Chapter 8 - Revolution
It Was a Jolly Good Plan
Independence
was declared on July 4, 1776. Committees of Safety were formed and Militias
were organized in the Mohawk Valley. Hundreds of Loyalists, including the
Johnsons, Butlers, and the Mohawks were driven from their homes and fled
to Canada. But the Revolutionary War didn’t come to the Mohawk Valley until
August 1777.
It was a jolly good plan, conceived in England by
“Gentleman Johnny” Burgoyne, approved by The Crown, and put into motion
when General Burgoyne arrived in Montreal in May 1777.
When St. Leger arrived at Fort Stanwix in August 1777 it was not the dilapidated fort
the British had abandoned in 1768, but a formidable “rebuilt” log and earthen fortress.
Burgoyne would lead a large force south into New
York, capturing Fort Ticonderoga before moving on to Albany. He would come
under the command of General Howe (Commander-in-Chief of the British Army
in America) and together they would defeat rebel forces in New York and
New England.
A second force, commanded by Lt. Colonel Barry St.
Leger, would sweep down the Mohawk Valley, thus denying Continental forces
much needed grain, livestock and other food stuffs, and draw Continental
troops away from the British assault on Albany.
The Mohawk Valley Campaign was a sure thing. St.
Leger’s army would consist of 200 British Regulars, 87 Hessian infantrymen,
40 artillerymen (with two six-pounders, two four-pounders and four small
mortars), 133 men of the King’s Royal Regiment of New York, 100 Tory Rangers
of the Indian Department, 100 Canadian militiamen, and as many as 1000
Indians. Most of the King’s Royal Regiment, the Tory Rangers and some of
the Indians were former residents of the Mohawk Valley. They were coming
home . . . to stay.
The Continental Army would be busy fighting Burgoyne
and perhaps Howe. The Mohawk Valley Militias were Palatine and Dutch farmers
commanded by a handful of veterans of the French and Indian War. And, there
were still Loyalists and Loyalists sympathizers living in the Mohawk Valley
and thereabouts who would support British troops as they swept down the
Valley. All St. Leger’s army had to do was neutralize a small force of
the Continental Army stationed in the old British Fort at the Great Carry.
When Fort Stanwix was taken, it would be just a
few weeks before the Valley would once again be under British and Loyalist
control. Valley residents who didn’t “see the light” would have their homes
and barns destroyed, their crops and livestock destroyed or taken, become
prisoners of The Crown, or suffer the ravages of Indian attack.
St. Leger and his commanders were so confident of
success that they told the Iroquois leaders who were reluctant to join
them, to: “Go with us and watch us whip the rebels. Sit down and smoke
your pipes and see what a grand show we will provide.”
Oops
When St. Leger arrived at Fort Stanwix in August 1777 it was not the
dilapidated fort the British had abandoned in 1768, but a formidable “rebuilt”
log and earthen fortress constructed by Continental troops from New Jersey,
Connecticut and New York. The fort, now called Fort Schuyler, was defended
by 700 Continental Army regulars and 50 militiamen from New York and Massachusetts.
The Massachusetts contingent had just arrived. The fort commander
was Colonel Peter Gansevoort. His second in command was Lt. Colonel Marinus
Willett. When St. Leger’s demand for surrender was rebuffed on August 3,
1777, the Siege of Fort Stanwix began.
It was soon apparent that St. Leger’s artillerymen
were under-gunned. Their cannons and mortars were almost useless against
the rebuilt fortress. The cannon and musket field-of-fire from the fort
would necessitate constructing protected trenches to get close enough to
inflict any serious damage to the fort and troops within.
But there was plenty of time to continue the siege,
dig trenches, pick off a few soldiers now and then, and eventually starve
and wear the defenders down. After all it was a long way from German Flatts,
longer yet from the Continental Army near Albany.
The Militia is Coming! The Militia
is Coming!
When word came to St. Leger, via a message from Molly Brant to her
brother Chief Joseph Brant, that a 900-man Militia under the command of
General Herkimer was on its way, it was almost too good to be true.
Rather than fight the Militia at their fortified homes and forts scattered
down the valley, the Militia was coming to them on a wilderness road that
would provide superb opportunities for ambush. Ambush was just the kind
of attack the Iroquois preferred. Their previous reluctance to join the
fray disappeared with the wind.
The trap would be sprung when the Miltia's oxcarts and rear guard were crossing this ravine.
St. Leger would split his forces, sending the King’s
Royal Regiment, Tory Rangers, and some 500 Mohawk and Seneca warriors to
ambush the Militia. Sir John Johnson would be in command, assisted by John
Butler and Joseph Brant. Brant would arrange the ambush. This was Oneida
territory, and Brant’s wife was an Oneida, so he was very familiar with
the terrain.
In order to avoid the often-impassable marshland
on the flats between the Oneida village of Oriska (present day Oriskany)
and Fort Stanwix, the road climbed to the highground forest south of the
Mohawk River. Several streams ran off this highground, creating steep-sided
gullies or ravines that fingered into the marsh. Winding sections of road
provided descent and ascent, and rock and log culverts provided crossings
at the bottom of the ravines. Two miles west of Oriska two of these crossings
were less than a quarter-mile apart. Marching troops would slow down in
these areas and ox carts would move at a snail’s pace. Brant picked this
area for ambush.
The morning after a scout reported the Militia was
camped at Oriska, Johnson’s forces moved into position. The King’s Royal
Regiment of New York blocked the road just beyond the western ravine. Iroquois
and Tory Rangers took up positions in the woods on each side of the road
at and near the western ravine, in effect putting a cap and vice on the
bottleneck that the ambush would create.
Brant with his Mohawks, and Tory Rangers took up
positions in the woods on the highground on the south side of the road
above the easterly ravine. Brant would wait until the oxcarts and
Militia’s rear guard had passed, then he would signal for the Loyalists
to attack from the front, sides and rear of the column. The Tryon County
Militia of Palatine farmers would be killed or routed in just a few hours.
Discovering the Battlefield
The first time I was in the eastern ravine was on August 6, ’77. I was killed in the first volley. We had left Fort Dayton on the morning of August 4 and marched along the King’s Highway to Staring Creek where we camped for the night. The next day we continued our westward trek, stopping in Deerfield before going on to Old Fort Schuyler where we crossed the Mohawk and marched on to Oriska. The following morning we followed the King’s Military Road toward Fort Stanwix. Two miles from Oriska the woods erupted with gunfire. Fortunately, no one was really killed during this 1977 Bicentennial Re-enactment of the Battle of Oriskany.
The second time I visited the Oriskany Battlefield was on November 18, 2004 when I walked and talked with Allan D. Foote. Allan is the author of Liberty March - The Battle of Oriskany. I think his 1998 book is the most accurate account of the battle that was ever written. I’ve read it twice; parts of it several times, to get a feel for what happened in these Oriskany hills and ravines on August 6, 1777. Allan and I talked about the battle and he gave me a copy of his Historical Guide to the Battle of Oriskany that includes a synopsis of the battle and several illustrations noting the positions of the adversaries before and during the battle.
Allan introduced me to Nancy Demyttenaere, the Historic Preservation Supervisor of the Oriskany Battlefield Historic Site. Nancy has devoted much of her time and energy to understanding the lay of the land when the battle occurred. Agricultural activities such as draining, filling and plowing, plus nature’s wear and tear, have changed the landscape in 200 years. Marsh is no longer marsh, and some ravines are mere gullies. Even the exact location of the Military Road is in doubt, despite the study of old and new aerial photographs and maps. According to Nancy, the road may, in fact, cross the eastern ravine right where Route 69 does now. Or there may have been two roads---one running further north closer to the flats and one running on higher ground.
Nancy has left “few stones unturned” utilizing Ground Penetrating Radar, Metal Detectors and even Paranormal Photography to reveal gravesites, artifacts, structures and locations of events associated with the battle. She noted that none of these sites were disturbed, but are marked and catalogued for future reference and study that may one day lead to a better understanding of what happened on “this hallowed ground.”
My third visit was on November 30, 2004. This time I walked and talked with William Lloyd. Bill conceived, organized and publicized the Bicentennial Re-creation of the March of the Tryon County Militia and the Battle of Oriskany on August 4, 5 & 6, 1977. His initial motivation was to illustrate the significance of the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America that guaranteed citizens “the right to keep and bear arms.” He didn’t realize at the time that he would create a once-in-a-lifetime experience for participants and observers, provide national recognition of the significance of the Battle of Oriskany, and spawn the New York State Muzzleloaders Association. He also inspired me to explain it all in my first book, ONE QUARTER MILE TO GO.
I introduced Bill to Nancy Demyttenaere. She took
us on a guided tour of the Battlefield, noting the many interpretive signs
and bringing Bill up to date on some recent discoveries. When we completed
the tour, I left Bill and Nancy to continue their conversation, and walked
to the Route 69 Bridge that overlooks the eastern ravine. My intent was
to photographs the ravine, but my mind went back to August 6, 1777 when
the ravines and surrounding hills were littered with the bodies of Oneidas,
Mohawks, Senecas, and American-born German, Dutch, English, Scotch and
Irish residents of the Mohawk Valley.
The Battlefield Today
The Oriskany Battlefield is located on Route 69, two miles west of
the Village of Oriskany. The obelisk monument was erected at the site of
the battle on August 6, 1884. The Battlefield was designated a New York
State Historic Site in 1927, and was designated a National Historic Landmark
in 1963. Today the Oriskany Battlefield Historic Site is managed
by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation,
and is open to the public from mid-May through mid-October; Wednesday -
Saturday from 9 a.m.- 5 p.m., and Sunday from 1-5 p.m. Off-season
visits can also be arranged by contacting: Historic Preservation
Supervisor, Oriskany Battlefield Historic Site, 7801 State Route 69 Oriskany,
NY 13424. Phone: (315) 768-7224 / Fax: (315) 377-3081.
For more information give a click: Oriskany Battlefield Historic Site
Battle of Oriskany
This was not a rinky-dink operation. It was a major military maneuver; well planned and well executed . . . until Oriska.
Herkimer was wounded early in the battle, but continued to give orders and encourage his men while sitting on his saddle next to a beech tree on the eastern heights. (Painting courtesy of the the Oneida County Historical Society in Utica.)
General Nicholas
Herkimer had anticipated his orders to relieve the siege of Fort Stanwix,
so units of the Tryon County Militia were ready when the call to arms was
issued. Some 800 men---practically every able-bodied adult male in the
Mohawk Valley and surrounding hills from Schenectady through German Flatts---met
at Fort Dayton the morning of August 4, 1777, prepared to make the 40-mile
march to the Great Carry. They were joined by some 40 wagons and oxcarts
loaded with ammunition and provisions.
Long hours in
the fields and woods had prepared these men for the grueling march in the
heat of summer. More than a year of musters had prepared them to
establish battle formations, load and fire muzzleloaders, and use bayonets,
knives, tomahawks and pikes, in hand to hand combat. Some, like Herkimer,
were veterans of the French and Indian War; most had never been in combat,
and a few were barely men.
The Militia camped
at Staring Creek the first night. The following day, before crossing the
Mohawk River at Old Fort Schuyler, Herkimer left forty militiamen and all
but 15 wagons and oxcarts at Deerfield, thus speeding up the march to Oriska,
and providing access to provisions when needed. .
General Herkimer
was well aware of the dangers facing his army. During the French and Indian
War he helped build the wilderness road between Oriska and Fort Stanwix,
so he knew ambush was a definite possibility. He sent runners to the Fort
to deliver the message that the 760-man militia was on the way, and to
coordinate simultaneous attacks by troops from within the fort and by the
Militia. The signal for attack would be three cannon shots from the fort,
a signal that could be heard for miles through the wilderness.
When Herkimer
awoke that fateful morning he was confronted by some of his officers who
insisted the army move forward, signal or no signal (jumping the gun so
to speak). Herkimer tried to control the situation but was goaded into
giving the order to move forward.
Sixty Oneida
warriors joined the Militia at Oriska. Greatly influenced by their close
friend Reverend Samuel Kirkland and respected Chief Schenando, the Oneidas
severed hundreds of years of allegiance to the Iroquois Federation by siding
with the “rebels.” It is unknown why the Oneidas did not serve as forward
scouts on this march, as they often did in subsequent encounters, other
than that they marched with their nearest neighbors in the German Flatts
Regiment.
Twenty militiamen
served as forward scouts, moving slowly through the, woods well ahead of
the half-mile long column. General Herkimer, Col. Cox and his First (Canajoharie
District) Battalion were a hundreds yards behind, followed by Col. Klock’s
Second (Palatine District) Battalion, Col. Bellinger’s Fourth (Kingsland-German
Flatts District) Battalion, 15 supply wagons, and Col. Vischer’s Third
(Mohawk District) Battalion. 
Chief Joseph
Brant and his Loyalists watched the column pass down the winding wilderness
road from his concealed vantage point overlooking the eastern ravine. The
moment for signaling the attack was minutes away. Wrong.
When the young
and inexperienced forward scouts came to the cool, clear water running
through the western ravine, they sat muskets aside and dropped to their
knees to quench their thirst. Save one, it would be the last drink
of their short lives.
When the young
and inexperienced Seneca chiefs and warriors saw the Militia scouts in
such precarious positions, they ignored the plan to wait for Brant’s signal,
and attacked with muskets and tomahawks. One of the scouts managed to crawl
away during the melee, but the rest were slaughtered on the spot.
Chief Joseph Brant's Mohawks, and Tory Rangers waited in ambush on the eastern heights.
Musket fire and
war cries echoed through the woods, stopping the Militia in its tracks,
long before Brant was ready to signal. Nevertheless, the Battle of Oriskany
had begun. The woods erupted with gunfire, killing many of the mounted
Militia officers in the first few minutes.
Despite being
attacked from all sides, the First Battalion immediately set up a defensive
position on the road. The Senecas were so emboldened with the success of
their first foray, they charged up the road into a hale of gunfire. More
than half of the Senecas who died that day were lost during those first
volleys. Following this tragic turn of events, some of the Seneca survivors
left the field and returned to their homes in western New York.
Later that morning,
the older Seneca chiefs advised their younger chiefs and warriors to fire
from cover and then attack with tomahawks when the enemy had fired his
musket and was reloading.
While the Loyalists and Indians
attacked the bottlenecked First Battalion, inflicting heavy casualties
during the first moments of the battle, Brant held his position, waiting
for the supply wagons and the Fourth Battalion to move into more vulnerable
positions.
Herkimer and
his officers rode up and down the line, shouting orders and encouraging
the untested militiamen to seek cover and hold their ground. Colonel Cox,
Herkimer’s most vocal antagonist at Oriska, was killed during this first
encounter.
Herkimer led
part of the First Battalion to a defensive position on the heights south
of the road, and sent a runner back to order the rest of the Militia to
move forward. The Second and Fourth Battalion, and the Oneidas fought their
way up the road to link up with the First Battalion. The Third Battalion
was not under attack, but some of the men and one of the officers from
the forward battalions, terrified by the carnage they had witnessed, ran
back down the road, yelling for everyone to run for their lives. Some of
the younger men followed them down the road or into the woods, creating
confusion in the Third Battalion.
As Col. Visscher
and his officers tried to prevent a near rout, Chief Brant made his move.
Brant’s initial attack inflicted heavy casualties. Many of the younger
militiamen fled into the woods where most of them were run down and killed
by Brant’s Mohawks. A few escaped the carnage and returnrd to their homes.
Herkimer reacted to the escalating
crisis by riding down into the Eastern Ravine to rally his men. An enemy
musket ball hit the General in the leg and killed his horse. Militiamen
carried him back to his highground position where he continued to view
the battle and issue orders while sitting on his saddle next to a beech
tree.
“His junior officers beg Herkimer to allow them to move him to a place of safety, for even now the enemy is attempting to penetrate the ragged circle of citizen soldiers and Oneida warriors protecting him, but this was his reply: In one of the defining moments in American History, the General unsheathed his sword and thrust it(s) blade down into the soil, exclaiming- “No I will face the enemy!” His immortal words electrify those around him and quickly circulate throughout the battered command grimly holding onto their fragile position on the Western heights and tip of the Eastern Ravine.”
Recalling his
experience during the French and Indian War, Herkimer passed the order
for his men to take cover behind standing and fallen trees---two men to
a tree, firing and reloading alternately---thus surprising the enemy when
they rushed in for the kill.
The
battle continued late into the morning, the Militia having taken most of
the casualties. A sudden downpour brought musket fire to a halt, allowing
units of Herkimer’s Brigade to regroup and prepare for another attack.
When the rain tapered off around
noon, hand-to-hand combat resumed. It’s at this point that Sir John Johnson
orders his Royal Yorkers into the battle. Militiamen cut some of them down
with volleys of musket fire, and then rushed their former neighbors with
bayonets and knives. For almost a half hour neighbor slaughtered neighbor
in the woods at Oriskany.
Around 1 o’clock
three cannon shots echoed through the woods, the signal from Fort Stanwix
that troops were being dispatched to attack the enemy. Anticipating that
Herkimer expected a relief force from the fort, John Butler suggested a
ruse. Turn their green coats inside out, so they looked like a unit of
the Continental Army. The ruse failed when one of the militiamen recognized
his Tory neighbors.
The battle raged
on until around 2 o’clock when musket fire was heard coming from the British
camp. A hush came over the woods. Soon after the Iroquois withdrew, but
fighting continued for another hour before British forces left the field.
Johnson's Royal Yorkers turned their green coats inside out to try to fool the Militia.
The Battle of
Oriskany---the bloodiest of the Revolutionary War---was over at 3 p.m.
on August 6, 1777. In five hours of fighting the Militia lost 450 men---killed,
captured and wounded. Many of the wounded died of their injuries, including
General Herkimer who bled to death at his home after a surgeon removed
his shattered leg. The Loyalists and Indians lost around 200 men, many
of them Seneca chiefs and warriors.
Legend has it
that the creeks in the ravines ran red with blood. For many years the creek
in the eastern ravine was called Bloody Creek. In recent years it’s been
called Battle Creek.
What was left
of the Tryon County Militia straggled back down the Mohawk Valley, having
failed to reach the Fort. Their dead were left to the ravages of nature,
creating a stench that lasted for months, and remains that were discovered
years after the battle.
After the 3-shot
cannon signal, troops from Fort Stanwix, commanded by Lt. Col. Marinus
Willet, had attacked the lightly-defended enemy camps, including those
of the Indians, taking wagonloads of much-needed supplies, and destroying
campsites. Soon after, the Iroquois abandoned the siege.
Despite the loss
of Indian forces, St. Leger continued the siege for 16 more days. However,
when word reached him that General Benedict Arnold was marching up the
valley with a large force, he broke camp and returned to Canada. The Siege
of Fort Stanwix ended on August 22, 1777.
Subsequently,
General Burgoyne was defeated at the Battle of Saratoga. The jolly good
plan had failed thanks in large part to the sacrifice of the citizen soldiers
of the Tryon County Militia.
In retaliation
for fighting with the Militia, the Iroquois destroyed the Oneida village
of Oriska and their main village at Oneida Castle. For most of the war
the Oneidas lived at Schenectady.
For much more information see: Liberty
March - The Battle of Oriskany - Foote 1998