Archeology and the Second Battle of Sackets Harbor: Why the Militia Deserves Its

Join archeologist Matthew Kirk to discover how his findings at the Sackets Harbor battlefield contradict the written records of the 1813 battle. During the War of 1812, Sackets Harbor served as the principal American shipbuilding facility on Lake Ontario. A rag-tag team of volunteers, militia, and American regulars repulsed attacking British-Canadian forces in May 1813. The battle left numerous casualties, American ships and stores burned, and no clear victor. Later testimonies placed some of the blame for British advances on the American volunteers who "rose from their cover and fled." Metal detecting and later high-tech analyses of the battlefield artifacts provide archeological evidence at odds with the historical record. This program will illustrate the history of the battle, the archeological fieldwork and analysis, and the recovered artifacts. Matthew Kirk is a trained archeologist and the Principal Investigator with Hartgen Archeological Associates, Inc.

This program, which is free and open to the public, is made possible through the support of the New York Council for the Humanities’ Speakers in the Humanities program. The lecture will be at the Geneva Historical Society at 543 South Main Street in Geneva, NY. For more information call the Geneva Historical Society at 315-789-5151.