A symbolic image pairs War of 1812 hero General Jacob Brown with modern northern New York figure Tom Homan, linking Sackets Harbor’s historic defense to today’s debates over national security and public service.
Watertown Post Editorial
By Hans Wilder
WATERTOWN, NY — On May 29th, 1813, Sackets Harbor was not just a pretty little village on Lake Ontario. It was one of the most important military positions in the young United States.
The British understood that. The Americans understood that. General Jacob Brown understood that.
And 212 years later, it might be worth asking whether some people in Sackets Harbor still understand it.
The Battle of Sackets Harbor was fought on May 29, 1813, during the War of 1812. The village was a critical American military and naval base on Lake Ontario, described by New York State Parks as the center of American military activity for the upper St. Lawrence River valley and Lakes Ontario and Erie. Sackets Harbor had shipbuilding, barracks, soldiers, sailors, supplies, and strategic value. It was not a side note. It was a target.
That is where General Jacob Brown enters the story.
Brown, a local hero by any honest reading of northern New York history, helped defend Sackets Harbor when it mattered. He was not defending a party. He was not defending a campaign slogan. He was defending the country, the frontier, and the people who lived here.
That should mean something.
Sackets Harbor’s history is not small-town decoration. It is not just something to put on a tourism brochure next to a waterfront dinner special. It is part of the military backbone of northern New York. The battlefield, the harbor, Madison Barracks, and the village’s War of 1812 legacy are part of the national story.
Which brings us to Tom Homan.
Homan is also from this region. Like him or not, agree with him or not, he is a local figure who rose to national prominence. He has been given one of the most controversial and difficult jobs in the country: enforcing border policy in an age when nearly everyone has an opinion and almost nobody wants to deal with the actual consequences.
According to WWNY, The Sackets Harbor Mayor; acting in connection with his private business — said he was not renewing Homan’s boat slip and would no longer host Homan’s security detail at his hotels. The village later issued a statement separating the mayor’s private business decision from official village government.
Fine. It is a private business. He can make that decision.
But the rest of us can also call it what it looks like: petty, political, and beneath the history of the place.
Sackets Harbor became famous because men like Jacob Brown stood up when the country needed them. Today, one of the region’s own is serving in a federal role tied directly to national security, border enforcement, and public safety — and instead of simple civic maturity, we get a local boycott dressed up as principle.
At the Watertown Post, we do not play that game.
We do not boycott Sackets Harbor because one mayor made a decision we think is childish. We do not turn our backs on the battlefield, the village, the businesses, the restaurants, the history, or the people who live there. That would be ridiculous. That would be punishing the whole town over one political stunt.
History is bigger than one mayor.
Sackets Harbor belongs to Jacob Brown. It belongs to the soldiers and sailors of 1813. It belongs to the families who preserved its memory. It belongs to the people of northern New York. It belongs to the country.
And yes, it also belongs to the future.
That is why this anniversary matters. Two hundred and twelve years after the Battle of Sackets Harbor, the lesson should be obvious: local heroes do not always come wrapped in universal applause. Sometimes they are respected later. Sometimes they are attacked in their own time. Sometimes the hometown crowd gets so caught up in politics that it forgets the larger story standing right in front of it.
General Jacob Brown defended Sackets Harbor from a foreign enemy.
Tom Homan is involved in a modern fight over the border, national sovereignty, and federal law enforcement.
Different centuries. Different battlefields. Same uncomfortable truth: when people serve in the hard places, the soft crowd often complains from the porch.
Sackets Harbor should know better.
It is a village built on military history, sacrifice, and national purpose. It should not be known in 2026 as the place where politics got so small that even a boat slip became a battlefield.
May 29th should remind everyone around here that northern New York has produced serious people in serious moments. Jacob Brown was one of them. Tom Homan is one of them.
And whether the mayor likes it or not, history will outlast him.
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