Sackets Harbor - Fall 1814

Before the War of 1812, Sackets Harbor had no defenses. By the fall of 1814, the combined efforts of the Army, Navy, Marines, and militia had made it one of the most heavily fortified sites in North America. Land defenses were built to protect the village and Navy Yard from a British raiding party that might land some distance away and proceed along the lake shore or through the woods to the village. Mortars fired explosive shells at a steep angle to land inside an enemy fort or onto the deck of a ship. Carronades were short-range weapons firing 12 to 68 pound solid iron balls, grape, or canister shot against enemy troops. Fortress cannon, weighing up to 6,500 pounds, fired 9 to 32 pound solid iron balls to an effective range of about a mile, and often fired balls heated red hot to set ships on fire. Water defenses were built to keep British warships from directly attacking the village or entering Black River Bay.

Sackets Harbor, New York · United States