Article [2012] that was done to commemorate the 200 year anniversary of the war of 1812.
Oswego County was not the only place in Central New York where the War of 1812 was waged. In Onondaga County, one of a number of arsenals supplying munitions was on Onondaga Hill, near today's intersection of Seneca Turnpike and South Salina Street.
"It was stocked with a number of munitions, like flints and muskets," said Dennis Connors, curator of history at the Onondaga Historical Society. "It was constructed as one of several around the state as officials could foresee upcoming hostilities."
Connors said Onondaga County wasn't the scene of any battles during the war, but soldiers often could be seen marching north or traveling west along the Seneca Turnpike, one of the major east-west roadways. Sometimes, British prisoners of war also marched along the turnpike on their way to a POW camp near Albany, he said.
Two of these soldiers are buried on the side of Seneca Turnpike halfway up Onondaga Hill not far from Upstate University Hospital at Community General. Connors said Capt. Benjamin Branch of the First U.S. Light Artillery "fell sick at Onondaga Hollow and died in October of 1814. They buried him on the west hill along the turnpike."
Connors said Capt. Henry Crouch, who had been captured by the British at Fort Erie and sent to Halifax, Nova Scotia as a prisoner of war, died at Marcellus in the spring of 1815 as he headed back to his home of Conhocton, south of Rochester.
"He was taken ill in Marcellus with smallpox and died there. The residents decided to bury him next to his fellow officer, a few miles to the east, along the turnpike."
Article [2012] that was done to commemorate the 200 year anniversary of the war of 1812.
Oswego County was not the only place in Central New York where the War of 1812 was waged. In Onondaga County, one of a number of arsenals supplying munitions was on Onondaga Hill, near today's intersection of Seneca Turnpike and South Salina Street.
"It was stocked with a number of munitions, like flints and muskets," said Dennis Connors, curator of history at the Onondaga Historical Society. "It was constructed as one of several around the state as officials could foresee upcoming hostilities."
Connors said Onondaga County wasn't the scene of any battles during the war, but soldiers often could be seen marching north or traveling west along the Seneca Turnpike, one of the major east-west roadways. Sometimes, British prisoners of war also marched along the turnpike on their way to a POW camp near Albany, he said.
Two of these soldiers are buried on the side of Seneca Turnpike halfway up Onondaga Hill not far from Upstate University Hospital at Community General. Connors said Capt. Benjamin Branch of the First U.S. Light Artillery "fell sick at Onondaga Hollow and died in October of 1814. They buried him on the west hill along the turnpike."
Connors said Capt. Henry Crouch, who had been captured by the British at Fort Erie and sent to Halifax, Nova Scotia as a prisoner of war, died at Marcellus in the spring of 1815 as he headed back to his home of Conhocton, south of Rochester.
"He was taken ill in Marcellus with smallpox and died there. The residents decided to bury him next to his fellow officer, a few miles to the east, along the turnpike."