PLATTSBURG, plateberg, N. Y., village, port of entry, county-seat of Clinton County, on Lake Champlain, at the mouth of the Sara nac River and on the Delaware and Hudson and the Chateangay railroads. It has steamer connection with Burlington, Vt., and all the lake ports. It is about 160 miles north of Albany. It was settled in 1784 by a colony from Long Island and Poughkeepsie in charge of Zephaniah Platt, in whose honor the place was named. It was incorporated as a town the next year. It was the scene or near the scene of some of the important engage ments of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. The first naval battle between Amer ican and British forces took place 11 Oct. 1776, off Valcour Island, a short distance from Plattsburg. Benedict Arnold was in command of the American forces and Sir Guy Carleton of the British. This battle was won by the British. Plattsburg was headquarters for the American forces on the northeastern frontier in the War of 1812. On 11 Sept. 1814 another engagement took place on Cumberland Bay, an inlet of Lake Champlain (q.v.), while at the same time the British made a land attack Commodore MacDonough (q y.), commander of the American forces, won the naval victory and General Macomb was equally successful in de feating the British forces on land. The steady growth of the village was checked by fire on two occasions, in 1849 and 1867, when many of the business houses were destroyed.
Adjoining the village on the south is a United States military reservation of 679 acres. In 1838 a United States military post was estab lished here, and barracks erected sufficient to accommodate a regiment of infantry. South of the "Plattsburg Barracks° and on Lake Cham plain is Cliff Haven, the home of the Catholic Summer School of America (q.v.). Plattsburg and the region around are favorite summer re sorts, and an important military training camp is located there. The lake on the east and the Adirondacks on the west furnish a variety of beautiful scenery and greatly modify the tem perature during the summer months. It is the commercial and industrial centre for nearly all of Clinton County. The chief industries are lumber mills, sewing-machine works, type writers, motors and automobiles, foundries, ma chine shops, flour mills, woolen goods factory and wood-pulp mills. It has the Vilas Home for Aged Women, a government building, courthouse, several fine church and school buildings. It is the seat of the Plattsburg State Normal and Training School and of D'Youville Academy. It was a high school, public elemen tary schools, a village public library and four other libraries. Pop. 10,134.