PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (WCAX) – This Memorial Day we are learning more about a rifle rich with history dating back to the War of 1812 that is on display at the Clinton County Historical Museum. The story behind it was only folklore in the North Country for many years until a journal found in 2000 detailed the efforts of a group of young men during the Battle of Plattsburgh. Our Alek LaShomb shares the story behind Aiken’s volunteers and the family descendent allowing history to live on in Plattsburgh.
“In the first 10 or 12 pages, are all about the exploits of the Aiken volunteers, he was one of those members,” said Keith Herkalo, the president of the Battle of Plattsburgh Association, talking about a long-lost journal of one of Aiken’s volunteers, H.K. Averill.
The group of teenagers helped defend a key bridge that was important in the Battle of Plattsburgh during the War of 1812.
“They have to be a volunteer rifle company and Azariah Flagg at the Plattsburgh Republican and Martin Aiken become their sponsors basically, their captain and lieutenant,” said Joy Demarse, the author of “Nine Days a Soldier: The Story of Aiken’s Volunteers in the War of 1812.”
The boys’ ages were an initial roadblock to fighting the British and eventually led them to Aiken.
Herkalo’s wife, Joy Demarse, detailed the story of Aiken’s volunteers in her book. She says years after the Battle of Plattsburgh in 1826, Congress– for the first and only time in American history– awarded commemorative rifles to Aiken and his boys.
However, it wasn’t until 1992 that Aiken’s rifle resurfaced and was loaned to the Clinton County Historical Museum by John Barton Sr., a descendent of Aiken. After his father’s death, Barton’s family decided the rifle should remain at the museum permanently.
Barton can no longer speak due to a recent illness, but his husband, Robert Andrews spoke on his behalf.
“It’s quite awesome but unimaginable to think that you had these high school boys go off to war and they won, I mean, go figure that,” Andrews said. “His story was too important and that we needed to keep it alive because otherwise something like this, it carries a lot of history to it and we sort of did not want that history to dissipate over time.”
Demarse says the group of kids led by Aiken illustrates the North Country’s character.
“I think that they are indicative of a great deal of what makes the North Country an incredible place to live,” Demarse said. “That we can disagree with each other, that we can have different beliefs but in a time of crisis, people will come together and do what is right.”