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is a village in Jefferson County, New York, United States. The population was 1,386 at the 2000 census. The village was named after land developer and owner Augustus Sackett.
is within the western part of the Town of Hounsfield and is west of Watertown. The heart of the village, with a Main Street and well-preserved 19th c. buildings, has been recognized as a National Register Historic District.
Because of its unique protected harbor on Lake Ontario and military installations created there, the village had national importance through the 19th century. To support the War of 1812, the US Navy built a major shipyard and its headquarters for the Great Lakes at the village. The Army constructed earthenworks, forts, barracks and supporting infrastructure to defend the village and navy shipyard. Soon after the war, the Army strengthened its defenses on the northern frontier by constructing Madison Barracks.
Sackets Harbor Battlefield State Historic Site commemorates a battle and the contribution of the area to the stalemate of the War of 1812.
Sackets Harbor was founded in 1801 by Augustus Sackett, a land speculator from New York City. He and others had high hopes for trade across Lake Ontario with Kingston and other parts of Canada. The village was the most significant community in the area until the founding of the City of Watertown. The area attracted migrants from New England, as well as new immigrants from Great Britain and France. They cleared heavy forest and gradually constructed houses. By the 1810 census there were 943 qualified voters in the village. After the War of 1812, Sackets Harbor incorporated as a village in 1814.
The American Revolution did not resolve all issues with Great Britain. Border issues and increasing tensions led the US to impose the Embargo Act of 1807 prohibiting trade with Great Britain, which effectively included Canada. People on both sides of the border, Canadian (many of them native Americans, including Loyalists who had fled there after the Revolution) and American, quickly built up a vigorous smuggling trade across the waters.
The US government first stationed forces in the area to try to reduce smuggling.