News

Acclaimed historian to present at WCNY battlefield event in August

by Rouhollah Goudarzi

July 31, 2013

In recognition of the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812, WCNY will continue its series of public programs that explore New York’s War of 1812 Battlefields with a presentation by acclaimed military historian Donald Hickey.

The event is free and open to the public with support from an American Battlefield Protection Program grant.

WCNY received the grant in 2012 to fund “New York’s Historic Battlefields: Today’s Battleground”, a documentary about the state’s War of 1812 battlefields. The grant is one of 27 the National Park Service awarded focusing on efforts to preserve and protect significant battle sites from all wars fought on American soil.

The event takes place at 6 p.m. Aug. 3 at the Sackets Harbor Battlefield. Professor, author and historian Donald Hickey, of Wayne State College, presents “What We Know That Ain’t So: Myths of the War of 1812”, which explores the war through facts and folklore. The battlefield site can be accessed from West Washington Street in Sackets Harbor. The event is funded in part by the Sackets Harbor Battlefield Alliance.

“The battlefields in these communities are primary resources with artifacts that help us understand how the war was waged,” said Debbie Stack, WCNY’s director of education and community engagement. “We save our battlefields in part, to remember our history and to learn from it.”

Following the presentations, attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions and share opinions about the preservation of War of 1812 battlefields, including the costs, land use and impacts on the communities’ economic development. Comments from attendees will be included in WCNY’s upcoming documentary about the War of 1812 battlefields.

For more information about the events, call WCNY at (315) 453-2424 or visit www.wcny.org/education/war-of-1812.

Federal, state, local and tribal governments, non-profit organizations and educational institutions are eligible for National Park Service battlefield grants, which are awarded annually. Since 1996, more than $14 million has been awarded by ABPP to help preserve significant historic battlefields associated with wars on American soil. Additional information is available at www.nps.gov/history/hps/abpp.