COLONEL MELANCTON SMITH

                                    Colonel Smith was the commander of the 29th regiment at Fort Moreau, the principal garrison at Plattsburgh during the

                                    battle in 1814.  He was also the first editor of the newspaper Press Republican.  The home of Col. Smith was a handsome

                                    brick mansion of three and one-half storey, constructed with hand-wrought nails.  (Built probably in 1809).  It was on the

                                    south corner of Brinkerhoff and Margaret Streets, a lot later known as "Customs House Square."  The house, occupied

                                    by General Prevost and British officers during the siege,  "pierced by bullets and balls fired from the American works

                                    in 1814 which remained embedded as praiseworthy scars".  Col. Smith died in 1818 and his funeral, at the Presbyterian

                                    Church was with full military Masonic honors, attended by the 29th Regiment.  The soldiers honored their former commander

                                    by firing volleys.  These soldiers were called from duty in building a new road called Military Turnpike.  The house was

                                    sold to the government in 1858, and was demolished to make way for a Customs House and Post Office. 

Above left to right: Robert R. Livingston, Melancthon Smith, and Governor George Clinton (anti-Federalist) shaking hands with

Alexander Hamilton (a Federalist). Admiral Smith's grandfather Melancton (Melancthon) Smith helped reconcile Federalists and

   anti-Federalists, enabling New York state to ratify the U.S. Constitution in the Duchess County Courthouse in Poughkeepsie on July 26, 1788