This image is the cover for the book Battles at Plattsburgh: September 11, 1814

Battles at Plattsburgh: September 11, 1814

Both Roosevelt and Churchill recognized the importance of the land and naval battles of Plattsburgh. Many other, more famous, engagements were ruses meant to divert U.S. troops away from the prize Plattsburgh would afford: a clear pathway into New England. If not for the exemplary skills of two young military officers, Commodore Macdonough and General Macomb, and the force they commanded, regular army and naval personnel, New York and Vermont Militia, Native Americans, Veteran Exempts and boys from the local school, the war and the nation would have been lost. Using original source documents, author Keith Herkalo retells the battles at Plattsburgh, the key battles of the War of 1812.

Keith A. Herkalo, Donald E. Graves

Keith Herkalo was born in Plattsburgh, New York, in 1948 and raised in Philadelphia and Plattsburgh (the family summered in Plattsburgh every year). After more than a decade in the military and an additional decade working for military equipment development firms in the Washington, D.C. area, he returned with his family to Plattsburgh (the proverbial return to Woebegon). It was then that he became more interested in Plattsburgh's history and specifically Plattsburgh's involvement in the War of 1812. He is an amateur historian who is the research catalyst behind the archaeological rediscovery of the 1812 camp known as Pike's Cantonment, the editor of The Journal of H.K. Averill, Sr.: An account of the Battle of Plattsburgh and Early North Country Community, has authored numerous local history articles and has been a frequent speaker in local history venues for many years. He is the city clerk of Plattsburgh; a founding member and current president of the Battle of Plattsburgh Association; a musician, theater buff, boat builder, sailor, diver, woodworker, plaster restorer and an 1812-era reenactor. With his wife, Dr. Joy Demarse, Keith is currently building their energy-efficient, solar-powered retirement home.

The History Press