Local historian's War of 1812 book inspires docuseries

Jul. 23—SACKETS HARBOR — A book that was written by a local historian about the War of 1812 is being turned into a docuseries by the author's son.

Patrick Wilder wrote a book titled The Battle of Sackett's Harbour: We Will Not Conquer Canada this Year; fast forward years later, and his son, Hans Wilder, is in the process of making a docuseries that will be put on free platforms such as YouTube, Tubi and Pluto TV.

Amazon lists the book as being published by Nautical & Aviation Pub. Co. of America; First Edition on Jan. 1, 1994.

Hans said they will be going chapter-by-chapter of the 16 chapters, plus a forward, and each chapter will have its own 35- to 40-minute episode. He said they expect to have it completed next January.

They started work on the docuseries a few months back, and they have completed Chapter 5.

The elder Wilder held an event in Henderson recently to teach the public about the north country's rich history during the War of 1812 near what is known now as Association Island.

The event drew about 20 people, said Elaine J. Scott, recording secretary for the Henderson Historical Society.

"It was very interesting because we didn't know," she said.

American and British troops were both headed to Sackets Harbor with the Americans coming from Oswego and the British coming from Kingston, Ontario.

They had run into each other the day before the Battle at Sackets Harbor.

The Americans were in military Durham boats coming from Oswego while the British had a fleet at Kingston that they were going to use to attack Sackets Harbor.

Hans Wilder said American troops were going from Oswego by boat on the shoreline of Lake Ontario trying to get to Sackets Harbor.

"(The Americans) were interjected by the fleet that was going to Sackets Harbor, who just happened to stumble across them running along the shore," he said.

After that, they went into the woods on Stoney Point.

"And that's where the battle ensued," he said.

Hans Wilder said that these were reinforcements that were going to Sackets Harbor.

The elder Wilder said that a "huge ship" to be named "The Goliath" was under construction at Sackets Harbor. The ship would've been the largest on Lake Ontario at that time once it was built and launched, and the British knew this ship was under construction. But what they didn't know was how far along the boat was.

When Commodore Isaac Chauncey and three of his other men went to the other end of the lake in order to attack Fort George, a man named Samuel Stacy went to Sackets Harbor.

Stacy, who was originally from Ogdensburg, was an American but sided with the British. He looked for the fleet, but saw that it was gone. Then, he quickly went to Kingston and informed Sir James Lucas Yeo, a British naval commander, that the Americans were at the other end of the lake, and that he thought it would be a good time to attack and destroy the new ship.

The British thought that was a good idea and the Governor General of Canada Sir George Prevost, who was also in Kingston, ordered to get the men together on the ships to conduct a coup against the American base of Sackets Harbor.

Wilder said that a little more than half of the British force consisted of Canadians, as they supported the British.

In Henderson, around Stoney Point, the British on board the ships had sent Native Americans to get American soldiers.

"They tracked him down and killed many of them out in the forests, around Stoney Point, and just left them there," the elder Wilder said.

He also said the bodies may never be found.

"But, however, it might be possible to find some accoutrements of some sort, but even that would be very sketchy," he said.

Wilder said they were just left on land.

"I dare say the Indians probably scalped a good number of them, too," he said.

The British people likely weren't scalped, Hans Wilder said, as they were left to decay.

Patrick Wilder said that the fight in Henderson took place in the neighborhood of Association Island in a gravelly area.

Wilder said two Native Americans were killed; one died on land while the other died of his wounds on the ship.

He added that some of the participants said they saw the Native Americans use a shovel to dig a spot in the gravel. They then put their fellow Native Americans into it and covered them up.

"Each one took a handful of sand and put on him as a gesture of goodbye," he said.

However, what initially started the war, Wilder said, was that the United States wanted to take Canada. Other factors included the British wanting to stop the westward American migration towards Michigan and Indiana, and continuing westward.

The Battle in Sackets Harbor caused the Americans to not be able to conquer Canada that year, hence the name of Wilder's book.

All in all, Wilder said the war simply came to an end due to exhaustion.

He said that after Napoleon Bonaparte lost at Waterloo, he was finished.

As for how Wilder stumbled on the story of what happened in Henderson, he said he got into North American military activities, and had learned about the Battle at Sackets Harbor.

When he was in Julius Maximilian University in Germany in 1967, the history professor was teaching the class about the War of 1812. He then began to dig and looked through the United States archives in Washington D.C. to find out what he could about the war.

In total, between 250 and 300 soldiers died in Henderson and Sackets Harbor combined in the two days the fights took place.