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As
the century drew to a close, a persistent campaign by Plattsburgh
area citizens finally convinced the government to acquire Crab
Island to protect and honor the still-unmarked graves of American
and British sailors killed in the September 11, 1814 naval battle
which helped to decide the outcome of the War of 1812.
Now, history students, comes the quiz.
Which century closing--the 19th or the 20th?
Here is the story behind the paradoxical answer,
"both."
Samuel de Champlain was the first white man to
see Crab Island, on his July 1609 paddle up the lake to which he
gave his name. It was
either he or another of the subsequent French explorers,
missionaries, and soldiers who gave the island its first name, St.
Michael. This name
appears on the more detailed French maps of the lake, though not
on Champlain's own map.
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Gradually
the name Crab appeared on English maps, either replacing St. Michael
or, as in Willsborough pioneer William Gilliland's journal of 1765,
together with it. "The
peculiar name ... is evidently derived from the fact the limestone
rocks around the shore swarm with a species of mollusk which a
casual observer might easily mistake for crabs," notes the
writer of a Sept. 22, 1877
Plattsburgh Republican article on the island.
The earliest record of visitation to Crab Island
is a nine-page "Field Book and Maps of the Island of Valeur,
Crab Island, and Schuyler's Island" by Jonas Addoms, pursuant
to a warrant from the Surveyor General of New York State to
Zephaniah Platt. The
letters patent in the State Archives are dated Feb. 28, 1787. The island's transfer away from Platt does not seem to be
recorded. But in
Clinton County's deed book E is the record of sale made March 16,
1810 by William Bailey and Benjamin Mooers to Caleb
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*Republished with permission of the author and the Clinton
County Historical Association. This article originally appeared in The
Antiquarian: Fall 1988. America's Historic Lakes
is grateful to the Association, James Bailey, John Tomkins III and Roger
Harwood for their efforts in making this article available. To learn
more about the author, click
here.
Other Crab Island related links on
America's Historic Lakes:
The Secrets of Crab
Island by James P. Millard
The Battle of
Plattsburgh- The War of 1812 on Lake Champlain
Dr. James Mann's account
of the Battle of Plattsburgh
Return
of killed and wounded on board the United States squadron on Lake Champlain, in
the engagement with the British fleet, on the 11th of September, 1814 -
official listing of American losses from the naval engagement.
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