, the Royal Governor of Canada, immediately recognized that by moving their fleet and most of their troops to attack the Fort, the Americans had left their own important base at Sackets Harbor only weakly defended.
Prevost moved quickly to take advantage. On May 27, as the fighting at Fort George was still going on, a force of six ships commanded by Captain James Yeo and 900 infantrymen led by Colonel Edward Baynes left Kingston for Sackets Harbor. Although the wind was against them and they managed only slow progress, Yeo’s fleet managed a victory before they even arrived: they intercepted 12 small boats carrying 150 American reinforcements of the 9th and 21st Regiments from Oswego to Sackets, and captured nearly all of them.
Just before sunrise on May 29, the British landed at Horse Island and advanced on the Americans. Sackets Harbor was defended by 400 Regulars, 250 volunteers from Albany, and 550 local militia commanded by General Jacob Brown. The Americans, who were still expecting more militia reinforcements, adopted the tactic of forming a succession of defensive lines which fought a delaying action and then fell back, although the first line of American militia broke and ran, and had to be rallied back into place by General Brown.
At one point, the British managed to capture a hill from the Albany militia with three cannons, but there were no cannoneers available to use them. At another point, the British managed to get close to the American forts in the harbor, but lacked any ready cannons to break down the walls. Meanwhile, American cannon fire from these forts was halting the British advance.
The British ships, all this time, were still being hampered by unfavorable winds which prevented them from approaching within cannon range to bombard the defensive forts. Eventually, however, one ship, the 16-gun sloop HMS Beresford, got close enough to open fire. Some of her cannon shots, moreover, passed right over the American forts and exploded in the shipyard beyond. The officer in charge there, mistakenly believing that the last fort had fallen and fearing that Sackets Harbor would be captured, set fire to the shipyard and all its supplies, including the half-finished sloop USS General Pike.
But as militia units continued to arrive from the surrounding countryside, the Americans steadily gained the advantage. The Canadians had already lost almost a fourth of their number to casualties. British intelligence reports, meanwhile, exaggerated the number of US militia as they arrived and Baynes now mistakenly assumed that he was heavily outnumbered. Yeo was in turn hesitant to remain in case the American fleet would return from Fort George. As a result, Prevost ordered them to withdraw.
Neither side had a clear win. Had the British continued their attack, they likely would have taken the harbor and found themselves in undisputed control of Lake Ontario. Instead, they boarded their ships and sailed away. They had lost over 250 casualties to 150 for the Americans. The US, however, had burned its own supplies and shipbuilding docks (though the General Pike was saved), and the raid caused the US Navy to remain close to the harbor to protect it, which crippled later American operations in the area. For the rest of the war, the Americans and British on Lake Ontario would engage in tit-for-tat ship-building, with each trying unsuccessfully to gain a decisive advantage over the other. Neither side, though, would risk their fleet in actual combat.
The militia General Brown’s defense of Sackets Harbor, however, earned him a commission as a General in the Regular Army, and he would become one of the best US commanders of the War.
Today, the site is preserved as the Sackets Harbor Battlefield State Historic Site, which houses a small museum and an interpretive trail that winds around the battleground. The American Battlefield Trust has acquired another 25 acres of the battleground. In 1816, to strengthen the US/Canadian border, the US Army constructed Madison Barracks at Sackets Harbor, and later built Fort Drum a few miles distance away. These sites are also preserved.
Some photos from a visit.
The park
Lake Ontario. That’s Canada way off in the distance.
The British landed here on Horse Island and marched across the narrow neck of land connecting it to the mainland
Approaching the American lines. The British halted here for a short time to study the American defenses.
This 32-pounder naval cannon marks the position of Fort Kentucky, the first of several small American forts that ran along the shoreline
Fort Tompkins was located here, at the mouth of the harbor. The Brits were halted here by intense fire.
The British objective was to destroy the American ships and supplies here in the Harbor
Memorial stone
Another memorial
Re-enactor on hand to answer questions and describe the battle
The Commandant’s House, built in 1847
The Lieutenant’s House. Also built in 1847, it serves now as the Visitors Center
A 6-pounder cannon recovered from the harbor
Iron wedge used to push waterproofing caulk between the planks of a ship during construction
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