Battle of Oriskany

The Battle of Oriskany (/ɔːrˈɪskəniː/ or /əˈrɪskəniː/) was a major engagement of the Saratoga campaign during the American Revolutionary War. On August 6, 1777, an American column of Tryon County militia and Oneidas marching to relieve the siege of Fort Stanwix was ambushed by a contingent of Britain's Indigenous allies and Loyalists. It was one of the few battles of the war in which most non-Indigenous participants were settlers born in the Thirteen Colonies. The Americans suffered heavy casualties during the battle.

Under the command of Brigadier General Nicholas Herkimer, the American relief column came up the Mohawk Valley and initially consisted of about 800 militiamen and between 60 and 100 Oneida warriors. In response to news of the column's advance, Brigadier General Barry St. Leger dispatched a force of roughly 500 men under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Sir John Johnson to intercept them. Most of Johnson's force were Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, and Mississaugas warriors led by Sayenqueraghta, Cornplanter, and Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea).

Johnson's men successfully ambushed Herkimer's column in a small valley about 6 miles (10 km) east of Fort Stanwix, near the Oneida village of Oriska. The British victory cost the Americans around 465 dead, wounded, or captured, while Johnson's force suffered only 93 men killed, wounded, or captured. Herkimer was also mortally wounded. The morale of Britain's Indigenous allies was damaged when they discovered that an American sortie from Fort Stanwix had looted their camp during the battle. This was a contributing factor in Leger's decision to abandon the siege two weeks later.

The battle also marked the beginning of a civil war among the Iroquois, as Oneida warriors under Louis Cook and Han Yerry aligned with the Patriot cause, as did the Tuscarora. As the Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga, and Onondaga were allied to the Loyalist cause, this resulted in incidents of armed conflict between the two factions. The battle's location is known in Iroquois oral histories as "A Place of Great Sadness", and has been designated as a National Historic Landmark along with being marked by a monument at the Oriskany Battlefield State Historic Site.

In June 1777, the British Army launched a two-pronged attack from Quebec under the command of General John Burgoyne, whose objective was to split New England from the other colonies by gaining control of New York's Hudson Valley. The main thrust came south across Lake Champlain under Burgoyne's command; the second thrust was led by St. Leger and was intended to come down the Mohawk Valley and meet Burgoyne's army near Albany.

St. Leger's expedition consisted of about 1,800 men who were a mix of British regulars, Creuzbourg's Jäger Corps, Loyalists from the Royal Yorkers and the British Indian Department, and Indigenous warriors of several tribes, including the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Mohawk, and Mississauga. The main body travelled from Lachine up the Saint Lawrence River and along the shore of Lake Ontario to the Oswego River. At Oswega, they were joined by British Indian Department rangers from Fort Niagara under the command of Deputy Superintendent John Butler, and several hundred Indigenous warriors. The expedition ascended the Oswego River and crossed Oneida Lake to reach the Oneida Carry. Fort Stanwix, a Continental Army outpost at the east end of the portage, was besieged beginning August 2.

Tryon County's Committee of Safety head Nicholas Herkimer was warned of a possible British attack along the Mohawk River, and he issued a proclamation on July 17 warning of possible military activity and urging the people to respond if needed. Oneida allies warned him on July 30 that the British were just four days from Fort Stanwix, and he put out a call-to-arms. The force raised totaled 800 from the Tryon County militia composed primarily of poorly trained farmers who were chiefly of Palatine German descent. They set out from Fort Dayton on August 4 and camped near the Oneida village of Oriska on August 5. A number of the militia dropped out of the column due to their lack of conditioning, but Herkimer's forces were augmented by a company of 60 to 100 Oneida warriors led by Han Yerry, a strong supporter of the Patriot cause. That evening, Herkimer sent three men toward the fort with messages for the fort's commander Colonel Peter Gansevoort. Gansevoort was to signal the receipt of the message with three cannon shots and then sortie to meet the approaching column. The couriers, however, had difficulty getting through British lines, and they did not deliver the message until late the next morning, after the battle was already underway.

St. Leger learned on August 5 that Herkimer and his relief expedition were on their way from a message that Molly Brant had sent to her brother Joseph Brant, the Mohawk leader who led a portion of St. Leger's Indigenous contingent. St. Leger sent a detachment of light infantry from Sir John Johnson's Royal Yorkers towards Oriska that evening to monitor Herkimer's advance, and Brant and Butler followed early the next morning with about 400 Indigenous warriors and Indian Department rangers. Many of the warriors were armed with muskets, however, others carried only tomahawks and spears.