[2] The name is derived from the number of bleached skulls of pack horses left behind by the Sullivan Expedition.

In September 1779, forces under General John Sullivan marched north 450 miles (720 km) from Easton, Pennsylvania, over to Wyoming, Pennsylvania, and on up the Susquehanna River to Newtown (Elmira), then continued north through what is now known as Horseheads to the Finger Lakes region and west to Genesee,[3] on a scorched-earth mission against Loyalists and more significantly against their Iroquois allies.

Arriving about 6 miles (10 km) north of Fort Reid on September 24, 1779, they were obliged to dispose of a large number of sick and disabled horses.

The number of horses was so great that they were quite noticeable, and the surviving Iroquois collected the skulls and arranged them in a line along the trail.

[4] Today this area is part of the heartland of Upstate New York, across which thirty-five monoliths mark the path of Sullivan's troops and the locations of the Iroquois villages they razed dotting the region, erected by the New York State Education Department in 1929 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the expedition.

[7] The village is where high speed rail cars will be built for the Brightline West train from Los Angeles to Las Vegas.

[9][10] Horseheads village is in the Southern Tier Region of New York, 5 miles (8 km) north of downtown Elmira.

Newtown Creek on the east side of the village flows south toward the Chemung River, a tributary of the Susquehanna, while the northernmost part of the village drains north to Catharine Creek, the main tributary of Seneca Lake, one of the Finger Lakes.

[2] New York State Route 17 and Interstate 86 pass through the village, with access from exits 52 and 53.