FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Mary Raye Casper, Daughters of 1812, 315-673-9044, nys1812@yahoo.com

                     Bob Gang, SSWGBSNY, 315-671-9512, bob.gang@arcadis-us.com

The State of NY Society, United States Daughters of 1812, and The Society of the Second War with Great Britain in the State of NY, General Society of the War of 1812, are pleased to present “Archeology and the Second Battle of Sackets Harbor: Why the Militia Deserves Its Due”, a lecture by Matthew Kirk.   Free and open to the general public, the event begins at 7:00 p.m. on June 7, 2012, at the Northern Onondaga Public Library in North Syracuse, 100 Trolley Barn Lane.  This event is made possible through Speakers in the Humanities, a program of the New York Council for the Humanities.  Speakers in the Humanities lectures are made possible with the support of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Go to www.nopl.org/calendar or call 458-6184 to register for this event.

Mr. Matthew Kirk - Principal Investigator, Hartgen Archeological Associates, Inc., is a trained archeologist, with a BA in Anthropology from Binghamton University and a MA from the University at Albany. He is a Registered-Professional-Archeologist (RPA) employed with Hartgen Archeological Associates, Inc.; currently serving as the Principal Investigator. Mr. Kirk’s scholarly work has been featured in popular publications and peer-reviewed journals. He regularly presents lectures at both professional conferences and public venues, often on his experiences with colonial sites in downtown Albany, New York

 The Lecture: During the War of 1812, Sackets Harbor, New York served as the principal American shipbuilding facility on Lake Ontario. A rag-tag team of volunteers, militia, and American regulars repulsed attacking British-Canadian forces in May 1813. The battle left numerous casualties. American ships and stores were burned with no clear victor. Later testimonies placed some of the blame for British advances on the American volunteers who “rose from their cover and fled.” A soldier at the battle later remarked, however, that “the truth is never more than half told”…"that the most important held back.” The presenter directed an archeological study of the battlefield sponsored by the National Park Service. Metal detecting and later high-tech analyses of the artifacts provide alternative archeological evidence at odds with the historical record. A PowerPoint presentation illustrates the history of the battle, the archeological fieldwork and analysis, and the recovered artifacts. 

Since its launch in 1983, the Council’s Speakers in the Humanities program has linked distinguished scholars with a diverse audience through the presentation of lectures on a broad range of topics.  All Speakers events are free and open to the general public.  Each year, hundreds of cultural organizations and community groups take advantage of this program, which offers the very best in humanities scholarship to thousands of citizens in every corner of New York State.

The New York Council for the Humanities is a not-for-profit, independent affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.  Through statewide collaborations, and programs and services that encourage imaginative thinking and critical inquiry, the Council works to ensure that the humanities are present in the intellectual and cultural life of every New Yorker.