DeKALB -- Members of Forsyth’s Rifles and the Fort La Presentation Association, and officials of the Town of DeKalb and guests recently paid homage to a local hero of the War of 1812.

Brigadier General Thomas Benedict was the commander of the local militia and the northern frontier. Militia supplies were in a sorry state of repair when Benedict took command and he used his own funds as well as loans from local businessmen to contract repairs and purchase camp supplies.

He marched the militia to Ogdensburg to provide protection for the town from English forces stationed across the St. Lawrence River at Prescott, Ontario. In October of 1812 he organized a defense of Ogdensburg from a flotilla of boats from the Canadian shore and with over 1,000 men on the shores of the St. Lawrence, repulsed the raid.

In addition to his military career, Benedict was an officer in the Northern Lights Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, located at DeKalb, the first Masonic Lodge formed in St. Lawrence County. He died at the age of 45 and was laid to rest in the Old DeKalb Cemetery on County Route 17.  

His stone is weathered from time and the elements. During the remembrance ceremony a War of 1812 grave marker with an inscription, as well as a Masonic grave marker, were placed on his grave.

For further information on Brig. Gen. Thomas Benedict please follow the link below.  https://www.dekalbnyhistorian.org.

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