On September 3, 1814, a 16-yearold boy named Henry K. Averill sat in a sweltering Plattsburgh Academy classroom looking out the window. His thoughts reeled. The British were coming—coming to Plattsburgh, New York, on the shore of Lake Champlain!

For weeks the town had been hearing about the coming invasion. The talks in Ghent had stalled, and the British needed a bargaining chip. What better prize than territory regained by slicing through New York, cutting New England off from the rest of the new country? General Carlton tried it in 1776, and Burgoyne followed in 1777. Besides, New England was unhappy about the Embargo Act restricting its trade with Great Britain and would welcome the chance to rejoin the mother country, wouldn’t it? The captured territory would become part of Canada. So while “peace talks” stalled, the British planned.

Ten thousand British troops, fresh from battle in Spain, massed a few miles north of Plattsburgh in the border town of Champlain. Days before, the bulk of the American Army, four thousand troops, marched to Sackets Harbor, the anticipated invasion route. Only fifteen hundred American regulars under General Alexander Macomb remained in Plattsburgh to face the British. They were the injured, the sick, and the wounded—those too sick to make the trip across New York.

General Macomb, outgunned and outmanned, understood the hard truth: the only defense against such a powerful enemy was to inhibit their progress—to block roads and tear up bridges, to snipe at them as they marched south, to dig trenches and build earthen forts as final defense against enemy penetration.

Eager to do his part, Henry K. Averill jumped out the classroom window. He ran to the printing office where other boys had assembled, too young for service in the military but seeking some action. Martin Aiken of the Essex (New York) militia, 21 years old, took command, assisted by Lieutenant Flagg. The next day, 20 boys and their leaders headed north toward Chazy as Aiken’s Volunteer Rifle Company.

It was steamy hot for September and pouring rain. The young men arrived at Atwood’s farm soaking wet to join the Clinton County militia. Volunteers gathered on the barn floor to sleep; the militia was already asleep in the soft hay of the loft. Rejecting the hard boards, Henry Averill crept to the loft, stepping on the faces of militiamen, getting punched and cursed, until he, too, found a comfortable place to sleep.

The next day, Aiken’s young volunteers formed the rear guard for Major Turner, bound for Beekmantown. As they paraded in front of the farm, a man on horseback thundered by on the way to the British lines—a spy, sent to gather information about their movements. Thirty minutes later, they learned the British Dragoons were near. Aiken’s Company ran through the woods to watch and wait, but the British came by another road and reached the Atwood farm.

The boys marched to Culver Hill at 1 PM and met General Mooers with his militia, 250 strong; he told them to go into the woods and watch the British flank. There they received word that the enemy was still eight miles from Plattsburgh. Aiken’s Company, they said, should go to Dead Creek Bridge and join with the US Rifle Corps under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Appling.

At the bridge, Appling decreed that Aiken’s Company could join his corps only if they disbanded and subjected themselves to his rules and regulations. They took a poll and declined. They walked back to the Plattsburgh armory, exchanging their hunting guns for military rifles.

On September 6, Aiken’s young company sped toward Beekmantown. On the road they met Major McNeil of the Essex County militia, destined for the cantonment to replenish arms. McNeil said General Mooers himself had inquired about Captain Aiken’s Company. Their services were needed. The enemy had advanced!

When the young company reached Judge Bailey’s house at Halsey’s Corners, they heard rifle fire and were met by the retreating militia, many men without shoes or hats. One man told Aiken, “When you have fought as long as we have, you’ll be glad to retreat, too!”

Up ahead, Platt Newcomb and R.H. Walworth tried to rally the fleeing militia, unused to the heat of battle. Aiken’s Company crouched behind a fence, expecting the enemy to emerge from the woods to the north, in front of them. Instead the British came down the lane, in view of the company, and fired at them from 150 yards. Aiken’s boys ran across the road and dove behind a fence on the south side of Judge Bailey’s orchard. When the British were 100 yards away, the young Americans fired, but the British returned fire in an instant, pouring down the lane in a red line miles long.

Aiken’s Company retreated through the village and crossed the Saranac River, swift and deep. They settled in the sawmill on the south side of the river. The British occupied the north end of town, building a huge semicircular encampment from the lakeshore to the river. Firing was constant. Each time the British attempted a crossing, Aiken’s boys fired on them. The British could not advance to the forts on the south side of the river.

For three days, Aiken’s Company helped build an earthen blockhouse and spent time at Salmon River, skirmishing with the British, and at the forts (Moreau, Brown, Scott).

Macomb, a clever commander, marched his few soldiers from one place to another, engaging various British units, creating the illusion of more American troops than there were.

A young man named Peters, 14 years old, was killed and buried on September 9. He had aligned himself with Aiken’s Company. The next day, Averill, Walworth, and Woodward went to Peru (Averill’s birthplace). Why? To escape the firing perhaps; to visit friends or relatives and tell of their adventure; to seek sympathetic ears and encouragement at the loss of their friend; to find refuge at the Union, a Quaker settlement, as so many others had done? They traveled ten miles to Peru and back that day. On September 11, they felt the heat of British guns again.

On Sunday, September 11, a large British flotilla sailed down the lake to engage the American fleet in Plattsburgh Bay at 8 AM. Volunteers, militia, and regular army continued to hold the line along the river, keeping British forces on the north side. A large invasion force forded the Saranac River three miles south of Plattsburgh at the site of Pike’s Cantonment and waited for the order to attack from the south. Aiken’s Volunteers and others, including men from Vermont, repelled repeated British assaults on the two bridges in town and along the shore. They ripped up the bridge deck, using it for battlements. Their efforts prevented British penetration to the forts. The American fleet, under Thomas MacDonough, with luck on their side, defeated the British fleet on Lake Champlain. The massive land invasion force got lost, ending up in Salmon River. By the time they organized, they received word the British fleet had surrendered to the Americans. With the sea battle lost, Sir George Prevost, the commander of British forces, called off the attack.

That night, the British decamped and retreated to Canada. On September 12, Aiken’s Volunteers disbanded. General Macomb told the boys to keep their rifles as thanks for their brave work but then retracted the offer, realizing he might be reprimanded for giving away government property.

Twelve years later, a joint session of Congress recognized the members of Aiken’s Volunteers, awarding them rifles that commemorated their involvement at the siege of Plattsburgh.

Like their counterparts in other wars throughout history, the boys of Aiken’s Volunteers defended their country with courage and honor. For eight days in September, school was out for these outstanding young men as they participated in a time of glory.

Stephen Woodruff is a veteran elementary school teacher with 28 years’ experience. He is a freelance writer of children’s literature and is married, with three small children. He has written stories and articles for AppleSeeds and On the Line. He teaches in the Peru Central School District.

Bibliography

Averill, Henry K. The Journal of Henry K. Averill, Sr. Ed. by Keith Herkalo. Plattsburgh: Studley Printing and Publishing, 2001 (primary source document by member of Aiken’s Volunteers).

“Battle of Plattsburgh; Aiken’s Volunteers.” Lake Champlain Weekly. 5 Sept. 2001.

Battle of Plattsburgh Commemorative Weekend. Plattsburgh, NY, 2000 (booklet).

Battle of Plattsburgh National Historic Trail. <www.warof1812trail.com>.

Couchey, Sid. Our Champlain Story. Plattsburgh: Plattsburgh Press Republican, 1964, pp. 47-57.

Everest, Allan S. The War of 1812 in the Champlain Valley. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1981.

Loveland, VanCour, Herkalo. “The Forgotten Battle of the Forgotten War.” Lecture presented at CVES Regional Networking Day. 11 Oct. 2005.

Millard, James P. “Lake Champlain and Lake George History Timelines: The War of 1812 on Lake Champlain.” <www.historiclakes.org/Timelines/timeline6.html>. Sept 1-12 (timeline of events).

“Report from Gen. Alexander Macomb, Headquarters, Plattsburgh. 15 Nov. 1814 to the War Department.” <http://mlloyd.org/gen/macomb/text/macomb11151814.htm>.