Once in a while some very special tie to the past happens which reminds us of our debt to the people who settled in our county early on. In July of 2024 the Clinton County Historical Association (CCHA) got a call from Lynn Foerster who said she was coming from California to visit the site of her 5th great grandfather’s long-time home.
She was coming for the Battle of Plattsburgh Weekend and to see the sword awarded to him for his contributions during the War of 1812. Her family line had donated the sword to CCHA in 1994, and she remembered seeing it sitting over the mantle in a family home out west and wanted to see it again. The sword had been awarded to a hero of the Battle of Plattsburgh, Major General Benjamin Mooers.
Given the opportunity of Lynn’s visit, the Battle of Plattsburgh Committee agreed that one of the weekend history talks should be about Major General Mooers and 1814 Commemoration Inc Chair Tom Donahue welcomed her and her husband Bill Vlahos as special guests. Lynn teamed up with me to present the story of Benjamin Mooers.
In 1909, Jeanette Tuttle author of Three Centuries in Champlain Valley said Major General Benjamin Mooers devoted more years to public service in Clinton County than any other man of his time.
He arrived in Clinton County, NY, in 1783 as a veteran of the American Revolutionary War. He had enlisted at about age 17 and was a lieutenant when his military service was over. He was one of many veterans who chose to live in Clinton County, but he is given the distinction of being the first permanent settler of the county at Point Au Roche, meaning once he landed here, he stayed on, until his death.
As a Clinton County resident, he became the county’s first sheriff and took on the role of Treasurer which he held for 42 years. He accumulated many acres of land in the Canadian Nova Scotia refugee tract when those entitled to the land decided to turn it over.
The Town of Mooers represents land from this tract and was named after him although he never lived there. In addition to his role as Treasurer, he was elected four times to the State Assembly and once to the State Senate.
By 1791 he had married Hannah Platt, the daughter of Nathaniel Platt who was brother to Zephania, a founder of Plattsburgh. Nathaniel had moved to Clinton County with his family one year prior.
In 1794, Mooers and Hannah moved to Cumberland Head on Lake Champlain with two children in tow. Eventually they would have nine children of which seven would survive to maturity.
Even before the Battle of Plattsburgh, he had settled in and made a difference. He supported the formation of the Plattsburgh Academy, the first local newspaper and the Great Northern Turnpike (now Route 9).
In 1809, Hannah died as did two of their children, and in 1810 he married Hannah’s second cousin, Elizabeth Addoms. Elizabeth would tend to his children throughout the War of 1812.
Her letters to him when he was in the legislature in Albany and when she was with the children in Middlebury, Vermont show a strong and loving relationship. These letters are preserved in Special Collections at SUNY Plattsburgh.
In 1811 Mooers was appointed Major General of the Northern New York Militia, which included men from the counties of Franklin, Clinton, Essex, Warren, Washington, Rensselaer and Columbia.
The troops he commanded were ordinary citizens, Minute Men, and he was proud of their efforts. He sent letters to the Governor of New York State after the war to make sure his men and the commanders he worked with got the credit they deserved during the siege at Plattsburgh.
For his services during the War of 1812, along with 13 others whose outstanding efforts during the war were acknowledged, he was given the ceremonial sword Lynn’s family donated to CCHA.
Alexander Macomb also received a sword, and it too is at CCHA.
After the war, Mooers continued his service to our county. He served in the State Assembly and actively supported his church, the local temperance society, and the local school commission.
Elizabeth died in January of 1818 at their home in Cumberland Head.
Mooers then married a third time, to Mary Bailey Hughes Mooers in July of 1818. In 1821 they moved to Plattsburgh on the corner of Bridge and Pike Streets. Mooers had owned the property in 1814. Macomb had used it as his headquarters during the land battle in the fall of 1814, and there is a cannon ball in the wall from that battle.
The current owners were kind enough to show Lynn the cannon ball during the Battle of Plattsburgh weekend. (CCHA has a letter claiming it’s not the original cannon ball, but oral history insists that it is.)
The end of his life took as much bravery as its beginnings. Mary died in 1833 and in 1837, he had an arm amputated without anesthesia. He recovered well for a year but passed away on February 20th, 1838, in his 80th year, at his house on Bridge and Pike Streets under the care of his daughter Charlotte Moore.
His obituary in the Plattsburgh Republican reflected the life of a man who loved his country and his family and who had proved that devotion to both throughout his lifetime. For fifty-five years he was one of Clinton County’s own and is buried in Riverside Cemetery next to Hannah, Elizabeth and Mary.
Prior to our presentation on the Battle of Plattsburgh weekend, Lynn came over to CCHA to hold the sword. It an emotional moment for her to be so close to a long-departed grandfather. The sword at CCHA represents not only Mooers’ contributions as a military officer but serves to remind us of his long-time commitment to the development of Clinton County.
Thanks to Lynn Foerster and David Patrick for sharing in their story.
Illustrations, from above: A portrait of General Benjamin now owned by a descendant in Chicago, date and artist unknown; Mooers’ house on Cumberland Head from Benson Lossing’s Pictorial Field Book of the War of 1812 (1868); and the Mooers home on the corner of Bridge and Pike Streets, Plattsburgh from the Centenary of the Battle of Plattsburgh, 1914 (Library of Congress).
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