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Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924032311007 
 
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MEMORIAL 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Battle of Oriskany. 
 
 AUGUST 6, 1877 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE 
 
 ONEIDA HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 UTICA, N. Y. 
 
 Ellis H. Robekts & Co., Printers, 60 Genesee Street. 
 
 1878. 
 
 f^ 
 
"This generation can pay no better tribute to the pioneers of the 
 Mohawk Valley, than to rescue from obhvion the true import of the 
 deeds they did." 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 A proper celebration of the Battle of Oriskany, upon 
 its one hundredth anniversary, was the spontaneous 
 desire of the residents of the section in which it 
 occurred, and from which its actors were derived. This 
 wish found expression in many quarters of that section 
 early in 1877, the third year of centennial commemora- 
 tion of revolutionary events. In compliance with 
 numerous suggestions in the public press, and else- 
 where, that the Oneida Historical Society, at Utica, 
 was the aj3propriate organization to inaugurate a sys- 
 tematic plan for the desired celebration, a special 
 meeting of that body was held for the purpose, at 
 Utica, on the 8th of June, 1877, at which the following 
 resolutions were adopted : 
 
 One hundred years from August 6, 1877, there occurred, near 
 the junction of the Oriskany and Mohawk streams, the most des- 
 perate and sanguinary, and one of the most important battles of 
 the American Revolution. On that spot the whole military force 
 of the Mohawk Valley, proceeding to the relief of besieged Fort 
 Stanwix, encountered the invading army, and nearly one-half laid 
 down their lives in defense of home and country. This conflict 
 prevented the union of the invaders with Burgoyne, at the Hudson, 
 and contributed to his surrender. 
 
 It is eminently proper, in this era of centennial celebrations of 
 the Revolution, that this event should be siiitably commemorated. 
 The Battle of Oriskany is the prominent feature of revolutionary 
 history in this section. It seems to devolve upon the Oneida His- 
 torical Society, as nearest to the locality, to take the initiative 
 steps, and to invite the co-operation of other organizations and 
 
4 ORISKANY ME.\!ORrAL. 
 
 individuals, throvigliout the ]\[ohawk Valley, in an appropriate and 
 Avorthy celebration of this memorable conflict, npon its hundredth 
 anniversary ; therefore, 
 
 Resolved, Tliat a meeting be held on the 19th day of June^ 
 at 2 p. Ji., at the Common Council Chamber, in Utica, to make 
 arrangements for the centennial celebration of the Battle of Oris- 
 kany, on the battle ground. 
 
 Resolved, That all organizations, desirous of participating, are 
 cordially invited to send representatives to said meeting. 
 
 Resolved, That the chair a})point a committee of arrangements, 
 to represent this society, and that it shall be the duty of this com- 
 mittee to issue all proper invitations, and make all necessary 
 arrangements for such meeting. 
 
 The following committee was appointed : 
 
 S. Dering, R. S. Williams, C. W Hutchinson, T. P. Ballon, ^L 
 !M. Jones, Utica ; George Graham, Oriskany ; D. E. Wager, S. G. 
 Visscher, Rome; E. North, Clinton; E. Graves, Herkimer; Web- 
 ster Wagner, Palatine Bridge. 
 
 The invitation was warmly responded to throughout 
 the Mohawk Valley. Meetings of citizens and organi- 
 zations were at once held, and delegates appointed to 
 represent them on the 19th of June. At that meeting 
 a programme of the necessary committees for the cele- 
 l)ration was adopted. Ex-Governor Horatio Seymour 
 Avas chosen, by acclamation, President of the day, and 
 the followino- o-eneral committee of arrano'ements was 
 appointed : 
 
 Utica. — Charles W. Hutchinson, S. S. Lowery, Harvey I). Tal- 
 cott, Sylvester Dering, P. F. Bulger. 
 
 Rome. — Joseph Porter, S. G. Vissc'ier, D. E. Wager, D. L. 
 Stevens. 
 
 WurrESTOWN. — Philo White. 
 
INTKODUCTOKY. I) 
 
 Oriskaxt. — George Uraham, David S. Laiulfear, x\lonzo I. 
 King, Isaac Fomla. 
 
 Clixton. — O. S. Williams. 
 
 Lewis Coixty. — Garrett L. Roof. 
 
 Herkimer Couxty. — Samuel Earl, A. M. McKee, C. A. Moon, 
 Peter F. Bellinger, Eli Fox, George Tim merman, W. H. H. Park- 
 hurst. 
 
 Madisox Couxty. — C. A. Walrath. 
 
 MoxTGOMERY Couxty. — Simeon Sammons, John H. Starin, 
 Webster Wagnei-, Dow A. Fonda, Jeptha K. Simms, Alfred Wag- 
 ner, Stephen Sandford. 
 
 FuLTOx Coitxty. — ]\[clutj're Fraser. John A. Wells. 
 
 ScHEXEOTADY. — William Wells. 
 
 SiilD-committees on iuvitatioiis, monmnent, military, 
 firemen, grounds, trausportation, reporters, <fee., were 
 also named. At a subsequent meeting of the general 
 committee of arrano-ements, Alfred J, Wao^ner, of Fort 
 Plain, was unanimously chosen Grand Marshal, and 
 Daniel T. Everts, of Utica, was made Chief of Staff. 
 
 It is unnecessary in this place to "mention the many 
 subordinate meetings and proceedings, which occupied 
 the public attention down to the memorable day. The 
 records of these may be found in the files of the public 
 journals in the Mohawk Valley. It is sufficient to state 
 that all the details requisite for a complete and satis- 
 factory result were carefully and industriously perfected 
 in the several localities interested, and by the officers 
 and the committees charged with the respective duties. 
 The historic grounds were thrown open to the public, 
 and duly prepared for its reception. Invitations were 
 
6 ORisKAisry memorial. 
 
 sent to those who from official station or personal 
 association with the event, were considered appropriate 
 guests for the occasion.. 
 
 The permanent record of the celebration would, how- 
 ever, be deficient if it omitted to attribute to the inde- 
 fatigable exertions of the chairman of the committee on 
 invitations, and, subsequently, of the general committee 
 of arrangements, and to the early and continued labors 
 on the ground of the member from Oriskany, much of 
 the success which attended it. 
 
 The account of the celebration is taken chiefly from 
 that in the Uticct Herald^ of which it was correctly 
 stated: "The work of our reporters affords a more 
 graphic impression of the scene u])on the battle-field 
 than actual presence there imparted. For it was too 
 imposing in its whole, and too varied in its details, for 
 the single eye to catch and hold it all." 
 
THE CELBBRATIOK. 
 
 Nature never provided a more favorable day for such 
 an entertainment than Monday, August 6, 1877. It 
 opened with a cloudless sky and an invigorating tem- 
 perature. With the dawn of that matchless day thou- 
 sands, doubtless, "first resolved to participate. 
 
 At sunrise the salutes fired from the guns on the 
 battle-field and all along the Valley of the '^'^ohawk, 
 awakened the people to prepare for the glorious day. 
 From this hour until late in the day they poured into 
 Utica, Rome and other places en route to Oriskany by 
 hundreds and thousands, on foot, horseback, by wagons, 
 carriages, boats, steamers and rail. Men, women and 
 children, old and young, rich and poor — all classes 
 ^vent " on to Oriskany." The roads, lanes, by-ways, 
 hills, valleys, were black with people Avho were browa 
 and begrimed with dust. There was no end to the 
 stream of humanity until nearly dark, many visiting 
 the grounds even at dark. 
 
 Shortly after 7 a. m.. Grand Marshal Wagner, ^vith 
 Chief of Staff Everts and aids, left beadquartei-s at 
 Bagg's Hotel, Utica, for Oriskany. They had a pleas- 
 ant ride to prepare them for the work of the da)^ 
 Chief Everts immediately sent out couriers to the 
 places of rendezvous of the various divisions and de- 
 tachments, to find if all was in readiness. Prompt re- 
 turns were made ; the first from the battle-ground camp 
 
8 ORISKANY MEMOKIAL. 
 
 to report was Colonel George Young and liis cavalry 
 corps, admirably mounted and equipped ; Whitestown, 
 Marshal Mills, the Herkimer County Fire Department, 
 the Kirkland Division, and other organizations fol- 
 lowed in order. Chief Everts kept his aids and 
 couriers flying in all directions determined to have the 
 grand j^rocessiou move as closely to 11 a. m., the ap- 
 pointed hour, as possible. 
 
 m 
 
 THE GRAND PROCESSION. 
 
 At 11.10 A. M., precisely, the grand military and civic 
 procession marched from Oriskany village along the 
 road to the battle-field in the following order: 
 
 Chief Asl)y and Police. 
 Grand Marshal A. J. Wagner and Staff. 
 Young's Independent Cavalry Corps, escort to the Grand Marshal. 
 Sherman's Band, New Hartford. 
 Twenty-sixth Battalion Band. 
 Hon. Horatio Seymour, President of the Day. 
 Flag of Old Fort Stanwix, in joossession of Mrs. Abraham Lan- 
 sing, granddaughter of Col. Gansevoort. 
 IJev. Dr. Van Deusen, Chaplain of the Day, and Orators. 
 Portrait of General Herkimer, in charge of a Descendant. 
 Veterans of 1812 in Carriages. 
 Chairman John F. Seymour and Committee of Arrangements. 
 
 MONTGOMERY AND FULTON COUNTIES. 
 
 Commodore John H. Starin and Staff. 
 General E. A. Brown and Staff. 
 
 FIRST DIVISION. 
 
 Johnstown Cornet Band. 
 
 First Separate Company of Infantry, .Johnstown. 
 
 Johnstown Artillery. 
 
 Commodore Starin's Gun Squad. 
 
PROCESSION. 9 
 
 SEOOTSTD DIVISION. 
 
 Thirteenih Brigade Band, Amsterdam. 
 
 Second Separate Company of Schenectady. 
 
 Descendants of Oriskany Veterans. 
 
 Canajoharie Drum Corps. 
 
 Post Farrel, G. A. R., Canajoharie. 
 
 Montgomery and Fulton Committees in Carriages. 
 
 Veterans of 1812 in Carriages. 
 
 HERKIMER COUNTY. 
 
 Marshal A. M. Mills and Staff. 
 
 FIRST DIVISION. 
 
 Herkimer's Ohl Brass Band. 
 
 German Flats Minute Men. 
 
 Taj'lor's Lightning Battery, of" Ilion. 
 
 Ilion Veteran Gun Squad. 
 
 Veterans of 1812. 
 
 Descendants of Oriskany Veterans. 
 
 G. A. R. Drum Corps. 
 
 -Galpin Post, G. A. R., Commander Brown. 
 
 Chismore Post, 6. A. R., Ilion. 
 
 SECOND DIVISION. 
 
 Little Falls Cornet Baud. 
 
 Officers Little Falls Fire Department. 
 
 Protection Engine and Hose Company. 
 
 Officers Herkimer Fire Department. 
 
 Fort Dayton Engine and Hose Company. 
 
 Mohawk Cornet Baud. 
 
 Frankfort Fire Department. 
 
 Chief Bud.long and Assistiints. 
 
 Columbian Engine Company. 
 
 Tiger Hose Company. 
 
 Veterans of Oriskany and 1812. 
 
 Committee, Village Officers and Distinguished Citizens. 
 
10 OKISKANY MEMOEIAL. 
 
 ONEIDA COUNTY. 
 KIRKLAND DIVISIOJT. 
 
 Marshal J. T. Watson and Staff. 
 
 Kirkland Minute Men, Mounted. 
 
 Veterans of the War, Mounted. 
 
 CUnton Cornet Band. 
 
 Veterans of the War of 1812. 
 
 Clinton Fire Department. 
 
 Chief Engineer Benedict and Assistants. 
 
 Excelsior Fire Companj^ 
 
 St. Patrick's ]\I. B. & L. Society. 
 
 150 Carriages of Citizens. 
 
 Village Trustees, Committees and Guests, covering nearly three 
 
 miles of road. 
 
 WHITE iTOWiSr DIVISION. 
 
 Marshal Wetniore and Staff. 
 
 Oriskany Cornet Band. 
 
 Grand Army Veterans. 
 
 Vice President-at-Large Hon. Philo White. 
 
 Trustees of Village and Committees. 
 
 Whitesboro Fire Department. 
 
 Column of Mechanics from Babbitt's Whitesboro Iron Works,, 
 
 Mounted. 
 
 Norman Stallion Monarch, Jr., Mounted on Wagon. 
 
 Bamier — " We Honor the Heroes of Oriskany 's Battle." 
 
 New York Mills Band. 
 
 Post Ross, G. A. R., New York Mills. 
 
 Minute Men Mounted. 
 
 Clergy, Committee, Citizens. 
 
 WESTMORELAND DIVISION. 
 
 Marshal James Dean and Staff". 
 Westmoreland Band. 
 
 Veterans of 1812. 
 
 Minute Men Mounted. 
 
 Masonic Lodges Mounted. 
 
 I. O. G. T. Lodges in Cari-iages. 
 
 Committee and Citizens in Carriages. 
 
PROCESSION. 11 
 
 ROME DIVISION. 
 
 Marshal Frank B. Beers and Staff. 
 
 Chief Wilds and Police. 
 
 Old Rome Band. 
 
 Skillin Post, G. A. R., No. 4. 
 
 Veterans of Army and Navy. 
 
 First Ward Minute Men. 
 
 Second Ward Minute Men. 
 
 Third Ward Minute Men. 
 
 Fourth Ward Minute Men. 
 
 Fifth Ward Minute Men. 
 
 Oneida Indians. 
 
 Rome Cornet Band. 
 
 Chief Engineer Shanly and Assistants. 
 
 Rome Fire Department. 
 
 General Gansevoort Steamer Company. 
 
 Stryker Hose Company. 
 
 Fort Stanwix Steamer Company. 
 
 ^Etna Hose Company. 
 
 Washington Hose Company. 
 
 Moliawk Hose Company. 
 
 Committee, Citizens, Clergy and Guests. 
 
 UTICA DIVISION. 
 
 Brigadier General Sylvester Dering and Staff. 
 
 Old Utica Band. 
 
 Utica Citizens' Corps escorting Governor Robinson's Staff, Mayor 
 
 Gaffin and Common Council of Utica. 
 
 Adjutant Bacon Cadets, escorting Veterans of 1812. 
 
 Twenty-first Brigade. 
 
 First Separate Troop Cavalry. 
 
 Fort Stanwix Guards. 
 
 Armstrong Guards. 
 
 Battalion Band. 
 
 Twenty-sixth Battalion. 
 
 Lieut. Col. P. F. Bulger and Staff. 
 
 Hutchinson Light Guards. 
 
 LTtica Conkling Corps. 
 
 Utica Veteran Zouaves. 
 
 Utica Dering Guards. 
 
1:2 ORISKANY MEMORIAL, 
 
 Post Bacon, G. A. R., Commander Bright. 
 
 Post Cunan, G. A. R. 
 
 Veterans of 1812. 
 
 Veterans of the Army and ]S''avj\ 
 
 Clergy, Committee and Citizens in Carriages. 
 
 The various divisions not reporting at the village 
 were in readiness at the places of rendezvous assigned 
 to them, as follows: 
 
 Whitesboro and New York Mills on the farms of Messrs. 
 Roberts and Yoxel, just west of the church. Kirkland Division 
 at the main street, Oriskaiiy. Westmoreland Division at Cider 
 street. Rome Division on the riglit side of the lane leading from 
 Betsinger's bridge to the main road. Brigadier General Dering 
 and 21st Brigade upon the hill south of the Rome Division. The 
 Utica Division upon the south side of the main road on J. Bet- 
 singer's farm, and many independent organizations at other points 
 alono- the route. 
 
 » 
 
 As the head of the coluinu reached the military or- 
 ganizations located along the route, salutes were fired 
 and the troops came to a present. Both sides of the 
 road were lined with people, who cheered enthusiast- 
 ically the carriage containing Governor Se} mour, Mrs. 
 Lansing, and the old flag of Fort Stanwix. 
 
 The location of the 21st Brigade, the Utica Citizens' 
 Corps and Adjutant Bacon Cadets was an admirable 
 one on the north hillside. General Dering and the 
 Rome Cavalry Troop came riding over the hill as the 
 column approached. The 26th Battalion remained 
 back on the hill, while the Corps stood at a "present" 
 in the front and center of the field, the Adjutant Bacon 
 Cadets on the left, and the Rome Division on the north 
 side of the road. An elevation in the road gave all a 
 
J^ROOESSION. 13 
 
 iiiaguiliceut view of the grand panoramic V)eauty of the 
 Mohawk Valley and the hills beyond, brilliant with 
 emerald hues. Salutes, cheei'S and waving handker- 
 chiefs greeted the column from all directions. So 
 admirably were all the arrangements pei'fected that lit- 
 tle, if any, delay was caused by the filing into line of 
 the separate divisions. 
 
 In passing the ravine, where so many of General 
 Herkimer's brave men fell one hundred years ago, all 
 the troops honored the spot by coming to a carry, and 
 colors were dipped. These honors were the occasion of 
 still more enthusiastic cheering. 
 
 The head of the column reached the entrance to the 
 battle-field west of the ravine at 12.20 p. m., or one hour 
 and ten minutes after leaving: Oriskanv. It led on 
 over the route taken by General Herkimer in 1777 to 
 the west of the field, wheeled to the north and moved 
 on to the line of the grand marshal's field quarters, 
 then to the east past the grand stand, w^here Governor 
 Seymour, and Mrs. Lansing with the old Hag, the ora- 
 tors and distino-uished guests alighted — the column 
 moving around the amphitheater to the south and west 
 again, until a hollow square was formsd around the 
 amphitheater and grand stand. The column occupied 
 just an hour in passing a given point near the field. 
 
 From the grand marshal's tent the view presented at 
 the time of the moving of the column on the field was 
 one that never can be forgotten. The amphitheater 
 seemed to be formed for the occasion. It commanded a 
 view of the whole of the grounds, with the exception 
 of the center of the southern portion of the ravine 
 
14 OEISKANY MEMORIAL. 
 
 Tlie eminence on the east side, with Camp Seymour, the 
 camps on the south side of the road, the village of 
 booths and tents, the brilliant display of moving uni- 
 formed and armed men, their arms and trappings daz- 
 zling the eyes in the sunlight, and — more imposing than 
 all, the constantly moving mass of humanity that cov- 
 ered every portion of the field and all its surrounding, 
 formed a panoramic view that has never been surpassed, 
 if equaled, in this State. The best estimate formed by 
 comparing the notes of men of experience, makes the 
 number present between 60,000 and 75,000. It was a 
 hard task to estimate by counting groups, because the 
 people were constantly moving. In addition to the 
 masses within view on all parts of the field, the road 
 between Oriskany and Rome was filled with people. 
 All the fields for miles around were occupied at noon. 
 
THE LITERARY EXERCISES. 
 
 The literary exercises of the celebration l^egan 
 promptly after the arrival of the procession on the 
 iDattle-field. The vast concourse was called to order 
 by John F. Seymour, Chairman of the General Com- 
 mittee of Arraugemeuts. Chief of Staff Everts an- 
 nounced the immediate order of exercises. 
 
 Rev. Dr. E. M. Van Deusen, rector of Grace Church, 
 Utica, was called upon to offer prayer, which he did, 
 opening with the Lord's Prayer, and continuing as 
 follows : 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 BY EEV. DE. E. M. VAN DEUSEK. 
 
 O Grod, who art the blessed and only Potentate, the 
 King of kings, and Lord of lords; the Almighty ruler 
 of nations; we adore and magnify thy glorious name 
 for all the great things which thou hast done for us. 
 We especially desire, on this hundredth anniversary of 
 a great struggle and victory, to acknowledge thy over- 
 ruling Providence in all things, and "raise a memorial 
 of thy living kingdom, and tell out thy works with 
 gladness." We render thee thanks for the goodly her- 
 itage which thou hast given us ; for the civil and relig- 
 ious privileges which we enjoy; and for the multiplied 
 manifestations of thy favor toward us. Grant that we 
 
16 OKISKA^^Y :\IE.AIOEIAL. 
 
 may show foi'tli our thanktulness for these thy iiiercies 
 l)y living in reverenca of thy ahnighty jwwer and 
 (louiiuion, in humble reliance on thy goodness and 
 mercy, and in lioly obeilience to thy righteous laws. 
 Preserve, we )>eseech thee, to o ir country the blessings 
 of peace; restore them to natiou-s deprived of them;, 
 and secure them to all people of the earth. May the 
 kingdom of the Prince of Peace come; and reigning in 
 the hearts and lives of men, unite them in holy fellow- 
 ship; so that their only strife may be, who shall show 
 forth, with most humble and lioly fervor, the praises of 
 Him who both loved them and made them kings and 
 priests unto God. We implore tliy blessing on all in 
 legislative, judicial and executive authority, that they 
 may have grace, wisdom and understanding, so to dis- 
 charge their duties as most effectually to promote thy 
 glory, the interests of true religion and virtue, and the 
 peace, good order and welfare of this State and nation. 
 Continue, O Lord, to prosper our institutions for the 
 promotion of sound learning, the diffusion of virtuous 
 education, and tlie advancement of Christian truth, and 
 of the purity and prosperity of the Church ; change, 
 we beseech thee, every evil heart of unbelief, and shed 
 the quickening influences of thy Holy Spirit on all the 
 people of this land. Save us from the guilt of abusing 
 the blessings of p)ros23erity to luxury and licentious- 
 ness ; to irreligion and vice ; lest we provoke thee, in 
 just judgment, to visit our offences with a rod, and our 
 sins with scourges. Be thou pleased to restore kindly 
 feeling, confidence and union between the employer and 
 employed; restrain evil passions, give peace where there 
 is discord, and may all men learn to do justly, love 
 mercy, and walk humbly with thee their God. And 
 "while thy unmerited goodness to us, O God of our 
 salvation ! leads us to repentance, may we offer our- 
 
PKAYER. 
 
 17 
 
 selves, our souls and bodies, a living sacrifice to thee 
 who hast preserved and redeemed us, through Jesus 
 Christ our Lord, on whose merits and mediation alone 
 we humbly rely for the forgiveness of our sins, and the 
 acceptance of our services; and who liveth and reign- 
 eth, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, 
 world without end. Amen, 
 
 Governor Seymour was then introduced, to deliver 
 the welcoming address, by Mr. Graham, and was re- 
 ceived with applause. He spoke as follows : 
 
ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 
 
 BY GOV. HORATIO SEYMOUR. 
 
 All who care for the glory of our country; all who 
 love to study the history of events which have shaped 
 our civilization, government and laws; all who seek to 
 lift up the virtues of our people by filling their 
 minds with lofty standards of patriotism, will rejoice 
 that we meet here to-day on this battle-field to honor 
 the courage and devotion displayed here one hundred 
 years ago. The sacred duty in which we are engaged 
 does not merely concern the memories of the dead; it 
 teaches the duties and elevates the character of the 
 livino;. The command that we honor our fathers is not 
 only a religious requirement, but it is a grave maxim of 
 jurisprudence. Those who think and speak of virtue 
 and patriotism sow in their own and in the minds of 
 others the seeds of virtue and patriotism. The men of 
 the Valley of the Mohawk will be wiser and better for 
 this gathering upon the spot where their fathers fought 
 and suffered and bled to uphold the cause of this 
 country. 
 
 The preparation for this celebration, the events of 
 the day, the facts which will be brought to light, the 
 duties which will be taught, will in some degree tell 
 upon the character of every man before me. They will 
 do more. They will revive the legends of the past in 
 every household in this valley. They will give them 
 currency among all classes and weave them into woof 
 and warp of popular knowledge. Much that was 
 dying out will be revived and stamped upon the memo- 
 ries of the oncoming generation. This celebration 
 
ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 19 
 
 makes our hills and streams teacliers of virtue. It 
 gives new interest to the course of our river and our 
 valley. For, henceforth, they will recall to our minds 
 more clearly the events of the past. Every spot noted 
 for some stirring act will hereafter, as we pass them by, 
 remind us of the deeds of our fathers. The old 
 churches and homes built when Britain ruled our coun- 
 try, and which were marred by war when this valley 
 was desolated by torch and tomahawk, will grow more 
 sacred in our eyes. Their time-worn walls will teach 
 us in their silent way to think of suffering, of blood- 
 shed, of ruthless ravages, more dreadful and prolonged 
 than were endured elsewhere during the revolutionary 
 struggle. 
 
 We are this day bringing out the events of our coun- 
 try in their true light. Historians have done much 
 and well in making up the records of the past. But 
 their recitals have not yet become, as they should be, a 
 part of the general intelligence of our people. Views 
 are distorted l^y local prejudices. Events are not seen 
 in their due proportions or with proper perspectives. 
 This is mainly due to the neglect of its history by New 
 York There is a dimness in the popular vision about, 
 this great center, source and theater of events whicli 
 have shaped the civilization, usages and government of 
 this continent. This is not only a wrong to our State, 
 but to our Union. It has left the annals of other sec- 
 tions disjointed fi'om their due relationships to the 
 o-reat body of our traditions. This want of an under- 
 standing of the affairs of New York has been to the 
 history of our country what the conquest by Britain of 
 its strongholds during the revolution would have been 
 to the American cause. It has broken its unity. It 
 has made a broad field of separation between its paths, 
 which has made it difficult to get clear conceptions of 
 its unity and its central sources. 
 
20 ORISKANY MEMORIAL. 
 
 Let us who live along the course of the Mohawk 
 now enter upon our duty of making its history as 
 familiar as household words. Let us see that the 
 graves of dead pati'iots are marked by monuments. 
 Let suitable structures tell tlie citizens of other States 
 aud countries when they pass along our thoroughfares, 
 where its great events were enacted. And let all this 
 be done in a way that shall stir our hearts and educate 
 our minds. Let it not l)e done by virtue of an act of 
 Leo'islature, but by virtue of our own efforts and pati'i- 
 otisra. Let us not look elsewhere for aid when we 
 would honor the memoiies of those who here served 
 their country in the heart of our State. To my mind, 
 this would be as unfit as for that family whose circle 
 has been broken by death to let strangers come in and 
 perform the last sacred office to their departed kindred. 
 Let our colleges teach their students the history of the 
 jurisprudence of New York, and it will make them 
 wiser citizens when they enter upon the duties of life. 
 Let our more youthful scholars be taught the events 
 and traditions which make our hills instinct with glow- 
 ing interest. Let the family circle by the fireside learn 
 the legends of our valley, and let the mother with 
 glowing pride tell to her offspring what those of their 
 own blood aud lineage did for their country's welfare, 
 so that patriotism shall be kindled at each hearth- 
 stone. Let the rich man give of his abundance, and 
 the poor what he can with a willing heart, and then 
 when monuments shall stand on this field or on other 
 spots consecrated by the ashes of those who perished 
 for their country, such monuments will not only show 
 that the memories of the dead have been honored, but 
 that the living are intelligent, virtuous and patriotic. 
 
 When Europeans first came to our shores, they found 
 the region stretching from the Atlantic to the Missis- 
 
ADDRESS OF WELCOME, 21 
 
 sippi, from the great lakes to the center of the present 
 State of North Carolina, under the control of the 
 Iroquois. They gained their power by their possession 
 of the strongholds in this State. From these they fol- 
 lowed the diverging valleys, which gave them path- 
 ways into the country of their enemies, who were 
 divided by the chains of mountains which separated 
 the rivers after they had taken their courses from the 
 highlands of New York. For more than a century a 
 contest in arms and diplomacy was carried on between 
 Great Britain and France for the control of the system 
 of the mountains and rivers of this State, which made 
 the Iroquois the masters of all the adjacent tribes. 
 Albany, at the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson, 
 became the colonial capital of the British settlements. 
 It was the point from which, during the long years of 
 the French war, most of the military expeditions were 
 sent forth. It was the place at which was held the 
 meetings of the agents of the several colonies, and at 
 which they learned the value of co-operation and con- 
 ceived the idea of a union of the colonies. Most of 
 the revolutionary struggle was marked by the same 
 continuous effort of the contending parties to gain con- 
 trol of the commandino; positions of this State. When 
 
 O J. 
 
 our independence was achieved, the valleys which had 
 been the >var-paths of savage and civilized armies, be- 
 came the great thoroughfares through which the still 
 mightier armies of immigration from Europe and the 
 East filled the interior of our continent. At our feet 
 are railroads and water routes that have been for a 
 series of years the thoroughfares for a vast current of 
 commerce, and the greatest movement of the human 
 race recorded in its history. All other movements, in 
 war or peace, are insignificant in comparison with the 
 vast numbers that have passed along the borders of 
 this battle-field to find homes in the great plains of the 
 
2'2 • OKISKANY IMEMOEIAL. 
 
 West, to organize social s^^stems and to l)uild up great 
 States. The histories of our country which fail to set 
 forth clearly the events of this great central point are 
 as obscure and as defective as would be an attempt to 
 describe the physical aspects of the country, and yet 
 should omit a mention of the great streams of our land 
 on the highlands of our State which ilow from them 
 into the cold waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, into 
 the tepid currents of the Gulf of Mexico, or the great 
 bays of New York, of the Delaware and Chesapeake. 
 The currents of events which distinguish our history, 
 like the currents of our rivers, have largely had their 
 origin in our territory. 
 
 To the ceremonies of this day, in honor of those who 
 battled for American liberty in the past, and in the 
 faith that this day's proceedings will promote virtue 
 and patriotism in the future, we extend a welcome to 
 all in attendance here ; to the State officials who 
 honor us by their presence; to citizens and soldiers 
 who manifest their gratitude to those who sacrified so 
 much on the gi'ound for the public welfare. It is with 
 no ordinary feelings that we meet the descendants of 
 those who fought at the Battle of Oriskany, one of the 
 most tierce and bloody contests of the Revolution. As 
 we saw them coming along the course of the Mohawk 
 the past seemed to be recalled. When we look at the 
 array from the upper valley and those who sallied fi'om 
 Fort Stanwix to join us here, we feel reinforced by 
 triends, as our fathers, from the same quarters. We 
 welcome all to this celebration of patriotic service and 
 sacrifice. When it is closed we shall bid you God- 
 speed to your several homes, with the prayer that in 
 your different walks of life you will do your duty as 
 manfully, and serve your country as faithfully, as the 
 men who battled so bravely on this ground one hun- 
 dred years ago. 
 
ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 23 
 
 The audience listened with marked attention and ap- 
 preciation, often interrupting the speaker with hearty 
 applause. When the applause had subsided, Governor 
 Seymour said he had something more to say, and spoke 
 as follows : 
 
 It is a just source of patriotic pride to those who live 
 in this valley that the flag of our country ( with the 
 stars and stripes ) was first displayed in the face of our 
 enemies on the banks of the Mohawk. Here it was 
 baptized in the blood of battle. Here it first waved in 
 triumph over a retreating foe. When the heroic de- 
 fenders of Fort Stanwix learned in that remote fortress 
 the emblem adopted by the Continental Congress for 
 the standards to be borne by its armies, they hastened 
 to make one in accordance with the mandate, and to 
 hano; it out from the walls of their fortress. It was 
 rudely made of such materials cut from the clothing of 
 the soldiers as were fitted to show its colors and its de- 
 signs. But no other standard, however skillfully 
 wrought upon silken folds, could equal in interest this 
 first flag of our country worked out by the unskilled 
 hands of brav^e men, amid the strife of war and under 
 the fire of beleao-uering' foes. It was to rescue it from 
 its peril that the men of this valley left their homes and 
 miarched through the deep forest to this spot. 
 
 It was to uphold the cause of which it was the em- 
 blem that they battled here. Time has destroyed that 
 standard. But I hold in my hand another banner 
 hardly less sacred in its associations with our history. 
 It is the flag of our State which was borne by the regi- 
 ment commanded by Colonel Gansevoort, not only here 
 at the beginning of the revolutionary war, liut also 
 when it was ended by the surrender of the British 
 army at Yorktown. The brave soldier who carried it 
 
24 ORISKANT MEMORIAL. 
 
 through so many contests valued it beyond all other 
 earthly possessions. He left it as a precious heirloom 
 to his family. They have kept it with such faithful 
 care that again, after a century lias rolled away, its 
 folds can be displayed in this valley to another genera-, 
 tion, wlio will look upon it with a devotion equal to 
 that felt by those who followed it on the battle-fields 
 of the Kevolution. When it is now unfurled, let it re- 
 ceive the military honors accorded it a hundred years 
 ago; and let us reverently uncover our heads in 
 memory of the dead who watched and guarded it 
 through the bloodshed and perils of ancient war. 
 
 John F. Seymour then lifted the flag which floated 
 proudly in the breeze. At the sight of it the vast 
 audience gave three rousing cheers and lifted their hats. 
 All the military presented arms, and the bands played 
 the " Star Spangled Banner." The Fulton ville battery 
 belched forth a salute which shook the hills, and cheer 
 upon cheer went up. The eflect was thrilling. 
 
 This flag was the standard of the Third New York 
 Regiment, commanded by Colonel Peter Gansevoort, 
 who at the disbandment of the army retained it in his 
 own possession and handed it down to his son, the late 
 Peter Gansevoort, from whom it descended to his 
 danghter, Mrs. Abraham Lansing, in whose hands it is 
 now preserved with thc^ greatest care. The flag con- 
 sists of a piece of heavy blue silk, of very fine quality, 
 and which has preserved its color remarkably. Its 
 present dimensions are those of a square, being nearly 
 seven feet each way, but it is probable that it was orig- 
 inally somewhat longer and belter proportioned. The 
 
ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 25 
 
 outer edge is hemmed, but on tlie upper and lower 
 margin the fringe, which no doubt was once very rich 
 and extended all round, still remains. The design upon 
 the flag represents the arms of the State of New York, 
 but not as at present, nor yet like the seal adopted in 
 1778. It is probable that it was painted while the de- 
 sign of 1778 was under consideration, as it bears some 
 resemblance to it. In the center there is an oval shield 
 upon which is depicted the sun rising from behind a 
 mountain peak, the foot of which reaches down to 
 water ; above the shield is the eagle standing upon a 
 hemisphere. The shield is supported on either hand 
 by female figures about twenty-five inches high ; on the 
 left, Liberty; on the right, Justice, holding the even 
 balance ; beneath all a scroll bearing the word 
 " Excelsior." 
 
 Notwithstanding the care which has been bestowed 
 upon it, this sacred relic shows the ravages of time, the 
 painting being somewhat cracked and the silk rent 
 with many a gash. So much as remains, however, will 
 be handed down to posterity, to be regarded by each 
 generation with deeper reverence and affection. 
 
 Governor Seymour then spoke of the lady who had 
 kindly consented to allow the flag to be exhibited. 
 He said: 
 
 We owe it to the kindness of a lady, the grand- 
 daughter of the heroic Gansevooi't, that the interest of 
 this occasion has been heightened by the exhibition of 
 the banner which was just displayed. As I have stated 
 he left it as an heirloom to his descendants. It now 
 
2G ORISKANY MEMORIAL. 
 
 belongs to his granddaughter, Mrs. Abraham Lansing, 
 of Albany. We could not ask her to surrender it even 
 for a short time into our hands, for we felt that no one 
 of the lineao'e of Colonel Gansevoort would surrender 
 a flao-. The effort to o-et him to do that was unsuccess- 
 fully tried by St. Leger, although he had an army to 
 enforce his demands. We therefore urged her to honor 
 lis by her j^resence at this time and to bring with her as 
 its guardian the banner which has just been exhibited. 
 I know I express the feelings of this assemblage when 
 I say, that in complying with our request, she has con- 
 ferred upon us a favor which will long l)e remembered 
 in the Valle}^ of the Mohawk. In behalf of this as- 
 sembly, I thank her for her kindness and for her pres- 
 ence on this occasion. 
 
 The audience expressed its appreciation by three 
 hearty cheers and continued applause for Gen. Ganse- 
 voort and his descendants. An intermission of one 
 hour was then announced, and the thousands of people 
 went in search of dinner. 
 
AFTERNOON EXERCISES. 
 
 AT THE WEST STAND. 
 
 At 2.45, when the exercises at the West Stand were 
 opened, a dense throng was congregated, packed around 
 on all sides. The platform was in a hollow, in the 
 scanty shade of an apple tree, the people closing around 
 as in an amphitheater, only pressing closely upon the 
 arena. The Old Utica Band, stationed under a neigh- 
 boring apjDle tree, opened the exercises. 
 
 LETTERS FROM INVITED GUESTS. 
 
 John F. Seymour called the assemblage to order. 
 He said: We have the pleasure of having with us 
 Lieutenant Grovernor Dorsheimer, Major Douglass 
 Campbell, Judge Bacon and Ellis H. Roberts, who 
 will address us on this occasion. Before the speaking, 
 however, I wish to read to you some letters we have 
 received from gentlemen invited to be present, but who 
 have been unable to attend. 
 
 Following are the several letters: 
 
 FROM PRESIDENT HATES. 
 
 Executive Mansion, Washington, July 13, 1877. 
 Mr. John F. Seymour, Chairman Invitation Committee : 
 
 My Dear Sir : I regret that I can not accept your invitation to 
 "be present at the celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of 
 the Battle of Oriskany. It would be very gratifying to me to take 
 part in the exercises of the occasion, and to meet the citizens of 
 iN'ew York who will be in attendance. I trust that your celebra- 
 tion will be altogether successful. Sincerely, 
 
 R. B. Hates. 
 
-S OEISKANY MEMORIAL. 
 
 TEOM A'ICE PEESIDENT WHEELER. 
 
 Malone, July 13, 1811, 
 
 J. F. Setmoue, Esq., Cliairman, &c., Utica, N. Y. : 
 
 My Dear Sir : It would afford me great pleasure to be with 
 j^ou on the occasion of the one hundredth anniversary of the 
 Battle of Oriskany, but engagements, long since made, will take 
 me out of the State at that time, and I must forego the pleasure. 
 Yours truly, Wm. A. Wheeler. 
 
 FROM SECRETARY E^'^ARTS. 
 
 Department of State, Washington, Jul}^ 14, 1877. 
 Hon. John F. Seymour, Chairman, &g. : 
 
 My Dear Sir : I have had the honor to receive the invitation of 
 your committee to attend and take part in the celebration of the 
 Battle of Oriskany on the 6tli of August next. 
 
 I can well understand the wide and sincere interest in this cele- 
 bration which prevails throughout Central New York, and would 
 gladly attend upon the occasion were it in my power. 
 
 Engagements already formed, for the month of August, will de- 
 prive me of the pleasure of visiting Utica, and uniting with my 
 fellow-citizens in the patriotic festivities proposed. 
 
 I am yours, very truly, Wm. ]M. Evarts. 
 
 FROM GENERAL SHERMAN. 
 
 Headquarters Army of the United States, ) 
 Washington, D. C, July 13, 1877. ) 
 
 Mr. John F. Seymour, Chairman Invitation Committee, Utica : 
 
 Sir : Your invitation to General Sherman to attend the cele- 
 bration of the one hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Oris- 
 kany has been received. General Sherman is now traveling up 
 the Yellowstone river, and will not be within reach by mail or 
 telegraph before the 1st proximo, and is not expected to return to 
 Washington for several months. 
 
 Very respectfully yours, Wm. D. Whipple, 
 
 A. D. C. and Bvt. Maj. Gen. 
 
LETTERS. 29 
 
 EROiM EX-SECRETARY FISH, 
 
 Glenclypfe, July 21, 1877. 
 John F. Seymour, Esq., Chairman, Utica: 
 
 Dear Sir: I regret very mueli to find this daj^ that a note 
 ■vrhich I had addressed to yon, several days since, in reply to your 
 invitation to attend the celebration of the one hundredth anniver- 
 sary of the Battle of Oriskany, has been overlooked and remains 
 overlaid on my table. I fear that it will not be in my power to 
 be present. I am about to leave home to be absent for a short 
 period, which however will prevent my attendance on the 
 occasion. 
 
 Compared with other battles, in the consideration of the forces 
 engaged, the Battle of Oriskany was a very insignificant affair, 
 but it involved skill, courage and endurance, and in its results is 
 to be regarded as one of the important successes in the great 
 struggle which brought a nation into recognized existence. 
 
 I am very lespectfully yours, Hamilton Fish. 
 
 FROM EX-GOVERNOR DIX. 
 
 Se AFIELD, West Hampton, July 16, 1877. 
 John F. Setmoije, Esq. : 
 
 Dear Sir: I very much regret that I am unable to accept your 
 
 kind invitation to be present at tlie one hundredth anniversary of 
 
 the Battle of Oriskany, and unite in the commemoration of that 
 
 important event in the great campaign of the revolutionary war. 
 
 Very truly yours, John A. Dix. 
 
 FROM GENERAL m'cLELLAN. 
 
 Okange, New Jersey, July 14, 1877. 
 
 John ¥. Seymour, Esq., Chairman, &c. : 
 
 My Dear Sir : Your very kind letter of the 9th reached me 
 only yesterday. I regret extremely that other engagements will 
 render it impossible for me to avail myself of your most polite 
 invitation, to take part in the interesting ceremonies proposed for 
 the celebration of the centennial anniversary of the Battle of 
 Oriskany. It would afford me very great pleasure to show my 
 respect for the memory of the brave men who participated in that 
 battle, so important in its results, and I should also derive very 
 
30 OEISKAlSrY MEMORIAL. 
 
 great satisfaction from meeting so many good friends as I should 
 be sure to do on the 6th ; but unfortunately it is not in my power 
 to be at Oriskany on the day in question. 
 
 May I ask you to convey to the other gentlemen of the com- 
 mittee my sincere and cordial thanks for their politeness, and my 
 regret that I must necessarily be absent. With my best wishes 
 for the complete success of the celebration, I am, my dear sir, 
 most truly yours, Geo. B. McClellan. 
 
 FEOM WILLIAM C. BRYANT, 
 
 RosLTiSr, Long Island, N. Y., Jaly 12, 1811. 
 
 J. F. Seymouk, Chairman of Invitation Committee : 
 
 Dear Sir : For various reasons I can not attend the commemo- 
 ration of the Battle of Oriskany, to which your committee has 
 obligingly invited me. I owe you many thanks for the kind terms 
 with which you have accompanied the invitation, and which, were 
 I a younger man, might have persuaded me to leave this retreat. 
 As to the ode of which you speak, I have already declined two 
 requests of the kind, and one I have complied with, solely because 
 I incautiously said something which was understood as a promise. 
 But it is too late for me to think of writing verses for public occa- 
 sions. If I were to employ myself in such an office, I am afraid I 
 should appear like a gardener, who, in the beginning of the win- 
 ter, should attempt to raise flowers in the open air, in order tO' 
 have a bouquet ready for the festivities of New Year's eve. 
 
 I am, sir, very truly yours, W. C. Bryant. 
 
 FEOir GENERAL SIGEL, 
 
 New York, July 16, 1877. 
 
 John F. Sey'Mour, Esq., Chairman Invitation Committee, Utica, 
 N. Y.: 
 
 Dear Sir : I am much obliged to you and your committee for 
 the kind letter of invitation sent to me, in relation to the intended 
 celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the Battle of 
 Oriskany, on the 6th of August next; but on account of private 
 aifairs, which demand my presence in this city, I am sorry to say 
 that I shall not be able to meet you and your friends on that occa- 
 sion. Of course, I highly appreciate your patriotic sentiments in 
 
LETTERS. 31 
 
 doing honor and justice to old Herkimer and his companions, who 
 so bi-avely defended the country of their choice in the hour of 
 need and clanger, and sincerely hope that your efforts will be re- 
 warded with well deserved success. 
 
 Very respectfully yours, F. Sigel. 
 
 FROM GEORGE W. CLINTON. 
 
 Buffalo, .July 16, 1877. 
 John F. Seymour, Chairman, &c: : 
 
 Dear Sir: Your invitation to the one hundredth anniversary of 
 the Battle of Oriskany was not received until this morning, and I 
 regret extremely that it is not in my power now to change my 
 arrangements so as to enable me to enjoy the great pleasure and 
 honor of being present and aiding that most extraordinary occa- 
 sion. Very respectfully yours, 
 
 G. W. Clintox. 
 
 FROM HON. S. S. COX. 
 
 New York City, August 3, 1877. 
 My Dear Mr. Seymour : 
 
 I have not been iinmindful of your invitation to attend the 
 Oriskany celebration. I have endeavored to arrange my affairs so 
 as to be with you, if not as a speaker, as an interested auditor ; but 
 I have failed. 
 
 I confess that ancestral revolutionary associations would carry 
 me into next year, and into the Monmouth, jST. J., region; but 
 none the less interesting are the Mohawk annals ! With what a 
 persistent and ready spirit the Mohawkers rallied to aid in freeing 
 New York from the Burgoyne invasion ; and although Oriskany 
 may not be accounted a pivotal battle, still it was in every way an 
 illustration of that spirit of the militia which was founded on a 
 deep, manly, thoughtful sense of right and freedom. Its hun- 
 dredth year is an era to be cherished. The intelligent, grateful 
 and patriotic folk of the Mohawk Valley know how to celebrate 
 its best meanings. With respect, 
 
 S. S. Cox. 
 
32 ORISKAJSTY MEMORIAL. 
 
 FROM GOVERNOR ROBINSON. 
 
 State of New York, Executive Chamber, ) 
 Albany, August 3, 1877. ) 
 
 John F. Seymour, Esq., Utica, N. Y. : 
 
 My Dear Sir : I am in receipt of your invitation to be present 
 at the celebration of tlie one hundredth anniversary of the Battle 
 of Oriskany. 1 regret extremely that circumstances, which I can 
 not control, prevent xnj acceptance of the invitation. 
 
 I sliould be vei-y happy, if it wei-e possible, to unite with the 
 people of the Mohawk Valley in celebrating this important event 
 in their history. It must have for all of them, and especially for 
 the many who are of German descent, a very great interest. It is 
 a singular fact that in the Battle of Oriskany, which had so im- 
 portant an effect in our contest for national independence, the Ger- 
 man language almost alone was used on the side of the 
 Americans. 
 
 I am glad to know that there will be at the celebration, men far 
 more competent than myself to do full justice to this chapter in 
 the history of our revolutionary war. 
 
 I am with great respect, yours very truly, 
 
 L. KOBINSON. 
 
 FROM BENSON J. LOSSING. 
 
 The Ridge, Dover Plains Post-Ofpioe, ) 
 Duchess Co., N. Y., July 24, 1877. f 
 
 John F. Seymour, Esq. : 
 
 Dear Sir : Your letter, dated July 9, did not reach me until 
 last evening by way of Poughkeepsie. I thank you for the invi- 
 tation it contained, to jiarticipate with the people of the Mohawk 
 Valley in the celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the 
 Battle of Oriskany, on the 6th of August next ; also for the com- 
 pliment of an invitation to make a brief address to the multitude 
 who will gather there. "Were it in my power I should certainly 
 be with you, but imperative engagements will prevent. 
 
 Twenty-nine years ago I made a pilgrimage to the grand thea- 
 ter of historic events in the Valley of the Mohawk, which gave it 
 the appropriate title of " The Dark and Bloody Ground." On a 
 warm July afternoon, I rode down from Rome ( Fort Stanwix ) to 
 
LETTERS. 33 
 
 Oriskany village, where Mr. George Graham, of that jjlace, kindly 
 accompanied me to the site of the battle, that gave one of the 
 most fatal checks to the conquering Burgoyne, then making his 
 way slowly down the Valley of the Hudson. 
 
 Nowhere during that summer's pilgrimage was I more deeply 
 impressed with the patriotism, courage and fortitude of the yeo- 
 manry of our beloved country when fighting for the inalienable 
 right to the enjoyment of liberty, than when I stood on the east- 
 ern border of that ravine, around which in a semi-circle had lain 
 in ambush the dusky warriors of the woods led by the accom- 
 plished Brant, and supported by the " Royal Greens " of Sir John 
 Johnson and the trained Tory bands of Colonels Butler and Glaus. 
 
 There might then be seen at the bottom of the ravine the very 
 logs that formed a causeway across the marsh, over which the 
 gallant General Herkimer was leading the militia under Colonels 
 Cox, Paris and Klock, when at a signal from Brant the savages 
 arose and closed the circle around them, and smote them terribly 
 with spear and hatchet and deadly rifle ball. 
 
 Below us lay that dreadful slaugliter-pen covered with sweet 
 verdure and bathed in the sunlight, where a hundred years ago 
 lay the dead and dying, w^hose life-blood reddened the very soil 
 and the grassy slopes, while heavy thunder clouds darkened the 
 firmament. 
 
 Westward of the ravine, on the verge of a high plain on which 
 the hottest portion of the battle occurred, Mr. Graham pointed 
 out the spot, not far from the highway, where the beech tree 
 stood, at the base of which the wounded General Herkimer sat 
 upon his saddle taken from his horse, slain under him, and coolly 
 lighted his pipe and directed the tempest of battle. 
 
 When Herkimer on that morning counseled caution and wise 
 prudence, some of his subordinate officers ungenerously called 
 him " coward " and " tory." What a stinging commentary upon 
 their judgment was that fatally wounded old man sitting at the 
 ■foot of that tree, in perfect composure, the sign of highest moral 
 heroism, giving orders to his men how to fight valiantly and suc- 
 cessfully, while his companions were falling around him like leaves 
 in autumn, and bullets were whistling by him like driving sleet. 
 I turned from that battle-field, and in contemplating its far-reach- 
 ing effects upon the campaign in northern New York in 1777, was 
 satisfied that it was the chief event that caused the Indians to de- 
 sert St. Leger, and that boastful young leader to raise the siege of 
 
34 oriskajstt memorial. 
 
 Fort Stanwix and fly for relaige to the bosom of Lake Ontario. 
 It was the first f;^tal sliock given to the hopes of Burgoyne, and 
 cansed him to desjjair when liis expedition toward Bennington 
 was defeated ten days after the Battle of Oriskany. 
 
 The events at Oriskany and Bennington, in August, IVV 7, caused 
 the flood-tide of invasion from the north to ebb. They led imme- 
 diately to the important results at Saratoga in October; also the 
 appreciation by the courts of Europe of the powers of the Ameri- 
 can soldiery and the ability of the colonists tu maintain the cause 
 of independence. It led to an open treaty of alliance between the 
 United States and France, which was signed just six months to a 
 day after the Battle of Oriskany. That battle was the first upon 
 which the fortunes of the old war for independence turned in 
 favor of the American patriots. It was the prophecy of the sur- 
 render of Yorktown. 
 
 I beg you to present my thanks to your associates of the com- 
 mittee. Allow me also to express a wish that the lessons of patri- 
 otism taught by the heroes in the Battle of Oriskany, and revived 
 by your celebration, may ever inspire the hearts and minds of our 
 countrymen to be always valiant in defense of our Union and the 
 sacred rights of local self-government. 
 
 Your fellow-citizen, Benson J. Lossing. 
 
 FROM COLONEL F. A, OONKLING. 
 
 New York, July 25, 187'7. 
 John F. Seymour, Esq., Chairman, &g. : 
 
 Dear Sir: Referring to my letter dated at the Delaware Water 
 Gaj), I avail myself of the earliest moment since my return to this 
 city, to inform you that circumstances beyond my control forbid 
 my acceptance of your flattering invitation to deliver an address 
 on the 6th proximo at the battle-field of Oriskany. 
 
 The celebration of the centennial anniversary of that great 
 event deserves the careful attention of the historian as well as the 
 grateful tribute of the patriot. At Oriskany the first blow was 
 struck, by the yeomanry of Tryon county, which turned the tide 
 of fortune against the famous expedition of General Burgoyne. 
 The result, it is true, was defeat to the Americans ; but like that 
 of Bunker Hill, it was a defeat with all the moral and substantial 
 fruits of victory. It demoralized the troops of the victors, dis- 
 heartened their savage allies, and made impossible the conquest of 
 
LETTERS. 35 
 
 the Mohawk Valley, thus thwarting the purpose of the British 
 cabinet, first to dismember and then to destroy the new born re- 
 public. The fortunes of the Revolution were ettectually turned 
 and American Independence was made possible, if not certain. 
 We have the declaration of Washington himself that when all was 
 dark in the North, it was " Herkimer who first reversed the 
 gloomy scene.'' 
 
 The hero of the Mohawk Valley performed this glorious ser- 
 vice, not for lucre or ambition or fame. He yielded up his life 
 from a nobler and holier motive. He died without fear and with- 
 out reproach, for liberty and his country. Well may his name be 
 forever cherished, honored and revered. 
 
 I trust that the suggestion will not be deemed inappropriate, 
 that your convocation ought not to disperse without taking effec- 
 tual measures to carry into effect the resolution of the Continental 
 Congress decreeing him a monument. 
 
 The Battle of Oriskany should be kept forever fresh in the 
 memory of the free people of the ancient Tryon county. They 
 ought to make classic the ground where it Avas fought. They 
 ought to meet there frequently, to pay the tribute of grateful love 
 to the memory of the patriots who laid down their lives, in order 
 that the liberties of their children, and their children's children, 
 might be made forever secure. Faithfully yours, 
 
 F. A. CONKLING. 
 
 FROM EX-GOVEENOE MORGA]^^. 
 
 54 AND 56 Exchange Place, New York, July 12, 18Y7. 
 John F. Seymour, Esq., Chairman, Utica: 
 
 Dear Sir : Please accept my thanks for the polite invitation I 
 have received to attend the celebi'ation of the one hundredth anni- 
 versary of the Battle of Oriskany, on the 6th of August. 
 
 I regret that I shall not be able to be present. I am, however, 
 much gratified to notice the excellent spirit manifested in relation 
 to this celebration. I am, with much esteem, yours truly, 
 
 E. D. Morgan. 
 
 EROM PRESIDENT ANDERSON, OF ROCHESTER UNIVERSITY. 
 
 Portage Falls, July 13, 18 7 7. 
 John F. Seymour, Esq. : 
 
 My Dear Sir : Your note inviting me to speak at Utica or 
 Rome, on the evening of the 3d of August, has just reached me' 
 here. I regret to say that my engagements are such that I can 
 
36 ORISKANY MEMORIAL. 
 
 not be present at Utica or Rome on the evening which you name. 
 I am deeply interested in the object which tlie patriotic citizens of 
 Central l^eAV York have before them, and should, under other cir- 
 cumstances, be very happy to participate in the exercises designed 
 to commemorate the Battle of Oriskany. Thanking you and the 
 gentlemen whom you represent, I am yours very truly, 
 
 M. B, Anderson. 
 
 FROM BAYARD TAYLOR. 
 
 White Sulphur Springs, West Va., July 19, 1877. 
 
 John F. Seymoue, Esq. : 
 
 Dear Sir : My absence from New York has delayed my receipt 
 of your letter. 
 
 I regret that I can not possibly comply with your request. I 
 am going through a course of treatment here, and literary labor is 
 prohibited to me while it lasts. Besides I have done my full 
 share, both last year and this, and have a right to remain silent 
 while there are so many others willing and competent to perform 
 the task. Very respectfully yours, 
 
 Bayaed Taylor. 
 
 FROM DAVID GRAY, OF THE BUFFALO COURIER. 
 
 Block Island, R. I, July 20, 1877. 
 
 Hon. John F. Seymour, Utica, N. Y. : 
 
 My Dear Sir: Your favor of the 14th inst., forwarded from 
 Buifalo, has just reached me at this place, where I am jDassing a 
 week or two of vacation and isolation, in the literal sense of the 
 latter word. If I could instantly lay hands on some material — of 
 fact and inspiration — relating to the Battle of Oriskany, I think I 
 should be tempted to accept the honor you proffer me and write 
 something with which to appear at your celebration. But this 
 island is barren of any such facilities, and before I could furnish 
 myself with an essential document or two, my vacation would have 
 all but expired. I am, therefore, forced to decline your invitation 
 for the 6th proximo. In so doing let me assure you that I deeply 
 •appreciate the compliment to myself implied in it. I should have 
 been proud indeed to take part in an occasion of such State and 
 
LETTERS. 37 
 
 national interest. I only regret that at this late clay it would be 
 impossible for me to do any kind of justice to my own sense of its 
 historic and patriotic significance. 
 
 Hoping that the celebration will be a grand success, and thank- 
 ing you and your committee for the great honor done to myself, I 
 
 am, dear sir, xcvj respectfully yours, 
 
 David Gray. 
 
 FROM THE ADJCJTANT GEISTERAL OF THE STATE. 
 
 General Headquarters, State of New York, ) 
 Adjutant General's Office, Albany, Aug. 4, 1877. f 
 
 Plon. John F. Seymour, Chairman Invitation Committee, Utica, 
 N. Y. : 
 
 Sir : I have the honor of acknowledging the receipt of your 
 very polite invitation to the celebration of the one hundredth an- 
 niversary of the Battle of Oriskany, and in doing so would apolo- 
 gize for my making this acknowledgment at so late a moment — 
 owing to my official duties occupying me so constantly that no 
 opportunity has occurred before. Nothing could give me greater 
 pleasure than to be present on such an interesting occasion, but 
 imperative engagements here preclude my taking that enjoyment. 
 
 At the request of the Governor I addressed a letter to each one 
 of his staff, yesterday, informing them that it was his desire, 
 as he could not attend himself, that as many of his staff should be 
 present as was practicable. 
 
 Regretting that I must necessarily be absent, and thanking you 
 for your courteous attention, I remain, yours, very truly, 
 
 Franklin Townsend, Adjutant General. 
 
 FROM HON. SEDNET BREE3E. 
 
 Carlyle, hi., August 3, 1877. 
 John F. Seymour, Esq., Chairman : 
 
 It would give me great pleasure, as a native of Oneida, to be 
 present at the approaching one hundredth anniversary of the 
 Battle of Oriskany, fought under so many disadvantages, and so 
 gallantly on August 6, 1777. All honor to the memory of the 
 brave Nicholas Herkimer, the unfortunate commander ! I agree 
 with you that saving Fort Stanwix, as this battle did, in effect 
 
38 OEISKANT MEMOEIAL. 
 
 defeated the plans of General Burgoyne, and probably saved our 
 country and the glorious cause for wiiich we were contending. I 
 regret that my judicial duties will prevent my attendance. I hope 
 you will have a pleasant time and not be niggard in your liba- 
 tions to the memory of those men who bled and died on the hard- 
 fought field of Oriskany. When a boy I often, with my father, 
 passed over the battle-field. Let the battle be fitly celebrated for 
 all time. With great regards, your obedient, &c., 
 
 Sidney Breese. 
 
 FROM CHARLES TRACY, 
 
 Saratoga Springs, August 3, 1877. 
 
 John F. Seymour, Esq., Utica: 
 
 My Dear Sir : I thank your committee for the invitation to at- 
 tend the celebration of the hundredth annivei'sary of the Battle of 
 Oriskany, and regret that my engagement, in a long and impor- 
 tant investigation before the Senate here, deprives me of the 
 pleasure of accepting it. As a native of the Valley of the Mo- 
 hawk, proud of its history and traditions, I would have been 
 happy to have met others of like sentiment, and join them in doing 
 honor to the memory of the gallant Herkimer and his followers, 
 and helping to a just appreciation of their courage and endurance, 
 and of the valuable service they rendered to their country's cause 
 in a time of sore trial. Truly yours, 
 
 Charles Tracy. 
 
 FROM ALFRED B. STREET. 
 
 Albany, August 3, 1877. 
 John F. Seymour, Esq. : 
 
 Dear Sir : Your kind invitation for me to be present at the 
 proceedings commemorative of the Battle of Oriskany is before 
 me. Absence from home, a severe pressure of unavoidable en- 
 gagements, and a sincere desire to be present, if possible, have all 
 prevented me from acknowledging the receipt of your letter until 
 now. Please excuse my consequent delay and seeming neglect, 
 and be assured that nothing would afford me greater pleasure than 
 to be present, would circumstances allow. As it is, however, I 
 must, very unAvillingly, be content to be with you in spirit only. 
 
LETTERS. 39 
 
 Allow me to add that I regard Oriskany as one of the most im- 
 portant of the revolutionary battles. Fought at the greatest dis- 
 advantage, yet resulting in victory, its consequence, as well as its 
 example, entitled it to that rank. By it the Indian spirit was 
 humiliated, if not broken. The savage foe was taught that brave 
 and determined hearts existed among those called to defend their 
 homes and families from the merciless tomahawk. It led to the 
 real or pretended credulity with which they heard the story of the 
 renegade, Hon Yost, and consequent abandonment of the siege of 
 Fort Schuyler. 
 
 Although that fort was defended by the desperate courage of 
 the noble Gansevoort, and his no less brave associates, particularly 
 the gallant Willett, it might, without the battle of the 6th, have 
 fallen. The consequences, in opening the way of St. Leger to 
 Albany and to the rear of General Gates, cutting off his base of 
 supplies and allowing the former to advance upward to the great 
 encampment of Burgoyne, if not of Sir Henry Clinton, would 
 probably have proved most disastrous, it may be to the reversal 
 even of the glorious and decisive event of Bemis' Heights. But, 
 thanks to the heroes of Tryon county, and particularly to the 
 brave Herkimer, it turned out a most efficient auxiliary to the 
 subsequent victory of Bennington, leading in connection with it 
 to the untoward and depressing events that finally inclosed 
 Burgoyne in an impenetrable net. 
 
 "With my thanks for your remembrance of me, and best wishes 
 for the complete success of the centennial undertaking commemo- 
 rating the great event of the Mohawk Valley, I am very sincerely 
 yours, Alfred B. Street. 
 
 FROM PRESIDENT BROWN, OF HAMILTON COLLEGE. 
 
 Chicago, August 2, 1877. 
 Hon. John F. Seymour : 
 
 My Dear Sir : Until to-day I have not given up the hope of 
 finishing the business which has unexpectedly detained me here, 
 so as to be present at the coming celebration of the hundredth an- 
 niversary of the battle near the Oriskany. The importance of 
 that fierce contest has been under-estimated. Bloody as it was, 
 and disastrous as for the moment it seemed to be, it really saved 
 Fort Stanwix from the assault of St. Leger — destroyed the well- 
 laid plans of a campaign which, if successful, would have nearly 
 
40 ORISK^NT MEMORIAL. 
 
 or quite overwhelmed the struggling colonies — brought hope to 
 the heart of Washington, and contributed not a little to the grand 
 success of the captixre of Burgoyne, whicli occurred a little more 
 than two months Liter. 
 
 The number of combatants at the Battle of Oriskany was not 
 very great — not many more, I suppose, than 2,000 in all, on both 
 sides. Yet few battles have been fiercer, or, in proportion to the 
 numbers engaged, moi'e sanguinary. Four hundred of the colon- 
 ists are said to have been killed or wounded ; and nearly or quite 
 as many of the English and Indians. The forces of General Her- 
 kimer were not well disciplined troops, accustomed to the terrible 
 realities of war. For the most part quiet inhabitants of the beau- 
 tiful 'N'alley of the Mohawk, they were hastily gathered, somewhat 
 rash and impatient of discipline, and too ready, like ardent re- 
 cruits everywhere, to interpret the caution and prudence of a 
 veteran commander as indicating cowardice, or, at least, a lack of 
 vigor and energy. If they paid bitterly for their impatience, they 
 showed also, in the hour of trial, the natural courage and tenacity 
 of the race, the coolness, valor and endurance, which are among 
 the first qualities of a good soldier. Suddenly attacked on all 
 sides by concealed foes, whose numbers they could only conjec- 
 ture, they seem to have made the best disposition of their forces 
 possible, and fought without sign or thought of yielding till more 
 than half their number were helpless from wounds or dead upon 
 the field. Though prevented from actually raising the siege of 
 Fort Stanwix, they inflicted a blow more terrible than they re- 
 ceived, and beneficent and lasting in its results. The besieging 
 army of St. Leger, baffled in every attempt, soon began its rapid 
 and disorganized retreat to Ontario and Canada — the Valley of 
 the Mohawk was free and loyal, no hostile forces marching down 
 along its pleasant waters to disturb Schuyler and Gates — Benning- 
 ton and Saratoga were near at hand — Albany and the Hudson to 
 remain permanently oui's — New England, New York, the Centi'al 
 and the Southern States to continue indissolubly one, and the 
 Independence of the United States to be achieved. 
 
 All honor, then, to the heroes of that bloody day. Their cour- 
 age helped to brhig us liberty ; their death to give us life. Nor 
 ought we to forget the great services rendered in those early days 
 by others who never bore arms. Probably to no one man was it 
 so much due, that the powerful central tribe of the Oneidas 
 remained faithful to the colonists, as to the Rev. Samuel Kirkland, 
 the missionary to the Indians, the founder of Hamilton Oneida 
 
LETTERS. 41 
 
 Academy, destined a little later to become Hamilton College. 
 Mr. Kirkland had been appointed chaplain to the forces in Fort 
 Stanwix (sometimes called Fort Schuyler,) and though he was not 
 present either in the fort or with the relieving forces in the battle^ 
 his influence was strongly and constantly felt among the Indians, 
 and all along through the Valley of the Mohawk. 
 
 Let us raise some suitable tribute to these brave and good men, 
 so that our children may remember, as often as they look upon 
 the spot where they fought so well, that here was one of the seed- 
 fields of independence and liberty. May it be ours, too, to cherish 
 their principles as well as their memory; to guard sacredly the 
 republic Avhich our fathers founded ; to cherish the learning, the 
 intelligence, the faith which did so much for them, and will do 
 even more for every people who are true to themselves and to 
 God. 
 
 With great respect, and with increasing regret that I can not 
 be with you, I remain your very obedient servant, 
 
 S. G. Brown. 
 
 FEOM CHARLES E. SMITH, ESQ. 
 
 Office of the Albany Evening Journal, ) 
 Albany, July 28, 1877. i 
 
 Hon. John F. Seymour, Chairman Invitation Committee, Utica, 
 K Y. : 
 
 My Dear Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge your courteous 
 invitation to make a brief address at the centennial of the Battle 
 of Oriskany. If circumstances did not deny me the privilege, I 
 should be proud to bear an humble part in commemorating an 
 event which possessed great significance in our revolutionary his- 
 tory, and which justly appeals to the patriotic memories and senti- 
 ment of the Mohawk Valley. Oriskany was in some sense to 
 Saratoga, what Ligny was to Waterloo. The achievement of the 
 gallant Ilerkimei' and his brave comrades was one of the turning 
 points in the heroic struggle for liberty. There can be no higher 
 inspiration to the sons than to contemplate the great work of their 
 sires. Every citizen of New York will share in the spirit of the 
 anniversary occasion. 
 
 I have the honor to be your obedient servant, 
 
 Charles E. Smith. 
 
42 ORISKANT MEMOEIAL. 
 
 FROM PRESIDENT POTTER, OF UNION COLLEGE. 
 
 Schenectady, August 3, 1811. 
 
 J. F. Seymour, Esq., Chairman, &c. : 
 
 As a native of the Mohawk Valley as well as a resident some- 
 what familiar with its beautiful scenery, eventful history and re- 
 markable progress, while prevented from being present, I rejoice 
 with the distinguished orators and patriotic citizens assembled to 
 celebrate the centennial of Oriskany. With bountiful harvests, 
 with free education in oar common schools and colleges, with un- 
 interrupted means of communication, and with industries de- 
 veloped and reviving, we hail this centennial day, grateful to the 
 Divine Giver of every good and perfect gift. Conscious of the 
 blessings of our lot and of their efforts in our behalf, who thought 
 it sweet and decorous to die for their country, we recall with re- 
 newed fervor the names of our patriot dead, we would revisit their 
 ashes and revive by their influence our devotion to our fatherland. 
 The event we celebrate is not only of local, but of national, nay, 
 of world-wide importance. Who can ever estimate the influence 
 of Oriskany in preventing the union of foes, in destroying and 
 scattering their Indian allies, and in defeating matured and cher- 
 ished plans for crushing the liberties of this country, and 
 with them the best hopes of the world for successful popular 
 government ? 
 
 May the heart of every citizen of the Mohawk Valley respond. 
 May we unite in determining by societies and by individual efforts 
 to perpetuate the memory and preserve the relics of our past. 
 Here at Union College there is provided an ample repository in an 
 isolated and fire-pi'oof building for such collections, and rooms and 
 appliances for the meetings and reunions of such societies. 
 
 The second century of our national history, like the first, opens 
 with important interests imperiled, and with contests imminent, as 
 between capital and labor, and between political purity and cor- 
 ruption, which, should they prove comparatively bloodless, will be 
 none the less trying and momentous. At such a time the educa- 
 tional influence and patriotic power of centennials such as this can 
 not be over-estimated. Henceforth may wise^ political science be 
 thoroughly taught, not only in our colleges, but in our public 
 schools, so that the true relations of labor and capital, of consump- 
 tion and production and progress, may be accurately and widely 
 known. May the unity and harmony of all sections and of all the 
 
LETTERS. 43 
 
 people be secured. May the influence of patriotism and Christian 
 brotherhood prevail. Then neither corrupt voter, legislator, cor- 
 poration, capitalist, nor communist, shall prevent the continuance 
 -among mankind of a lawful " government of the people, by the 
 people, and for the people." 
 
 Signed, Eliphalet Nott Potter. 
 
 FROM REV. DE. SAMUEL KIRKLAM^D LOTRHROP. 
 
 Boston, July 31, 1877. 
 To John F. Seymour, Esq., Utica, N. Y. : 
 
 Dear Sir: I gratefully acknowledge the invitation with which I 
 have been honored, to attend the centennial celebration of the 
 Battle of Oriskany. 
 
 It is a matter of profound regret to me that before the receipt 
 of the invitation I had made engagements from which I have 
 sought in vain to get released, which made it impossible for me to 
 be present in person, but in spirit I shall be with all my Oneida 
 county friends on that day. 
 
 You put but a just appreciation upon the importance of that 
 
 battle, and I exceedingly regret that I can not share personally in 
 
 its commemoration. I find among my grandfather's papers 
 
 nothing that j)recludes his presence, but nothing that establishes it. 
 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 S. K. LOTHEOP. 
 
 EEOM THOMAS DUNN ENGLISH. 
 
 Fort Lee, New Jersey, August 4, 1877. 
 John F. Seymour, Chairman, &c., &c. : 
 
 Dear Sir: A press of professional business prevents my accept- 
 ance of your courteous invitation to join with you in your 
 celebration. 
 
 That I agree with you in estimating highly the importance of 
 the affair at Oriskany, as the first link in a chain too strong to be 
 broken by the parent government and the loyalists, may be 
 inferred from the fact that, several years since, I prepared and pub- 
 lished, in Harper'' s Magazine^ a versified account of the fight, 
 which, though without merit as a poem, was an accurate metrical 
 description of leading incidents. I thought then, and think now, 
 
44 OEISKANT MEMORIAL. 
 
 the battle important in its immediate and remote consequences, 
 and consider that stout old Herkimer and his men plowed the 
 ground for Schuyler, who sowed, tended and ripened the crop that 
 Gates garnered. 
 
 Regretting- my enforced absence, I remain, &c., 
 
 Yours truly, Thomas Dunn English. 
 
 Letters of reoret were also received from Governor 
 Hubbard, of CoDiiecticut ; President Dodge, of Madison 
 University ; Hon. Theodore Miller, of Hudson ; Hon. 
 John Bigelow, Secretary of State; Hon. F. P. Olcott, 
 Comptroller; General John B.Woodward, Inspector 
 General ; General George W. Wingate, Kev, W. Froth- 
 iugham and others. 
 
 At the conclusion of the reading, Mr. Seymour in- 
 troduced Lieutenant Governor Dorsheimer, who spoke 
 as follows : 
 
ADDRESS OF LIEUT. GOV. DQRSIIEIMER. 
 
 THE NATIONALITY OF OKISKANY. 
 
 Mr. President and fellow-citizens : You Lave assem- 
 bled here not only to celebrate a noted historical event, 
 but also to indulge the pride which all men feel in 
 the honorable acts of their ancestors. The victory at 
 Oriskany was the contribution which the German emi- 
 grants made to American independence. We are too 
 apt to forget that all nations have a share in our 
 country's history. An Italian sailing under the Spanish 
 flag discovered the new world, and another Italian 
 gave his name to the continent. A Frenchman discov- 
 ered the St. Lawrence, while a Frenchman and a 
 Spaniard were the first to see, the one the southern 
 and the other the northern reaches of the Mississippi. 
 A Portuguese, on his way around the world, disclosed 
 the outlines of South America. Spanish eyes first be- 
 held the Pacific, an Englishman first sailed along the 
 dreary coast of Labrador, and an Englishman sailing 
 under the British flag first came into the Bay of New 
 York, and gave his name to the picturesque river into 
 which the waters which shine before our eyes will flow 
 on their way to the sea. The enterprise of all the 
 nations gave America to the world. 
 
 The settlement of the continent was the work of all 
 the great European nations. France, with character- 
 istic energy, took possession of the Canadas and pushed 
 her colonies so vigorously, as to make it j^robable she 
 would control the continent. Spain held Florida, the 
 mouths of the Mississippi and^ most of the vast region 
 
40 ORISKANY irEMORIAL. 
 
 which lies to the west of that river. Eno;land Liid 
 claim to Virginia, Massachusetts, the Carolinas and 
 Pennsylvania, and Holland planted a colony in the 
 valley of the Hndson. 
 
 Those who came here were not greatly influenced by 
 the causes of emigration at present. It was not poverty 
 which forced the first settlers to come. Europe was 
 for generations given over to -wars which had their 
 origin in religious hate, and which were continued for 
 various dynastic and political considerations. Puritans 
 fled from the tyranny of Charles, and Huguenots from 
 the tyranny of Louis. Dissenters came here to escape 
 Episcopalian intolerance, and non-conformists to escape 
 Presbyterian persecution; round heads and Cavaliers, 
 Quakers and Catholics ; the representatives of all par- 
 ties and sects. 
 
 Among the most notable instances of cruelty in war 
 during the seventeenth century, was the desolation of 
 the Palatinate by the armies of Louis XIV. The trav- 
 eler who walks through the ruined castle at Heidelberg 
 beholds, perhaps, the only witness now remaining of 
 the rapacity with which the French king- laid waste 
 not only the palace of the monarch, but also the cottage 
 of the peasant. Driven from their homes, some of the 
 people of the Palatinate came to America, and settled 
 in the valley of the Mohawk, to which they may have 
 been led because of its resemblance to their own land 
 of beautiful rivers and fertile valleys. But, I have 
 been told that they were induced by the Dutch mag- 
 nates to settle on the Mohawk, because it was in the 
 Indian country, and they would protect the other 
 colonies to the east, and that they were best suited to 
 such a service because they were accustomed to have 
 their homes pillaged and burned. From whatever 
 cause, they settled here on the outposts. They were 
 
ADDRESS OF GOV. DORSHEIMER. 47 
 
 well placed; for here they dealt the first blow at the 
 most formidable expedition which England organized 
 for the conquest of the colonies. 
 
 I will not weary you by going into a detailed account 
 of the battle. But, you will pardon me if I indulge a 
 kinsman's pride, and dwell for a moment upon the con- 
 flict which raffed here a centurv ae-o. 
 
 O I/O 
 
 Herkimer and his men Avere ambuscaded by the 
 Indians. That was a favorite device in Indian warfare. 
 It was in such a conflict that Braddock fell, and the 
 young Washington won his first laurels. It had gen- 
 erally been successful. But it did not succeed with 
 those sturdy Germans. True, that then as always, 
 there were some who irresolute and cowardly took to 
 flight. But most, although they were simple farmers 
 without military training, not only stood their ground, 
 but quickly adapted themselves to the occasion, 
 adopted the Indian tactics, posted themselves behind 
 trees, and fought with such skill and endurance all 
 through the summer day, that the Indians, to use the 
 lansfuaffe of one of their chiefs, had euoug;h and did not 
 want " to fight Dutch Yankee any more." 
 
 You Germans who hear me, you have abundant 
 reason for pride. No more important battle has ever 
 been fought in this country. Nowhere, with an oppor- 
 tunity for escape, have troops endured so severe a loss; 
 never has a battle which begun with disaster been 
 turned into victory more complete. And this was a 
 German fight. The words of warning and encourage- 
 ment, the exclamations of passion and of pain, the 
 shouts of battle and of victory, and the commands 
 which the wounded Herkimer spake, and the prayers 
 of the dying, were in the German language. I say you 
 may well be proud of it, for it is the contribution 
 which men of your race have made to the work of 
 American independence. 
 
48 OEISKANY MEMORIAL. 
 
 Perhaps, at some time, the deeds of American valor 
 will be celebrated, as the military glories of France are 
 celel:)rated in the stately galleries of Versailles, and 
 certainly no more impressive scene mil be offered to 
 the artist's pencil than Herkimer wounded to the 
 death, seated upon his saddle which he had placed 
 upon the ground, and smoking his pipe throughout all 
 that dreadful fray. 
 
 The course of history is often determined by the con- 
 duct of one man. Who can tell how much that simple 
 hero, by his example of calmness in the midst of tur- 
 bulence and disorder, contributed to the victory ? And 
 therefore who can estimate the debt which the country 
 owes to him ? 
 
 My fellow citizens — 1 have to-day traveled through 
 the valley of the Mohawk, from near its mouth to this 
 place where the river gathers the streamlets from the 
 hills, and surely a fairer scene never rested under 
 human eyes. The land stood in the mature beauty of 
 the summer, and the harvest crowded the broad levels 
 like a mighty host. 
 
 These, the crops which cover your fields, are the 
 work of your own hands working in harmony with 
 natural laws. But, do not forget that your other and 
 more valuable possessions, the prizes held out to honor- 
 able ambition, free thought and worship, the peace 
 which here covers the sleep of innocence and the help- 
 lessness of infancy and age — all the great possessions 
 of a free and enlightened community, are also the work 
 of your own hands and working in harmony with free- 
 dom and with law. To establish this for you Herkimer 
 and his men strove here a hundred years ago. Be sure 
 they will not be maintained for yourselves nor trans- 
 mitted to your children without sacrifice and battle. 
 In some way you will be compelled to make good your 
 
ADDEESS OF GOV. DOKSHEIMER. 49 
 
 title to this great inheritance. We will hope that 
 when the peril shall come to you, and the sudden foe 
 shall spring from his ambush, you may do your duty 
 as well as they did theirs. 
 
 At the conclusion of Governor Dorsheimer's speech 
 three cheers were called for and heartily given. 
 
 Mr. John F. Seymour — I now have the honor of 
 introducing one who might better introduce me. Judge 
 Bacon. 
 
ADDRESS OF HON. W. J. BACON. 
 
 OEISKANT AND THERMOPTLJE. 
 
 The thoughtful — and more especially the reverent 
 student of history, can not fail to have been often 
 struck, if not indeed profoundly impressed, by the evi- 
 dence ])resented of the power of an unseen, but most 
 potent hand in human affairs. That interposition is 
 sometimes exhibited on a scale of such wide and mag- 
 nificent proportions, so manifestly controlling great 
 events, as not only to arrest observation, but to compel 
 belief. Sometimes it sets in operation a succession of 
 minute causes, none of them having in themselves 
 apparently any potential influence, but in their com- 
 bination, succession and outcome, conducting to results 
 that affect the destinies of men and nations for un- 
 counted ages. 
 
 It is, indeed, quite reasonable to look for and antici- 
 pate such results. If, as we are taught by the most 
 infallible authority, " There's a Providence in the fall of 
 a sparrow," we should most naturally expect that influ- 
 ences and forces that are to affect the his^hest order of 
 beings that inhabit our planet, would be under the 
 same guiding hand that directed the flight, and wit- 
 nessed the fall of the bird that but for a short season 
 floated in the atmosphere above us. The antecedents 
 of far-reaching results may, as has been suggested, be 
 of the most humble and obscure character, and have 
 apparently little relevancy to what followed in their 
 train, or was affected by them ; for we are taught, and 
 taught truly, by the great dramatist, that "There's 
 
ADDRESS OF JUDGE BACOINT. 51 
 
 economy even in lieaveu." But we have only to put 
 ourselves teacbably in the attitude of disciples in the 
 school of history, and reverently sit at the feet of our 
 master, to be taught the wonderful lessons that roach 
 to depths that man's meie hair-line wisdom never could 
 have fathomed. 
 
 It was, apparently, a small thing, most insignificant, 
 indeed, when measured against the overwhelming scale 
 of the opposing forces, that three hundred men should 
 have planted themselves in the pass of Thermopylae, to 
 dispute the passage of the vast army of the Persian in- 
 vaders. But what an illustrious example it was, not to 
 Greece only in her crucial hour, but to " all nations 
 and people that on eai'th do dwell," or ever will in the 
 ages to come, of the power of self-sacrifice that an 
 exalted patriotism inspires. How much it conduced to 
 prove that strength is not always, and necessarily in 
 battalions though they be in numbers like the sands of 
 the sea, if they be poorly led, and have not the inspira- 
 tion that possesses those who 
 
 " Strike for their altars and their fires ; 
 Strike for the green graves of their sires, 
 God and their native land." 
 
 This very resistance, hopeless though it was to pre- 
 vent the ultimate advance of the serried hosts that 
 confronted them, gave Greece time to rally and combine 
 lier forces, gave heart and hope to those whose expecta- 
 tions of successful resistance had almost perished before 
 the struggle had even begun, and was a perpetual 
 reminder that no man was to shrink from any peril, 
 however great, to avoid no duty on however small a 
 scale, and with whatever disparity in force it was to be 
 performed, and, above all, to be animated by the spirit 
 that was ready to dare all things, to do all things, and 
 
52 ORISKANY JMEMOEIAL. 
 
 then, if need be, cheerfully to die for the land it loved, 
 and ^vould to the last extremity defend. Poetry has 
 canonized the memory of the gallant "six hundred" 
 that "rode into the mouth of hell," but history has 
 immortalized on one of her best and brightest pages 
 the " three hundred " that fell at the gateway of Greece ; 
 and what an invaluable lesson it was to the student of 
 history of the great and unexpected results that stand 
 connected with apparently trivial causes, and that what 
 men chiefly have to do in this world is to perform the 
 duty right before them, and leave the result to be 
 molded, fashioned and controlled by the hand that is 
 ever on the helm through storm as well as sunshine. 
 
 The history of the world affords numberless instances 
 of the truth I have been rather hinting at than elabo- 
 rating, and it might be copiously illustrated in the 
 whole narrative of the history of this continent from 
 the time it first revealed itself to the straining eyes of 
 the world-seeking Genoese to the days in which we 
 live. But there was one incident occurring during the 
 recent fratricidal struggle which we have, as we may 
 trust, happily and hopefully closed, which I may be 
 pardoned for briefly alluding to. I do it, you may well 
 believe me, for no personal or partisan purpose, nor to 
 awaken any sentiment, or revive any recollection that 
 is not in perfect harmony with such a hallowed day as 
 this, but simply to illustr-ate the principle of which I 
 am speaking. 
 
 The 8th of March, 1862, was a gloomy day in our 
 national horizon. The sun in the heavens came forth, 
 indeed, with brightness and beauty. But his beams 
 fell upon the result of a work which silently and 
 secretly had converted the beautiful Merrimac of our 
 navy into the confederate ram Virginia, clad in iron 
 armor which no ordinary artillery could penetrate, and 
 
ADDRESS OF JUDGE BACON. 53 
 
 a beak whose stroke no wooden vessel could resist. 
 Steaming out of the harbor of Norfolk, she at once sin- 
 gled out her victims, and ere the sun went down the 
 Cumberlaivl w^as beneath the waters of the James, the 
 Congress had surrendered, and was in flames, the Min- 
 nesota was helplessly aground, and the rest of the fleet 
 that flaunted the stars and stripes was put to ignomin- 
 ious flight, or sought safety under the protecting guns 
 of fortresses. Alarm filled the public mind. A new 
 and unexpected source of danger was revealed. The 
 Potomac would be ascended, and the Capital itself 
 bombarded by hostile guns. Even the harbor of New 
 York, it was conceived, might be sought by this new 
 and destructive visitor whose coming nothing was pre- 
 pared to resist. Swiftly the telegraph bore the news 
 to all parts of the land, and all loyal faces gathered 
 blackness. How shall this great peril be averted, and 
 Avhere shall we look for help, was the question on 
 every lip. 
 
 But with equal silence and secrecy another, and still 
 more wonderful, naval machine had been developed and 
 constructed. She was completed at New York on the 
 very day the Virginia received her armament, and while 
 the latter was doing her work of destruction in the waters 
 of the James, the Monitor was slowly steaming towards 
 them, bent, however, upon an entirely different mission. 
 Near the close of that day of terror her commander 
 heard the noise of distant artillery, and could faintly 
 distinguish the shouts of victory borne on the breeze. 
 Instantly the course of the vessel was changed, and in 
 the night the gallant captain moored her under the lee 
 of the stranded Minnesota, rightly concluding that the 
 morning would witness the return of the iron monster, 
 to secure her remaining prey. Nor did he judge amiss, 
 for with the sun came again the Virginia, under her 
 
54 ORISKANY MEMORIAL. 
 
 equally gallant captain. But as she approaches her 
 apparently helpless victim, what strange apparition is 
 this that emerges from the side, and almost from be- 
 neath the Minnesota, "It is a Yankee cheese box on a 
 raft," exclaims a bewildered spectator. The cheese box 
 revolves, and an iron turret is disclosed, holding the 
 most deadly and powerful missiles, which it discharges 
 with such effect that ultimately the hitherto invincible 
 Virginia retires from the conflict, and seeks the harbor 
 from which she never again emerged. I need say no 
 more in regard to this most wonderful interposition, 
 than that it lifted a mountain's weight from off the 
 heart of the nation, and impressed more deeply the 
 lesson that all history has been teaching us, that deliv- 
 erance often comes as well fi'om most unexpected quar- 
 ters as from apparently insignificant agencies, and that 
 when the hour has struck for their appearance, they 
 come forth, under the Divine hand, to execute their 
 mission. 
 
 The application of these somewhat desultory remarks 
 and illustrations to the subject of this day's commemo- 
 ration, is so obvious as not to require or permit any 
 extended discussion. Doubtless the men who, on the 
 6th of August, 1777, stood upon these hillsides, or 
 were struggling through this ravine, were as little 
 aware of the extent of the peril they were encountering, 
 as of the magnitude of the issue that was suspended on 
 the doings of that and the immediate following days. 
 Whatever of suspicion, or even of prevision, was cher- 
 ished or possessed by those who were then defending 
 these outposts, they could not well have known that 
 upon their successful resistance to the advance of St. 
 Leger the entire result of the campaign of Burgoyne 
 depended. They could not appreciate, and yet it was 
 substantially true, that they stood at the pass of a mod- 
 ern Thermopylae, for the little fortress of Stanwix was 
 
ADDRESS OF JUDGE BACOW. 55 
 
 tlie gateway of the Mohawk Valley, down which St. 
 Leger, with his conquering hordes, would have carried 
 both fire and sword, aud gathering strength, as all such 
 unopposed raids invariably do, w^ould have brought to 
 Burgoyue a contingent most acceptable, as it was most 
 needed. Whatever ignorance of the general plan of 
 the enemy then prevailed, we now know with reason- 
 able certainty that that plan contemplated the move- 
 ment of Sir Henry Clinton, with all his available forces, 
 up the Hudson from New York, the union of all 
 the strength that St. Leger could bring from the West, 
 and the com])ination of all these forces with Burgoyne, 
 which, had it been achieved, would have constituted a 
 strength of military power that all that Gates commanded, 
 or could have summoned to his aid, would have been 
 unable to resist. What might have happened had this 
 combination been effected, no man is competent to tell ; 
 but this may with certainty be said, there would have 
 been for us, at this day, no 17th of September in which 
 to celebrate the unconditional surrender of the strong- 
 est British army then in the field, and the first grand 
 act of the Revolution would not have closed, as it did, 
 in the triumph of the American army at Saratoga. 
 
 Let us rejoice, then, that if it was not given to our 
 fathers to see the far-reaching consequences of their 
 action, a heart was given them that beat truly and fer- 
 vently for that in^nt liberty whose cradle they then 
 were rocking, and a courage that survived the shock of 
 apparent present defeat, ending in ultimate victory. In 
 view, then, of these and other parallel incidents in our 
 colonial, revolutionary and recent history, we may well 
 take up the jubilant strain of Macaulay, when cele- 
 brating the triumph of Henry of Navarre, he sung, 
 
 " Now glory to His holy name, from whom all glories are ; 
 
 For our God hath crushed the tyrant — our God hath raised the slave, 
 
 And mocked the counsels of the wise, and the valor of the brave." 
 
56 ORISKAlSrY MEMORIAL. 
 
 Citizens of Central New York, as we stand here to- 
 day, and gaze around on the fair land our fathers won 
 for us, can we fail to ask ourselves how different all this 
 might have been had they faltered in duty ? Of us it 
 can as truthfully be said as of any ]3eople, " the lines 
 have fallen to us in pleasant places, and we have a 
 goodly heritage." But how came it to be ours, and 
 whence, under the blessing of Almighty God, was it 
 derived '( Was it not from the toil, and sweat, and 
 blood of a patriotic and self sacrificing ancestry ? 
 
 And yet, no j)ublic and conspicuous memorial tells 
 the passing traveler that here was fought one of the 
 early battles of the Revolution; a battle that, in its 
 immediate effects, but much more in its remote influ- 
 ences and connections, had much to do with the ques- 
 tion of independence then at stake, and with our present 
 existence as a nation. Nothing has, as yet, been done 
 to redeem the pledge given by the Continental Con- 
 gress a hundred years ago, that on this historic spot a 
 monument should be erected, to perpetuate the memory 
 of those who equally with them perilled " life and fortune 
 and sacred honor" in the cause of their country. Shall 
 this sacred duty be still longer neglected ? Let the 
 Congress of the United States be reminded emphat- 
 ically of that unperformed promise — the State of New 
 York of its character as a trustee of the fund so sacredly 
 and solemnly pledged, and adding 'its contribution call 
 upon the people who, to so large an extent, have been 
 benefitted and blessed by the result of those transac- 
 tions we this day commemorate, to supplement the 
 fund by a gift suflicient to erect upon this ground a 
 column, which, if it shall not like that which on Bunker 
 Hill, meets the sun in his coming, whose head "the 
 earliest beams of the morning shall gild, and parting 
 day linger and play upon its summit," at least declare 
 
ADDRESS OF JUDGE BACON. 57 
 
 that on this day, one Inmdred years ago, something 
 was done which the people of free, united and happy 
 America, shall not willingly suffer to perish from the 
 memory of those who now inhabit this pleasant land, 
 or the generations that are to follow u^. 
 
 Mr. Seymour said he thought it well at this point to 
 give the people a hint of the good things in store for 
 them, and would hastily sketch the programme. First 
 we have Mr. Roberts. He will give you more facts about 
 the battle and its bearings than you have yet heard or 
 thought of. Then we have some interestino- i-eminders 
 of the day we celebrate — a snare drum taken from the 
 enemy near here, a musket which did duty on this 
 field, and other relics of like nature. Then we will 
 show you Major Douglass Campbell, grandson of Col. 
 Samuel Campbell, who took part in the Battle ot 
 Oriskany. Besides we have a poem by Rev. Dr. 
 Helmer. I now have the pleasure of introducing to 
 you Mr. Ellis H. Roberts. 
 
 E 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 
 
 BATTLE OF ORISKANY: ITS PLACE IN HISTORY. 
 
 BY HON. ELLIS H. EOBEETS. 
 
 The fault attaches to each of us, that the share of the 
 valley of the Mohawk in the events which gave bii'th 
 and form to the American republic, is not better under- 
 stood. Our prosperity has been so steady and so broad 
 that we have looked forward rather than backward. 
 Other States, other parts of the country, have been re- 
 calling the scenes which render their soil classic, and 
 from the end of the century summoning back the men 
 and the deeds of its beginning. A duty long neglected 
 falls upon those whose lot is cast here in Central New 
 York. These hills and these valleys in perennial elo- 
 quence proclaim the story of prowess and of activity. 
 To translate from them, to gather the scattered threads 
 of chronicle and tradition, to hold the place that has been 
 fairly won by the Mohawk valley, is a task which has 
 yet been only partially done. Some time or other it 
 will be fulfilled, for achievements have a voice which 
 mankind delights to hear. The privilege of this hour 
 is to revive the memories and to celebrate the heroism 
 of the Battle of Oriskany.l Without anything of 
 narrow local pride, with calm eye and steady judgment, 
 not ashamed to praise where praise was earned, nor 
 unwilling to admit weakness where weakness existed, 
 
 1. See Appendix to this Address, p. 99. for the derivation and orthog- 
 raphy. 
 
ADDRESS OF HON. ELLIS H. EOBERTS. 59 
 
 let US recall that deadly fight, and measure its signifi- 
 cance and its relations to the continental strife in which 
 our republic was born. 
 
 I. 
 
 THE SITUATION BEFOEE THE BATTLE. 
 
 For in the autumn of 1777, it was clear that the 
 American colonies were fighting not for rights under 
 the British crown, but for free and separate life. The 
 passionate outbursts of 1775 had discharged their thun- 
 der and lightning. The guns of Lexington had echoed 
 round the world. The brilliant truths of the Declara- 
 tion had for a year blazed over the battle-fields of the 
 infant nation. They had been hallowed by defeat; for 
 Montgomery had fallen at Quebec, Sullivan had met 
 with disasters at Flatbush, the British occupied New 
 York, and Washington had retreated through the 
 Jerseys, abandoning Long Island and the Lower Hud- 
 son. Sir Guy Carleton had swept over Lake Cham- 
 plain, fortunately not holding his conquest, and Bur- 
 goyne had captured the noted stronghold Ticouderoga, 
 But the nation had also tasted victory. In the dread 
 December days of 1776, Washington had checked the 
 tide of despair by his gallant assault at Trenton, and 
 General Howe had been forced to concentrate his army 
 against Philadelphia. Boston had seen its last of the 
 soldiers of George the Third. Better than all, the 
 States were everywhere asserting their vitality. Far 
 oflf Tennessee indignant at his use of Indians in war, had 
 taken sides against the British king. Georgia had 
 promised if Britain destroyed her towns, that her peo- 
 ple would retire into the forests. The splendid defense 
 of Fort Moultrie had saved Charleston and proved 
 
&0 OKISKANT MEMORIAL. 
 
 South Carolina's zeal for the repul)lic which it was 
 afterwards to assail. Virginia had furnished many of 
 the ci\il leaders and the commander-in-chief to the re- 
 puLlic, and had formally struck the British flag which 
 had floated over its State house. If Maryland hesitated, 
 New Jersey joined liands with Pennsylvania and New 
 York, and all New England had pledged itself to the 
 contest which it liad begun. In New York as well as 
 in other States, a State constitution had been adopted, 
 and Geortj-e Clinton had been inauo-urated as Governor 
 at the close of that disastrous July. The tide of battle 
 surofed wildest in that critical summer in Northern New 
 York. So in trying hours, the blood courses most 
 swiftly at the heart. Great results were ex])ected. 
 ^The British fleet sailed up the Hudson. A British 
 general, favorite of the muses, and in after years notably 
 fortunate,* came down Like Champlain to meet it at 
 Albany. A column formidable in its elements and led 
 by a commander chosen by the king for the purpose, 
 was to come from the north and west to complete the 
 irresistible triad. Torj^ bands were ravaging the coun- 
 try southward in Schoharie and towai-ds Kingston.f 
 Cause of alarm there "was to the patriots ; ground of 
 confidence to the invaders. The wai- huno; on the 
 events in this field ; and the scales of destiny inclined 
 to the side of the king. 
 
 The combatants had learned to understand each other. 
 The burning words of Junius had lono- rankled in the 
 British mind. Burke's magnificent plea for conciliation 
 
 * General Burgoyne before the war sat in Parliament. He was agreeable 
 and clever as a dramatic poet. He became commander-in-chief of the British 
 forces in Ireland. 
 
 f J. R. Simms has clearly fixed the date of these raids, in the summer of 
 1777, (see his History of Schoharie county and Border Wars of New York,) 
 and not in 1778, as stated in Campbell's Annals of Tryon county. 
 
ADDRESS OF HON. ELLIS II. EOBERTS. 61 
 
 had borue no fruit. Chatham had two years before 
 "rejoiced that America had resisted," and told the 
 ministers tliey could not conquer America, and cripple 
 as he was he cried out : " I mio-ht as soon think of driv- 
 iug the colonies before me with this crutch ; " but in the 
 next spring he still clung to the hope that Britain 
 would yet prevent separation. The insolence of Lord 
 North had shattered the unanimity which King George 
 boasted the Declaration had produced, and Fox had 
 said if the dilemma were between conquering and 
 abandoning America, he was for abandoning America. 
 The citizens of London had appealed to the king to 
 stop the "unnatural and unfortunate war." General 
 Howe had already written to his brother, (April 2, 
 1777,) "my hopes of terminating the war this year are 
 vanished." In Britain, wise men had learned that the 
 war would be desperate. In America the magnitude 
 of the contest was felt. The alliance of France had 
 been diligently sought, and LaFayette had arrived and 
 been appointed major general, while Kalb's offer had 
 not been accepted. More than one general had been 
 tried and found wanting in capacity, and the jealousies 
 of the camp were working mischief. The financial 
 burdens weighed heavily, and paper money had begun 
 its downward career. Criticism of Washiuo'ton's slow- 
 ness was heard, and speculators were making profit 
 of the country's necessities. Bounties had been offered 
 and the draft employed for raising troops. The loyal- 
 ists were making the most of the hardships. The 
 land was rocking in "times that try men's souls." The 
 earlier part of the military campaign oi 1777 had not 
 been propitious to the patriots. The darkness rested 
 especially on New York. Burgoyne had penetrated 
 from Canada to the Hudson with the loss of only two 
 hundred men. Clinton from the bay threatened to 
 
62 OEISKAISTT MEMORIAL. 
 
 advance up the river, as he finally did, but fortunately 
 not at the critical moment. The success of the corps 
 moving inland from Oswego, would shatter the center 
 of the American position. 
 
 THE OBJECT OF THE CAMPAIGJST OF 1777. 
 
 Tlie fight was for the continent. The strategy em- 
 braced the lines from Boston to the mouth of the 
 Chesapeake, from Montreal even to Charleston. Mont- 
 gomery's invasion of Canada, although St. John's and 
 Montreal were taken, failed before Quebec, and the re- 
 treat of the American forces gave Burgoyne the base for 
 his comprehensive campaign. Howe had been compelled 
 to give up New England, which contained nearly one- 
 third of the population and strength of the colonies. 
 The center of attack and of defense was the line of 
 New York and Philadelphia. Fi-om their foothold at 
 New York, on the one hand, and Montreal on the other, 
 the British commanders aimed to grind the patriots of 
 the Mohawk valley between the upper and nether mill- 
 stones. The desio;n was to cut New Ensfland off from 
 the other States, and to seize the country between the 
 Hudson and Lake Ontario as the vantage ground for 
 sw*eeping and decisive operations. This was the pur- 
 pose of the wedge which Burgoyne sought to drive 
 through the heart of the Union. In the beginning of 
 that fateful August, Howe held all the country about 
 New York, including the islands, and the Hudson up 
 to Peekskill; the British forces also commanded the 
 St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario, and their southern 
 shores, finding no opposition north of the Mohawk and 
 Saratoga lake. The junction of Howe and Burgoyne 
 would have rendered their armies masters of the key 
 to the military position. This strip of country from 
 
ADDRESS OF HO]Sr. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. 63 
 
 the Highlands of the Hudson to the head of the Mo- 
 hawk, was the sole shield a^-ainst such concentration of 
 British power. Once lost it would become a sword to 
 cut the patriots into fragments. They possessed it by- 
 no certain tenure. Two months later Governor Clinton 
 and General Putnam lost their positions on the Hud- 
 son. Thus far Burgojne's march had been one of con- 
 quest. His capture of Ticonderoga had startled the 
 land. The frontier fort at the head of the Mohawk was 
 to cost him the column on whose march he counted 
 so much. 
 
 FORT STAKWIX AND ITS GARRISOJST. 
 
 Fort Stanwix^ (known in this campaign to the pat- 
 riots as Fort Schuyler,) was built in 1758 against the 
 French. The next year, the French met with those 
 disasters which in 1 760, gave Canada to the English, 
 and thereafter Fort Stanwix. served only for purposes 
 of Indian trade, and as a protection to the carry 
 between the Mohawk and Wood Creek. It had been 
 a favorite place for peaceful meeting with the Indians.^ 
 Naturally it had lost its military strength, and when 
 in April, 1777, Colonel Gansevoort occupied it with the 
 third regiment of the New York line, it was sadly out 
 of repair. The plans for its reconstruction were yet in 
 progress when St. Leger appeared before it. But care 
 and labor had been so effectual that the broken walls 
 had been restored, and the ruins which the invader 
 came to overrun had given place to defenses too strong 
 for his attack. Col. Peter Gansevoort, who was in 
 command, was a native of Albany, now twenty-eight 
 years of age. He had been with Montgomery before 
 Quebec, and there won his rank as colonel. His con- 
 
 2. See Appendix, p. 99. 3. See Appendix, p. 99. 
 
64 OEISKANY MEMOEIAL. 
 
 duct here was admirable. The courage of youth did 
 not prevent on his part a wisdom worthy of much 
 riper years. With him as Lieutenant Colonel was 
 Mariuus Willett, a native of New York city, aged 
 thirty-seven, trained in the French war and the inva- 
 sion of Canada, a dashing soldier, ready for any adven- 
 ture, and shrewd in all the ways of border war. He 
 had been in the expedition for which the fort had been 
 erected, and now helped to save it. The Chaplain of 
 the garrison was Samuel Kirkland, that sainted mis- 
 sionary to the Six Nations, to whom Central New York 
 is so much indebted in ever}^ way. He was probably 
 absent at the time, on service for the Congress, for he 
 was trusted and employed on important missions by 
 the patriot leaders.* 
 
 The garrison consisted of seven hundred and fifty 
 men. It was composed of Gansevoort's own regiment, 
 the Third New York, with two hundred men under 
 Lieutenant Colonel Mellon of Colonel Wesson's regi- 
 ment of the Massachusetts line. Colonel Mellon had 
 fortunately arrived with a convoy of boats filled with 
 supplies, on the second of August, when the enemy's 
 fires were already in sight only a mile away. This was 
 the force with which Gansevooit was to hold the fort. 
 
 The British advance appeared on the second of Au- 
 gust. The investiture was complete on the fourth. 
 The siege was vigorously prosecuted on the fifth, but 
 the cannon " had not the least effect on the sod-work of 
 the fort," and " the royals had only the power of 
 teazing."f 
 
 * See Lotlirop's Life of Kirkland, pp. 238, 345. Lectures by William 
 Tracj', p. 14. 
 
 f St. Leger's Narrative in Burgoyne's Defense, given in the tenth section 
 of this Appendix, p. 106. 
 
ADDRESS OF HON, ELLIS H. ROBERTS. 65 
 
 ST. leger\:; invasion. 
 
 The corps before Fort Stauwix was formidable iu 
 every element of military strength. The expedition 
 with which it was charged, was deemed by the war 
 secretary at Whitehall of the first consequence, and it 
 had received as marked attention as any army which 
 King George ever let loose upon the colonists. For its 
 leader Lieutenant Colonel Barry St. Leger had been 
 €hosen by the king himself, on Burgoyne's nomination. 
 He deserved the confidence, if we judge by his advance, 
 by his precautions, by his stratagem at Oriskany, and 
 the conduct of the siege, up to the panic at the rnmor 
 that Arnold was coming. In the regular army of Eng- 
 land he became an ensign in 1756, and coming to 
 America the next year he had served in the French 
 war, and learned the habits of the Indians, and of 
 border warfare. In some local sense, perhaps as com- 
 manding this corps, he was styled a brigadier. His 
 regular rank was Lieutenant Colonel of the thirty- 
 fourth regiment. In those days of trained soldiers it 
 was a marked distinction to be chosen to select an in- 
 dependent corps on important service. A wise com- 
 mander, fitted for border war, his order of march 
 bespeaks him. Skillful in aftairs, and scholarly in 
 accomplishments, his writings prove him. Prompt, 
 tenacious, fertile in resources, attentive to detail, while 
 master of the whole plan, he would not fail where an- 
 other could have won. Inferior to St. Leger in rank, 
 but superior to him in natural powers and in personal 
 magnetism, was Joseph Brant — Thayendanegea — chief 
 of the Mohawks. He had been active in arraying the 
 Six Nations on the side of King George, and only the 
 Oneidas and Tuscaroras had refused to follow his lead. 
 He was now thirty-five years of age; in figure the 
 
06 OElSKAJfY MEMORIAL. 
 
 ideal IiKlian, tall and spare and lithe and quick; with 
 all the genius of his tribe, and the training gained iu 
 Couueeticut schools, and in the family of Sir William 
 Johnson; he had been a lion in London, and flattered 
 at British headquarters in Montreal. Among the In- 
 dians he was pre-eminent, and in any circle he would 
 have been conspicuous. 
 
 As St. Leger represented the regular army of King 
 George, and Brant the Indian allies, Sir John Johnson 
 led the regiments which had been organized from the 
 settlers in the Mohawk Valley. He had inherited from 
 his father, Sir William, the largest estate liehl on the 
 continent by any individual, William Penn excepted. 
 He had early taken sides with the king against the 
 colonists, and having entered into a compact with the 
 patriots to preserve peace and remain at Johnstown, he 
 had violated his promise, and fled to Canada. He 
 came now with a sense of personal wrong, to recover 
 his possessions and to resume the almost royal sway 
 which he had exercised. He at this time held a com- 
 mission as colonel in the British army, to raise and 
 command forces raised among the royalists of the valley. 
 Besides these was Butler — John Butler, a brother-in- 
 law of Johnson ; lieutenant colonel by rank, rich and 
 influential in the valley, familiar with the Indians and 
 a favorite with them, shrewd and daring and savage, 
 already the father of that son Walter, who was to be 
 the scourge of the settlers, and with him to rentier 
 ferocious and bloody the border war. He came from 
 Niagara, and was now in command of tory rangers. 
 
 The forces were like the leaders. It has been the 
 custom to represent St. Leger's army as a "motley 
 crowd."* On the contrary it was a picked force, es- 
 pecially designated by orders from headquarters in 
 
 *Lossing's Field-Book, vol. 1, p. 242. Irving's Washington, vol. 3, p. 171. 
 
ADDRESS OF HON. ELLIS H. EOBEETS. 67 
 
 Britain.4 He enumerates liis " artillery, tlie thirty- 
 fourth and the King's regiment, with the Hessian rifle- 
 men and the whole corps of Indians," with him, while 
 his advance, consisting of a detachment under Lieuten- 
 ant Bird, had gone before, and "the rest of the army, 
 led by Sir John Johnson," was a day's march in the 
 rear. Johnson's whole regiment* was with him, together 
 with Butler's tory rangers, with at least one company 
 of Canadians.f The country from Schoharie, west- 
 ward, had been scoured of royalists to add to this 
 column. For such an expedition, the force could not 
 have been better chosen. The pet name of the "King's 
 regiment" is significant. The artillery was such as 
 could be carried by boat, and adapted to the sort of 
 war before it. It had been especially designated from 
 Whitehall. J The Hanau Chasseurs were trained and 
 skillful soldiers. The Indians were the terror of the land . 
 The Six ISTations had joined the expedition in full forcef 
 except the Oneidas and the Tuscaroras. With the lat- 
 ter tribes the influence of Samuel Kirkland had over- 
 borne that of the Johnsons, and the Oneidas and the 
 Tuscaroras were by their peaceful attitude more than by 
 
 4. See Appendix, p. 100, for the official order designating the troops. 
 
 * British Annual Register for 1877. See the fourteenth section of this 
 Appendix, p. 113. 
 
 f Impartial History, (London, 1780, p. 499.) 
 
 :{: Burgoyne's State of the Expedition, p. 67, and section fourth of this 
 Appendix, p. 100. 
 
 II Colonel Guy Johnson wrote, November 11, 1777, to Lord Germain, " The 
 greater part of those from the Six Nations with my officers in that country, 
 joined General St. Leger's troops and Sir John Johnson's provincials, and 
 were principally concerned in the action near Fort Stanwix.'' Colonial 
 History of New York, vol. 8, page 727. This was in accordance with a dis- 
 patch from Brant to Sir Guy, in June or July, that the " Six Nations were 
 all in readiness, (the Oneidas excepted,) and all determined, as they expressed 
 it, to act as one man." Colonial History, vol. 8, p. 713. 
 
68 ORISKANY MEMORIAL. 
 
 hostility useful to Cougress to the eud.-^* The statemeutf 
 that two thousand Canadians accompanied St. Leger as 
 axemen, is no doubt an exaggeration ; but, exclusive 
 of such helpers and of non-combatants, the corps counted 
 not less than seventeen hundred fighting men.| King 
 Georo'e could not then have sent a column better fitted 
 for its task, or better equipped, or abler led, or more in- 
 tent on achieving all that was imposed upon it. Leav- 
 ing Montreal, it started on the nineteenth of July from 
 Buck Island, its rendezvous at the entrance of Lake 
 Ontario. It had reached Fort Stanwix without the loss 
 of a man, as if on a summer's j^icnic. It had come 
 through in good season. Its chief never doubted that 
 he would make quick work with the Fort. He had 
 even cautioned Lieutenant Bird who led the advance, 
 lest he should risk the seizure with his unaided detach- 
 ment. When his full force appeared, his faith was sure 
 that the fort would "fall without a single shot.§" So 
 confident was he that he sent a dispatch to Burgoyne 
 on the fifth of August, assuring him that the fort vi^ould 
 be his directly, and they would speedily meet as victors 
 at Albany.! Gr^neral Schuyler had in an official letter 
 expressed a like fear.*' 
 
 5 * William Tracy, iu liis lectures, p. 14, gives much credit for this re- 
 sult to James Dean. See Appendix, p. 101, for a characteristic letter of Rev. 
 Samuel Kirkland. 
 
 f Dawson's Battles of the United States. 
 
 :|: Gordon's History, (London, 1787,) vol. 2, p. 477, says St. Leger's "whole 
 force did not probably exceed 800 men ; " p. 539, he credits him with " 700 
 Indian warriors.'' This is loose talk. President Dwight, (Travels, vol. 3, p. 
 191,) who visited Fort Stanwix in 1799, places the number from 1,500 to 1,800. 
 
 § Colonel Claus had so promised the Indians. Campbells Annals of Tryon 
 county, p. 68. Upon Arnold's approach, when St. Leger urged the Indians 
 to stay, the chiefs replied: "When we marched down, you told us there 
 would be no fighting for us Indians ; we might go down and smoke our 
 pipes ; but now a number of our warriors have been killed, and you mean to 
 sacrifice us." Thacher's Military Journal, p. 90. 
 
 I Lossing's Field-Book of the Revolution, vol. 1, p. 243. 
 
 6. See Appendix, p. 102, for an extract from the letter. 
 
ADDRESS OF HON. ELLIS H. EOBERTS. 69" 
 
 THE PATRIOT RISING IN TETON COUNTY. 
 
 St. Leger was therefore surprised as well as annoyed 
 by the news that the settlers on the Mohawk had been 
 aroused, and were marching in haste to relieve the fort. 
 He found that his path to join Bui'goyne ^vas to be 
 contested. He watched by skillful scouts the gathering 
 of the patriots; their quick and somewhat irregular 
 assembling ; he knew of their march from Fort Dayton, 
 and their halt at Oriskany. Brant* told him that they 
 advanced, as brave, untrained militia, without throwing 
 out skirmishers, and with Indian guile the Mohawk 
 chose the pass in which an ambush should be set for 
 them. The British commander guarded the way for 
 several miles from his position, by scouts within speak- 
 ing distance of each other. He knew the importance 
 of his movement, and he was guilty of no neglect. 
 
 THE AMBUSCADE. 
 
 From his camp at Fort Stanwix St. Leger saw all, 
 and directed all. Sir John Johnson''' led the force 
 thrown out to meet the patriots, with Butler as his 
 second, but Brant was its controUins; head. The In- 
 dians were most numerous ; " the whole corps," a "large 
 body," St. Leger testifies. And with the Indians he 
 reports w^ere " some troops." The presence of Johnson, 
 and of Butler, as well as of Claus and Watts, of Cap- 
 tains Wilson, Hare and McDonald,f the chief royalists 
 
 * The information came on the fifth from Brant's sister, who was a mis- 
 tress of Sir William Johnson. See Claus' Letter in the Appendix, p. 122. 
 
 7. See Appendix, p. 102, for proof that Johnson actually led the British at 
 Oriskany. 
 
 f Captain McDonald, of Johnson's Greens, and Captains Wilson and Hare 
 of the Rangers, are reported by Colonel Butler among the killed. Other 
 captains must have been on the field. While the title was perhaps loosely 
 used, it signifies prominence, and some followers. 
 
70 ORISKANT MEMORIAL. 
 
 of the valley, proves that their followers were in the 
 fight. Butler* refers to the New Yorkers whom we 
 know as Johnson's Greens, and the Rangers, as in the 
 engagement in large numbers. St. Leger was under 
 the absolute necessity of preve;iting the patriot force 
 from attacking him successfully. He could not do less 
 than send every available man out to meet it. Quite 
 certainly the choicest of the army were taken from the 
 dull duty of the siege for this critical operation. They 
 left camp at night and lay above and around the ravine 
 at Oriskany, in the early morning of the sixth of Au- 
 gust, They numbered not less than twelve hundred 
 men under chosen cover. 
 
 GENERAL HERKIMEr's RALLY. 
 
 The coming of St. Leger had been known in the val- 
 ley for weeks. Burgoyne had left Montreal in June, 
 and the expedition by way of Lake Ontario, as the ex- 
 perience of a hundred years prophesied, would respond 
 to his advance. Colonel Gansevoort had appealed to 
 the Committee of Safety for Tryon county, for help. 
 Its chairman was Nicholas Herchkeimer, (known to us 
 as Herkimer,) who had been appointed a brigadier gen- 
 eral by Congress in the preceding autumn.f His 
 family was large, and it was divided in the contest. A 
 brother was captain with Sir John Johnson, and a 
 brother-in-law was one of the chief of the loyalists. 
 He was now forty-eight years of age,;}; short, slender, of 
 dark complexion, with black hair and bright eyes.§ 
 
 * stone's Life of Brant, p. 243. 
 
 •|- Stone's Life of Brant, vol. 1, p. 181. His commission to this rank by the 
 New York convention, bearing date September 5, 1776, is in the possession 
 of the Oneida Historical Society, at Utica, 
 
 I Benton's Herkimer county, p. 168. 
 
 § Newspaper report of tradition in the Wagner family. 
 
ADDEESS OF HOISr. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. 71 
 
 He had German pluck and leadership, but he had also 
 German caution and deliberation. He foresaw the 
 danger, and had given warning to General Schuyler at 
 Albany. On the seventeenth of July he had issued a 
 proclamation, announcing that the enemy, two thousand 
 strong, was at Oswego, and that as soon as he should 
 approach, every male person being in health, and be- 
 tween sixteen and sixty years of age, should immedi- 
 ately be ready to march against him. Tryon county 
 had strong appeals for help also from Cherry Valley 
 and Unadilla ; General Hei'kimer had been southward 
 at the close of June to check operations of the tories 
 and Indians under Brant; and Frederick Sammons had 
 been sent on a scouting expedition to the Black river 
 country, to test the rumors that an invasion from 
 Canada was to be made from that direction.* The 
 danger from these directions delayed and obstructed re- 
 cruiting for the column against St. Leger. The stress 
 was great, and Herkimer was bound to keep watch south 
 and north as well as west. He waited only to learn 
 where need was greatest, and he went thithei*. On the 
 thirtieth of July, a letter from Thomas Spencer, a half- 
 breed Oneida, read on its way to General Schuyler, 
 made known the advance of St. Leger. Herkimer's 
 order was promptly issued,f and soon brought in eight 
 hundred men. They were nearly all by blood Germans 
 and low Dutch, with a few of other nationalities. The 
 roster^^ so far as can now be collected, indicates the 
 
 * The narrative of .this expedition is in the hands of Colonel Frederick 
 Sammons of Fonda, and the writer has been kindly permitted to peruse the 
 original manuscript. 
 
 f All authorities agree that on receipt of Spencer's letter, Herkimer acted 
 vigorously. Stone's Brant, p. 333 ; Annals of Tryon county, p. 73 ; Ram- 
 sey's History of the Revolution, (1789,) vol. 2, p. 38, says he " collected " his 
 men by the third of August ; Lossing's Field-Book, vol. 1, p. 343 ; Benton's 
 History of Herkimer county, p. 76. 
 
 18. See Appendix, p. 135, for a roster collected with much care by the 
 Utica Herald, in July, 1877. 
 
72 ORISKANY MEMORIAL. 
 
 presence of j-tersoiis of English, Scotch, Irish, Welsh, 
 and French blood, but these are exceptions, and the 
 majority of the force was l^eyond question German. 
 They gathei-ed from their farms and clearings, carrying 
 their equipments with them. They met at Fort Day- 
 ton, near tlie mouth of the West Canada Creek. This 
 post was held at the time l)y a part of Colonel Wesson's 
 Massachusetts regiment,'"' also represented in the garri- 
 son at Fort StaDwix. The little army was divided into 
 four regiments or battalions. The first, which Herki- 
 mer had once commanded, wa'^ now led by Colonel 
 Ebenezer Cox, and was from the district of Canajoharie; 
 of the second, from Palatine, Jacob Klock was colonel ; 
 the third was under Colonel Frederick Visscher, and 
 came from Mohawk ; the fourth, gathered from German 
 Flats and Kingsland, Peter Bellinger commanded. f^^ 
 
 GENERAL HERKIMEr's ADVANCE. 
 
 Counsels were divided whether they should await 
 further accessions, or hasten to Fort Stanwix. Pru- 
 dence prompted delay. St. Legei^'s force was more than 
 double that of Herkimer; it might be divided, and 
 while one half occupied the patriot column, the Indians 
 under tory lead might hurry down the valley, gathering 
 reinforcements while they ravaged the homes of the 
 patriots. The blow might come from Unadilla, where 
 Brant had heen as late as the early part of that very 
 July. Herkimer, at Fort Dayton, ^vas in position to 
 turn in either direction. But the way of the Mohawk 
 was the natural and traditional Avar-path. The pat- 
 riots looked to Fort Stanwix as their defense. They 
 
 * Bentou's Herkimer county, p. 80. 
 
 f Calendar of New York Maniiscripts, voL 1, p. 133, (revised.) 
 18. See in connection with the roster in the Appendix, p. 139, the territory 
 covered by these districts. 
 
ADDRESS OF HON. ELLIS H. EGBERTS. 73 
 
 started on the fourth, crossed the Mohawk where is 
 now Utica, and reached Whitestowu on the fifth. 
 Here it was probably that a band of Oneida Indians 
 joined the column. From this point or before Herki- 
 mer sent an express to Colonel Gansevoorfc arranging 
 for co-operation. He was to move forward when three 
 cannon signaled that aid was ready. The signal was 
 not heard; the messengers had been delayed. His 
 chief advisers, including Colonel Cox and Paris, the 
 latter a member of the committee of Safety, urged 
 quicker movements. Fort Stanwix might fall, while 
 they were delaying, and the foe could then turn upon 
 them. Herkimer was taunted as a coward and a tory. 
 His German phlegm was stirred. He warned his im- 
 patient advisers that they would be the first in the face 
 of the enemy to flee. He gave the order " march on !" 
 Apprised of the ambuscade, his courage whicli had been 
 assailed prevented the necessary precautions. 
 
 THE FIGHT. 
 
 He led his little band on. If he had before been 
 cautious, now he was audacious. His course lay on 
 the south side of the river, avoiding its bends, where 
 the country loses the general level which the rude road 
 sought to follow, when it could be found. For three 
 or four miles hills rose uj^on valleys, with occasional 
 gulleys. The trickling springs and the spring freshets 
 had cut more than one ravine where even in the sum- 
 mer, the water still moistened the earth. These run 
 towards the river, from southerly towards the north. 
 Corduroy roads had been constructed over the marshes, 
 for this was the line of such travel as sought Fort Stan- 
 wix and the river otherwise than by boat. Herkimer 
 had come to one of the deepest of these ravines, ten or 
 
74 OEISKANT MEMORIAL. 
 
 twelve rods wide, running narrower up to the hills at 
 the south, and broadening towards the Mohawk into 
 the flat bottom land. "Where the forests were thick, 
 where the rude roadway ran down into the marsh, 
 and the ravine closed like a pocket, he pressed his 
 way. Not in soldierly order, not watching against the 
 enemy, but in rough haste, the eight hundred marched. 
 They reached the ravine at ten in the morning. The 
 advance had gained the higher ground. Then as so 
 often, the woods became alive. Black eyes flashed 
 from behind every tree. Rifles blazed from a thousand 
 unexpected coverts. The Indians rushed out hatchet 
 in hand, decked in paint and feathers. The brave band 
 was checked. It was cut in two. The assailants aimed 
 first of all to seize the supply train. Colonel Visscher, 
 who commanded its rear-guard, showed his courage be- 
 fore and after* and doubtless fought well here, as the 
 best informed descendants of other heroes of the battle 
 believe. But his regiment, driven northward towards 
 the river, was cut up or in great part captured with the 
 supplies and ammunition. In the ravine and just west of 
 it, Herkimer rallied those who stood with him. Back to 
 back, shoulder to shoulder, they faced the foe. Where 
 shelter could be had, two stood together, so that one 
 might fire while the other loaded. Often the fight grew 
 closer, and the knife ended the personal contest. Eye 
 to eye, hand to hand, this was a fight of men. Nerve 
 and brawn and muscle, were the price of life. Kifle 
 and knife, spear and tomahawk were the only weapons, 
 or the clubbed butt of the rifle. It was not a test of 
 science, not a weighing of enginery, not a measure of 
 caliber nor an exhibition of choicest mechanism. Men 
 stood against death, and death struck at them with the 
 simplest implements. Homer sings of chariots and 
 
 * Stone's Life of Brant, vol. 2, pp. 74, 75. 
 
ADDRESS OF HON. ELLIS H. EGBERTS. 75 
 
 shields. Here were no such helps, uo such defenses. 
 Forts or earthworks, barricades or aV)attis, there were 
 none. The Bi'itish force had chosen its ground. Two 
 to one it must have been against the band which stood 
 and fought in that pass, forever glorious. Herkimer, 
 early wounded and his horse shot under him, sat on his 
 saddle beneath a beech tree, just wliere the hill rises at 
 the west a little north of the center of the ravine, 
 calmly smoking a pipe while ordering the battle. He 
 was urged to retire from so much danger; his reply is 
 the eloquence of a hero : " I will face the enemy." 
 
 The ground tells the story of the fight. General 
 Herkimer was with the advance, which had crossed the 
 ravine. His column stretched out for nearly half a 
 mile. Its head was a hundred rods or more west of 
 the ravine, his rear-guard reached as far east of it. 
 " The firing began from the hills into the gulf. Herki- 
 mer closed his line on its center, and in reaching that 
 point his white horse was shot under him. The flag- 
 staff to-day on the hill marks his position. Then as 
 to-day the hills curved like a cimeter, fi'om the west 
 to the east on the north side of the river. Fort Stan- 
 wix could not be seen, but it lay in the plain just be- 
 yond the gap in the hills, six miles distant. The 
 Mohawk from the mouth of the Oriskany curves north- 
 ward, so that here it is as far away in a right line, 
 perhaps a mile in each case. The bottoms were 
 marshy, as they yet are where the trees exclude the 
 sun. Now the New York Central Railroad and the 
 Erie Canal mark the general direction of the march of 
 the patriots from their starting-place hither. Then 
 forests of beech and birch and maple and hemlock 
 covered the land where now orchards and rich meadows 
 extend, and grain-fields are ripening for the harvest. 
 Even the forests are 2:one, and the Mohawk and the 
 
76 ORISKANT JIEMORIAL. 
 
 hills and the ravine and "Battle Brook," are the sole 
 witnesses to confirm the traditions which have come 
 down to us. The elms which fling their plumes to the 
 sky, are young successors to the knightly warriors who 
 wei^e once masters here. Through the forests Herkimer 
 from his elevation could catch the general outlines of 
 the battle. Some of his advance had fallen at the far- 
 thest point to which they had marched. Upon their 
 left, the eiiem}^ had appeared in force, and had closed 
 up from the southward, and on the east side of the 
 ravine. The patriots had been pushed to the uorth 
 side of the road, away fi'om the line \vhich the corduroy 
 still marks in the ravine, and those who fled sought the 
 river. Skeletons have Ijeen found in the smaller ravine 
 about two hundred rods west, and at the mouth of the 
 Oriskany, an extent of a mile and a half; and gun-bar- 
 rels and other relics along the line of the Erie Canal, 
 and down towards the river. These are witnesses of 
 the limits of the battle. They mark the center here. 
 Here gathered the brave militia without uniforms, in 
 the garb of farmers, for their firesides and their homes, 
 and the repnblic just born which was to be. Against 
 them here, in the ravine, pursuing and capturing the 
 rear-ffuard on the east of the ravine or down in it, and 
 thence towcirds the river, rushed from the forests, uni- 
 formed and well equipped, Johnson's Greens in their 
 gay color, the German Chasseurs, Europe's best soldiers, 
 with picked men of British and Canadian regiments, 
 and the Indian warriors decked in the equipments 
 with which they made war brilliant. Some of this 
 scene Herkimer saw ; some of it extent of space and 
 thickness of forest hid from his eye. But here he faced 
 the enemy, and here he ordered the battle. 
 
 During the carnage, a storm of wind and rain and 
 lightning brought a respite. Old men preserve the 
 
ADDRESS OF HON. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. 77 
 
 tradition that in the path by which the enem}^ came, 
 a broad windfall was cut, and was seen for long years 
 afterwards. The elements caused only a short lull. In 
 came at the. thick of the strife, a detachment of John- 
 son's Greens ; and they sought to appear reinfoi'cements 
 for the patriots. They paid dearly for the fraud, for 
 thii'ty were quickly killed. Captain Gardenier slew 
 three with his spear, one after the other.* Captain 
 Dillenback assailed by three, brained one, shot the 
 second, and bayoneted the third. Henry Thompson 
 grew faint with hunger, sat down on the body of a 
 dead soldier, ate his lunch, and refreshed resumed the 
 fight. William Merckley, mortally wounded, to a friend 
 offering to assist him, said : " Take care of yourself, 
 leave me to my fate."f Such men could not be 
 whipped. The Indians, finding they were losing many, 
 became suspicious that their allies wished to destroy 
 them, and fired on them, giving unexpected aid to the 
 patriot band.;f Tradition relates that an Oneida maid, 
 only fifteen years old, daughter of a chief, fought on 
 the side of tlie patriots, firing her rifle, and shouting 
 her battle cry.|| The Indians raised the cry of retreat, 
 ^' Oonah ! "Oonah!" Johnson heard the firing of a 
 sortie from the fort. The British fell back, after five 
 hours of desperate fight.§ Herkimer and his gallant 
 men held the ground. 
 
 * stone's Life of Brant, vol. 1. p. 239, 240. 
 
 f Simms' Schoharie, p. 263, 264. 
 
 X President Dwight (Travels, vol. 3, p. 193,) who in 1799, heard the stories 
 of persons living near the battle-field, relates this incident. 
 
 II Newspaper report of a tradition in the family of George Wagner, a 
 survivor. 
 
 § Dr. Moses Younglove, who was taken prisoner at the battle, fixes the time : 
 " Then we with equal fury joined the fight 
 Ere Phcebus gained his full meridian height, 
 Nor ceased the horrors of the bloody fray. 
 Till he had journeyed half his evening way." 
 
 Appendix to Campbell's Annals of Trj'on county, p. 32. 
 
I- 
 
 8 OEISKANY MEMORIAL. 
 
 THE SORTIE. 
 
 The sortie from Fort Stauwix which Herkimer ex- 
 pected, was made as soon as his messengers arrived. 
 They were dehxyed, and yet got through at a critical 
 moment. Colonel Willett made a sally at the head of 
 two hundred and fifty men, totally routed two of the 
 enemy's encam])ments, and captured their contents, 
 including five British flags. The exploit did not cost a 
 single patriot life, while at least six of the enemy were 
 killed and four made prisoners. It aided to force the 
 British retreat from Oriskany. The captured flags 
 were floated beneath the stars and stripes, fashioned in 
 the fort fi'om cloaks and shirts ; and here for the first 
 time the flag of the republic was i-aised in victory over 
 British colors.* 
 
 THE LOSSES. 
 
 The slaughter at Oriskany was terrible.* St. Leger 
 claims that four hundred of Herkimer's men were 
 killed and two hundred captured, lea ing only two 
 hundred to escape. No such number of prisoners was 
 ever accounted for. The Americans admitted two 
 hundred killed, one-fourth of the whole army. St. 
 Leger places the number of Indians killed at thirty, 
 and the like number wounded, including favorite chiefs 
 and confidential warriors. It was doubtless greater, 
 for the Senecas alone lost thirty-six killed, and in all 
 the tribes twice as many inust have been killed. St. 
 
 *Lossing, Field-Book, vol. 1, p. 242, says the blue was taken from a camlet 
 cloak of Captain Swartwout, and the white from cotton shirts. General 
 Schuyler Hamilton in the Historical Magazine, for July, 1877, p. 430, states 
 on the authority of his grand-mother, a daughter of General Philip Schuyler, 
 that the stripes were made from a scarlet cloak belonging to one of the 
 Avomen of the garrison. Willett says the blue cloak had been captured 
 from the British at Peekskill ; Narrative, p. 42. All that relates to this flag, 
 the first ever lifting the stars and stripes in battle and in victory, has lasting- 
 interest. 
 
ADDRESS OF HON. ELLIS 11. EGBERTS. 79 
 
 Leger makes no account of any of his whites killed or 
 wounded. Butler,"" however, mentions of New Yorkers 
 (Johnson's Greens) killed, Captain McDonald; Ca]-)tain 
 Watts dangerously wounded and one subaltern. Of 
 the Tory Kangers Captains Wilson and Hare (their 
 chiefs after Butler) were killed. With such loss of 
 officers, tke death list of privates must have been con- 
 siderable. The Greens alone lost thirty. In Britain it 
 was believed as many of the Bi-itish were killed by the 
 Indians as by the militia.f The loss of British and 
 Indians must have apj^roached a hundred and fifty 
 killed. Eye-witnesses were found who estimated it 
 as great as that of the Americans. J The patriot dead 
 included Colonel Cox, and his Lieutenant Colonel 
 Hunt, Majors Eisenlord, Van Slyck, Klapsattle and 
 Blevin; and Cap>tains Diefendorf, Crouse, Bowman, 
 Dillenback, Davis, Pettingill, Helmer, Graves and Fox ; 
 with no less than four members of the Tryon county 
 Committee of Safety, who were present as volunteers. 
 They were Isaac Paris, Samuel Billington, John Dygert 
 and Jacob Snell. Spencei', the Oneida, who gave the 
 warning to the patriots, was also among the killed. 
 The heads of the patriot organization in the valley 
 were swept oif. Herkimer's glory is that out of such 
 slaughter he snatched the substance of victory. In no 
 other battle of the revolution did the ratio of deaths 
 rise so high. At Waterloo, the French loss was not 
 in so large a ratio to the number engaged, as was Her- 
 kimer's at Oriskany ; nor did the allies suffer as much 
 on that bloody field. 
 
 * Claus agrees substantially, and speaks of two or three privates killed. 
 Letter to Secretary Knox, in London ; New York Colonial History, vol. 8,. 
 p. 721 ; see Appendix to this Address, p. 119. 
 
 t Gordon's History, (London, 1787,) vol. 2, p. 530. 
 
 :j: A. D. Quackenboss who was in the fight so believed. Stone's Brant, p. 
 461 ; Neilsou's Burgoyne, p. 56. 
 
so ORISKANT MEMORIAL. 
 
 Frightful liai'barities were wreaked on the bodies of 
 the dead, and on the prisoners who fell into tlie Lands 
 of the Indians. The patriots held the field at the close 
 of the fight, and w^ere aide to carry ofi:' their wounded. 
 Among these was the brave and sturdy Herkimer, 
 who was taken on a litter of boughs to his home, and 
 after sufli'ering the amputation of his leg, died on the 
 sixteenth of August like a Christian hero. Of the dead 
 some at least lay unburied until eighteen days later. 
 Arnold's column rendered to them that last service.* 
 
 After tke battle, Colonel Samuel Campbell,f after- 
 wards conspicuous in Otsego county, became senior 
 oflicer, and organized the shattered patriots, leading 
 them in good order back to Fort Dayton. The night 
 of the fight they bivouaced at Utica. Terril)le as their 
 losses had been, only sixteen days later Governor Clin- 
 ton positively ordered them to join General Arnold on 
 his expedition with one-half of each regiment.i^ In his 
 desperation. Sir John Johnson "proposed to march 
 down the country with about two hundred men," and 
 Claus would have added Indians;;]; Ijut St. Leger dis- 
 approved of the suggestion. Only a raid could have 
 been possible. The fighting capacity of St. Leger's 
 army was exhausted at Oriskany, and he knew it. 
 
 THE SIEGE. II 
 
 St. Leger's advance was checked. His junction with 
 Burgoyne was prevented. The rising of royalists in 
 
 * Jones' History of Oueida Count}', p. 361; Tracy's Lectures, p. 15. 
 
 f Letter of his grandson, Hon. W. W. Campbell, in Utica Herald, July 
 27, 1877. 
 
 12. See Appendix, p. 110, for this important letter, which is copied from 
 the manuscript in the State Library at Albany. 
 
 X Claus' letter to Knox ; London Documents in Colonial History, vol. 8, p. 
 721, and section seventeenth of this Appendix, p. 124. 
 
 II For a sketch of the siege of Fort Stanwix presented to Colonel Qanse- 
 voort by L. Fleury, and with a map of the village of Rome overlaid upon it^ 
 see Hough's Memoir of M. Pouchot. 
 
ADDEES3 OF HON, ELLIS H. ROBERTS. 81 
 
 the valley did not occiii'. He claimed indeed the "com- 
 pletest victory " at Oiiskany. He notified tlie garrison 
 that Burgoyne was victorious at Albany, and demanded 
 peremptorily the surrender of the fort, threatening that 
 prolonged resistance would result in general massacre 
 at tlie hands of the enraged Indians. Johnson, Claus 
 and Butler issued an address to the inhabitants of 
 Tryou county, urging them to submit, because "sur- 
 rounded by victorious armies." Colonel Gansevoort 
 treated the summons as an insult, and held his post 
 with sturdy steadiness.* The people of tlie valley 
 sided with Congress against the king. For sixteen 
 days after Oriskany, St. Leger lay before Fort Stanwix, 
 and heard more and more clearly the rumblings of 
 iresh resistance from the valley, 
 
 THE RELIEF UNDER ARWOLD's LEAD. 
 
 Colonel Willett who led the gallant sortie, accomj)a- 
 uied by Major Stockwell, lisked no less danger on a 
 mission through thickets and hidden foes, to inform 
 General Schuyler at Albany of the situation. In a 
 council of officers, bitter opposition arose to Schuyler's 
 proposal to send relief to Fort Stanwix, on the plea 
 that it would weaken the army at Albany, the more 
 important position. Schuyler was ecpial to the occasion, 
 acting promi3tly, and with great energy, " Gentlemen," 
 said he, " I take the responsibility upon myself Where 
 is the brio-adier who will command the relief? I shall 
 l)eat up for volunteers to-morrow."f Benedict Arnold, 
 then unstained by treason, promptly offered to lead the 
 array. On the next day, August ninth,;}; eight hundred 
 
 * The British Impartial History says " Colonel Gansevoort behaved with 
 great firmness," p. 476. 
 
 f Lossing's Life of Schuyler. 
 
 I Letter of Schuyler in Annals of Tryon County, p. 88. 
 
82 ORISKANT MEMORIAL. 
 
 volunteers were enrolled, chiefly of General Larned's- 
 Massachusetts brigade. Greneral Israel Putnam ordered 
 the regiments of Colonels Cortlandt and Livingston 
 from Peekskill to join the relief "against those worse 
 than internals.''^ Arnold was to take supplies wherev^er 
 he could get them, and especially not to offend the already 
 unfriendly Mohawks. Schuyler enjoined upon him also 
 "as the inhabitants of Tryoii county were chiefly Ger- 
 mans, it might be well to praise their bravery at Oris- 
 kany, and ask their gallant aid in the enterprise." 
 Arnold reached Fort Dayton, and on the twentieth of 
 Auo'ust issued as commander-in-chief of the armv of 
 the United States of America on the Mohawk river, a 
 characteristic pi'oclamation, denouncing St. Leger as " a 
 leader of a banditti of robbers, murderers and traitors, 
 composed of savages of America and more savage 
 Britons." The militia joined him in great numbers. 
 On the twenty-second, Arnold pushed forw^ard, and on 
 the twenty-fourth he arrived at Fort Stanwix. St. 
 Leger had raised the siege and precipitately fled. 
 
 St. Leger had been frightened by rumors of the rapid 
 advance of Arnold's army. Arnold had taken pains 
 to fill the air with them. He had sent to St Leger's 
 camp a half-witted royalist, Hon Yost Schuyler, to 
 exaggerate his numbers and his speed. The Lidians 
 in camp vv'ere restive and kept track of the array of 
 I'elief They l^adgered St. Leger to retreat, and threat- 
 ened to abandon him. They raised the alarm, " they 
 are coming !" and for the numbers of the patriots 
 approaching, they pointed to the leaves of the forest. 
 
 ST. leger's flight. 
 
 On the twenty-second of August, while Arnold was 
 yet at Utica, St. Leger fled. The Lidians were weary ; 
 
 8. Manuscript Letter in the Clinton Collection, in State Library at Albany. 
 See Appendix, p. 103. 
 
ADDEESS OF HON. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. 83 
 
 they had lost goods by Willett's sortie ; they saw no 
 chance for spoils. Their chiefs killed at Oriskany 
 beckoned them away. They began to abandon the 
 ground, and to spoil the camp of their allies. St. 
 Leger deemed his danger from them, if he refused to 
 follow their counsels, greater than from the enemy. 
 He hurried his wounded and prisoners forward ; he 
 left his tents, with most of his artillery and stores, 
 spoils to the garrison.* His men threw away their 
 packs in their flight. He quarreled with Johnson, and 
 the Indians had to make peace between them. St. 
 Leger indeed was helpless. The flight became a dis- 
 graceful rout. The Indians butchered alike prisoners 
 and British who could not keep up, or became sepa- 
 rated from the column.i* St. Leger's expedition, as 
 one of the latest became one of the most striking illus- 
 trations to the British of the risks and terrors of an 
 Indian alliance.io 
 
 The siege of Fort Stauwix was raised. The logic of 
 the Battle of Oi'iskauy was consummated. The whole 
 story has been much neglected, and the best authorities 
 on the subject are British. f The battle is one of a 
 series of events which constitute a chain of history as 
 picturesque, as exciting, as heroic, as important, as 
 ennoble any part of this or any other land. 
 
 * Gordon's History, vol. 2, p. 534, who cites Reverend Samuel Kirkland 
 " who was part of the time at the Port," as his direct informant. 
 
 14. British Annual Register, for 1777. See Appendix, p. 117. 
 
 10. As a record not familiar to many American readers, see in Appendix, 
 pp. 104, 107, the Narrative of his Expedition by St. Leger himself. 
 
 f For portions of the record. Stone's Life of Brant miist be excepted, as a 
 faithful and accurate chronicle. 
 
84 OEISKANT MEMORIAL. 
 
 II. 
 
 THE WEIGHT AND MEASURE OF THE BATTLE. 
 
 Oriskaiiy it is our duty to weigh and measure. 
 Wherein was the stand of Greeks at Therniopylse 
 braver than this march of Herkimer into the ravine ? 
 Wherein have Norse vikings shown sturdier stuif in 
 fight ? Tell me when panoplied crusader ever made 
 more light of death than those unmailed farmers of the 
 Mohawk. Cite from verse of ancient or modern poet 
 the elan of truer courage, the steadiness of sterner 
 determination, the consecration of more glowing patriot- 
 ism than held the pass at Oriskany. 
 
 THE STRATEGY HISTORIC. 
 
 The strategy of the British campaign of 1777 was 
 comprehensive, and it was traditional. With Canada 
 hostile to the country south of it, the plan of Burgoyne 
 was as natural as it is for a pugilist to strike with both 
 fists. Fronting southward, indeed, the blow by lake 
 Champlain the Canadian forces deliver with their left 
 fist ; the I'oute hj Lake Ontario through Oswego in- 
 land, invites the blow of the right hand. As early as 
 1687 the French government received from Canada a 
 memorial which recommends: "The Iroquois must be 
 attacked in two directions. The first, and principal 
 attack must be on the Seneca nation, on the borders of 
 Lake Ontario ; the second by the river Richelieu and 
 Lake Champlain, in the direction of the Mohawks."* 
 The French authorities never abandoned this j)i^irpose 
 until they were driven from the continent. Frontenac 
 wrote his name in fire and blood in the way Burgoyne 
 
 * Paris Documents, p. 321. 
 
ADDRESS OF HON. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. 85 
 
 sought to travel. The co-operation of the fleet at the 
 mouth of the Hudson, was proposed by Mons. Cal- 
 lierres in 1689.* Montcalmf led the French by these 
 paths in 1756, when DeLery penetrated to Fort Bull, 
 at the carry near the Mohawk, and the English power 
 yielded up Champlain and Lake George to the in- 
 vaders. Holding the southern shores of Lake Ontario, 
 it was from Lake Champlain, with co-operation by a 
 force brought up the St. Lawrence, that the English 
 dealt the return attack in 1759, when Wolfe fell before 
 Quebec. At Ticonderoga and Crown Point, on the 
 path to the Hudson, and at Niagara on Lake Ontario, 
 the French power in America breathed its last. 
 
 In October, 1776, Sir Guy Carleton had swept over 
 Lake Champlain, and taken Crown Point, and only 
 waited for another season to carry his conquests south- 
 ward. It was, perhaps, because- in London Burgoyne 
 criticised the neglect to send a corps by way of Oswego, 
 through the Mohawk valley, to assist in the campaign, 
 that he, instead of Carleton, led the invasion which 
 ended so disastrously for Britain. 
 
 But the British government had earlier precedents 
 than these for choosing these routes for the campaign 
 of 1777. The French migration came by them into the 
 wilderness which is now New York, and it was by 
 them that, at intervals for a hundred years the Iroquois 
 and their allies carried terror to the walls of Montreal 
 
 * Paris Documents, p. 420. 
 
 f See the Memoir of the French War of 1755-60, by M. Pouchot, translated 
 by F. B. Hough. M. Pouchot, who was with Montcalm, could learu of no 
 routes from Canada to the English possessions except, 1, by way of Lake 
 Champlain ; 2, by the St. Lawrence to Oswego and the Oswego river ; 3, by 
 Lake Ontario to the Genesee river ; and 4, by way of Niagara to the Ohio, 
 river. 
 
86 ORISKANY MEMOEIAL. 
 
 and Quebec* The campaigns of the war of 1812 re- 
 newed the traditions of the military importance of the 
 line -of Lake Ontario and Lake Cham plain, Oswego 
 and Platts})urg and McDonongh's victory perpetuate 
 the series of contests in this historic field. The key to 
 the heart of the original Union lies in the heights from 
 which flow the Mohawk and the Hudson. 
 
 ST. LEGEr's EXPEDITIOJSr A VITAL PART. 
 
 In the original plan, St. Leger's expedition is stated 
 as a "diversion," both by Burgoyne and in the official 
 letter of Lord George Gerraaine, the secretary of state 
 for war. The command was given to St, Leger from 
 Whitehall, on Burgoyne's nomination, so that it was an 
 independent expedition. The troops were in like man- 
 ner selected, because much depended on the movement. 
 Upon his success, as it proved, the campaign hung. 
 When Burgoyne explained his failure, he laid much 
 stress on the defeat of St. Leger, and one of the chief 
 points to account for his own slowness, is; " the time en- 
 titled me to expect Lieutenant Colonel St. Leger's corps 
 would be arrived at Ticonderoga, and secret means had 
 been long concerted to enable him to make an effort to 
 join me, with probability of success." And because 
 St. Leo-er "had been obliged to retreat," he assigjns as 
 removing " the first plausible motive in favor of hazard- 
 ous battle," when he was near Saratoga. In the cam- 
 paign of 1777, the expedition to the Mohawk was one 
 of the two wings without which success was impossible, 
 which once clipped, crippled everything. The battle 
 of Bennington was brought on by a British movement, 
 having two objects in view ; first, to obtain supplies, 
 
 * The Moliawks and Oneidas appeared before Montreal, August 12, 1662 ; 
 Brodhead's History of New York, vol. 1, p. 705. The Iroquois, in 1688 ; vol. 
 2, p. 507. 
 
ADDRESS OF HON, ELLIS H. ROBERTS. 87 
 
 and second, to create a diversion to aid St. Leger.* 
 Every historian wlio writes of Burgoyne's operations, 
 treats the expedition to the Mohawk as in a military 
 sense a vital element in them.n 
 
 EFFECT OF ORISKANY ON THE VALLEY AND THE INDIANS. 
 
 But we get a faint view of the purpose of the expe- 
 dition, and of the significance of Oriskany, if we look 
 only at military considerations. Its moral influence was 
 great and far-reaching. Sir John Johnson boasted that 
 the tories were as five to one in the Mohawk valley, 
 and when he came at the head of a British army, they 
 would rise for the king. Through Johnson and Brant, 
 the design was fostered of holding the Six Nations 
 closely to the royal cause, and thus crushing out the 
 whole patriot infl^uence west of the Hudson. Both 
 purposes were shrewd, and had fair grounds. The 
 patriots knew of these dangers. In the summons which 
 had aroused Tryon county, they had been told: "one 
 resolute blow would secure the friendship of the Six 
 Nations." The committee of Safety knew the efiForts it 
 cost to maintain the authority of Congress. Herkimer 
 fought at Oriskany against a tory rising at Johnstown, 
 against the complete enlistment of the Iroquois with 
 the British. His victory is measured only when we 
 remember that no tory rising ever disgraced the Mo- 
 hawk valley, and that from that hour the Indians were 
 a source of terror and of weakness to the forces of 
 King George. 
 
 * Stedman's History of the Revolution, (one of the best British records of 
 the struggle ;) Bancroft, vol. 5, p. 287. 
 
 11. See Appendix to this Address, p. 109, for authorities. Burgoyne him- 
 self in urging considerations justifying his advance, in a letter to Lord Ger- 
 maine, says, (Defense, Appendix, p. xxii:) "Colonel St. Leger's operations 
 would have been assisted, a junction with him probably secured, and the 
 whole country to the Mohawk opened." 
 
88 OEISKANY MEMORIAL. 
 
 EFFECT ON THE COUNTRY. 
 
 The effect of Oiiskany, on tlie Americans, was elec- 
 tric. Washington said "Herkimer first reversed the 
 gloomy scene" of the campaign. General Gates wrote 
 of "the severe blow General Herkimer gave Johnson 
 and the scalpers under his conuiiand." General Schuy- 
 ler in replying to General Herkimer's report, said : 
 "The gallantry of you and the few men that stood 
 with yon and repulsed sucli a superior number of sav- 
 ages, reflects great honor upon you." Governor George 
 Clinton expressed "the highest sense of the loyalty, 
 valor and bravery of the militia of Tryon county, 
 manifested in the victory gained by them under the 
 command of their late worthy General Herkimer, for 
 which as the chief magistrate of the free and inclej^end- 
 ent State of New York, they have my most hearty 
 thanks."!^ The defense of Fort Stanwix led John 
 Adams to declare that " Gansevoort has proved that it 
 is possible to hold a post," and the Oneida Spencer had 
 warned the Tryon patriots not to make a Ticonderoga 
 of Fort Stanwix. 
 
 These wise leaders estimated the battle better than 
 writers like Irving,* who intimates that "it does not 
 appear that either party was entitled to the victory," 
 or Doctor Thaclier,f ^vho can only claim that " St, 
 Leger's victory over our militia was purchased at a 
 dear price," or Lossing,;}; who bluntly speaks of "the 
 defeat of Herkimer." The patriots held the ground, 
 and carried off their wounded at leisure. Of the tory 
 
 13. See Appendix, p. 110, for the letter copied from the original nianu- 
 Bcript at Albany. 
 * Life of Washington, vol. 3, p. 17G. 
 jf Military Journal, p. 89. 
 ^Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution, vol. 1, p. 350. 
 
ADDRESS OF HON. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. 89 
 
 M^oimded Major Watts lay tvv^o days micared for. By 
 the battle St. Leger was bottled up in his camp; by it, 
 the forces ordered with Arnold, and probably also, the 
 Massachusetts troops who took part iu Willett's sortie, 
 were able to join in the operations against Burgoyne, 
 and were in the first battle of Stillwater.* The whole 
 valley of the Mohawk cast itself into the scales for the 
 victory of Saratoga. 13 
 
 Herkimer started for Fort Stanwix, and his force 
 except a few scouts did not reach it. His little army 
 was broken up. But its sacrifice, costly as it was, 
 saved the valley. The frightful slaughter of their 
 leaders at first paralyzed the settlers, but they rallied 
 without delay and joined Arnold's relief army in large 
 numbers.f The battle penned St. Leger and Johnson 
 and Brant before Fort Stanwix. It raised the spirits 
 of the beleaguered garrison to a high pitch.^ With Ben- 
 nington which came afterwards, the Americans felt it 
 gave them "great and glorious victories,"!* and "noth- 
 ing exceeded their exultation" over them; and the 
 " northern militia began now to look high, and to for- 
 get all distinctions between themselves and regular 
 troops." This confidence was worth armies. Congress 
 voted a monument to Herkimer, not yet erected save 
 in the hearts of the people, and no one questioned that 
 the gallant chief had earned the distinction. To Col- 
 
 *Lo8sing's Field-Book, vol. 1, p. 51, enumerates at Stillwater, all the regi- 
 ments which marched up the valley with Arnold, and Colonel Wesson's 
 Massachusetts regiment, of which was the detachment which reached Fort 
 Stanwix on the second of August. 
 
 13. See Appendix, p. Ill, for testimony from leading British authorities, 
 as well as others. 
 
 f Arnold's letter to Colonel Gansevoort, August 22, 1777. 
 9. See Appendix, p. 103, for Governor Clinton's letter to Committee of 
 .Safety, August 22d, in New York State Library. 
 
 14. British Annual Register, 1777 ; see Appendix, p, 117. 
 
 G 
 
90 ORISKANT MEMOEIAL. 
 
 on el Willett a sword was presented by Congress for Lis 
 noble exploit, and Colonel Gansevoort received the 
 thanks of Congress, a colonel's commission, and a 
 special designation as commandant of the Fort which 
 he had so bravely defended. 
 
 AIMS AND ESTIMATES ON BOTH SIDES. 
 
 The Battle of Oriskany and the defense of Fort 
 Stanwix are Siamese twins. Separate events, they are 
 so conjoined that they must be trea,ted as inseparable 
 in fact. The battle so paralyzed St. Leger and demor- 
 alized his army, that the siege became a failure. It is 
 notable that British historians nearest to the event, 
 give to Oriskany a degree of prominence which our 
 own writers have hardly equaled. The defeat of St. 
 Leger's expedition British writers of that day recog- 
 nize as one of the pivots on which Saratoga was lost 
 and won, and British sentiment agrees that " Saratoga 
 was indeed the turning point of the American strug- 
 gle."* The British Annual Register, noteworthy be- 
 cause established bv Edmund Burke, and because its 
 historical articles were still revised if not written by 
 him, in the volume for 1777, published the next year, 
 clearly indicates that the valley of the Mohawk was 
 the very eye of the campaign.i'^ This judgment is the 
 more important because the identical text is embodied 
 in the History of the War printed in Dublin, 1779, 
 and has become standard in England. In the Impar- 
 tial History, after Burgoyne's arrival at Ticonderoga, 
 the author says : " It is not to be wondered at, if both 
 officers and private men (in Burgoyne's army) were 
 highly elated with their fortune, and deemed that and 
 
 * English Cyclopedia, article on Burgoyne. 
 
 14. See Appendix, p. 113, for the words of the Register. 
 
ADDRESS OF HON. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. 91 
 
 their prowess to be irresistible ; if they regarded their 
 enemy with the greatest contempt, and considered their 
 own toils to be nearly at an end ; Albany to be already 
 in their hands, and the reduction of the northern prov- 
 inces to be rather a matter of some time, than an 
 arduous task full of difficulty and danger."* Erron- 
 eously referring to Bennington, the same author uses 
 words justly applicable to Oriskany:f "This was the 
 first instance in the present campaign, in which fortune 
 seemed even wavering, much less that she for a moment 
 quitted the royal standard. The exultation was accord- 
 ingly great on the one side; nor could the other avoid 
 feeling some damp to that eagerness of hope, and 
 receiving some check to that assured confidence of 
 success, which an unmixed series of fortunate events 
 must naturally excite." The shield had been fully re- 
 versed, within a single month. 
 
 St. Leger claimed that Johnson won "the completest 
 victory," but this was on the assumption "that the 
 militia would never rally."!^ JJe miscalculated the blow ; 
 it was not fatal to the patriots; its consequences were 
 fatal to his plans. The check which he received at 
 Oriskany and its consequent delay, forced Burgoyne to 
 take the risk which brought on him the defeat at Ben- 
 nington. Although second in importance as well as in 
 order of time, Stedman,!^ one of the best British 
 authorities, names the Vermont fight first in order, as 
 does the British Impartial History, (London, 1780,) 
 fixing Bennington properly on August 16th, but for the 
 affair on the Mohawk, naming no date until St. Leger's 
 flight on the twenty-second of August. The " History 
 
 * Impartial History of the War in America, London, 1780, p. 460. f The 
 same, p. 472. 
 
 15. Letter to Burgoyne, August 11, 1777. Remembrancer, 1777, p. 393. 
 See Appendix, p. 118. 
 
 16. See Appendix, p. 119, for the citation. 
 
92 OKISKANY MEMORIAL. 
 
 of the War," published in Dublin, 17'^ 9, places the 
 Battle of Oiiskany on the sixteenth of August, on the 
 same day as that of Bennington.* In spite of this 
 reversal of the order of time, all these authorities con- 
 cede to the affair at Oriskany, a measure of importance 
 which the occupants of the historic field only begin to 
 assert. As the lirst blow of the campaign, Oriskany 
 has to the campaign of 1777, the primacy which Lex- 
 ington has to the whole war. 
 
 The failure of St. Leger cut off the right arm of Bur- 
 goyne. Burgoyne still clinging to his ho^^es, believed 
 if Sir Henry Clinton had reached the Highlands earlier, 
 as he did when too late, he "should have had his 
 way."t But his own detailed statement proves that he 
 felt that the grave of his campaign was dug when a 
 royalist rising was prevented in the Mohawk valley ;i^ 
 and that ^vas the achievement of Herkimer and the 
 heroes of Oriskany. 
 
 The success of St. Leger at Oriskany and Fort Stan- 
 wix would have been fatal. The Mohawk valley would 
 have been overrun by the tories. Albany would have 
 fallen, and Gates been overpowered. Defeat, decided 
 and prompt, would have turned St. Leger back to 
 Oswego, and enabled him with the remnant of his 
 corps, to open a retreat for Burgoyne, as the latter 
 intimates had been contingently concerted.;]; For the 
 emergency of a defeat which closed the Mohawk valley, 
 and of a siege which held him for three weeks before 
 Fort Stanwix, no calculation had been made. It was 
 this combination which proved so fortunate for the 
 republic. 
 
 * Pages, 291-293. t Defense, p. 17. 
 
 13. See Appendix, p. Ill, for his own words. 
 ^ Burgoyne's Defense, (London, 1780,) p. 15. 
 
ADDRESS OF HON. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. 93 
 
 DIVISIONS IN THE VALLEY*. DANGERS AVERTED. 
 
 The dangers to the Araericau cause in the valley, 
 were peculiar. To the German settlers King George 
 had always been a foreign king. They owed him 
 neither affection nor allegiance. It was easy for them 
 to sustain Congress and to fight for independence. 
 They had been jealous of the influence of the John- 
 sons over the Indians, and over the valley, and that 
 pique was fully recipn 'cated. Besides the ties of family 
 favor and apparent interest, the Johnsons clung all the 
 more closely to the royal cause, because the Gei-raans 
 took the other part. Something of religious feeling 
 entered into the division, for the Johnsons stood for 
 the Church of England, and Kirkland and other dis- 
 senting ministers had been pressing for independence 
 in faith and practice.* The interior of New York had 
 felt little or nothing of the burden of taxes which had 
 stirred the other colonies. No royal charter had ever 
 been in force over the State. The settlers who came 
 from Britain hither lacked the causes for separation 
 which stirred New England and the South, and when 
 the immigrants from other lands enlisted for Congress, 
 the tory leaders confidently trusted that they could 
 carry the British colonists for King George. Many 
 causes prevented. The patriot leaders were shrewd 
 and diligent, and they were on the soil, while the tory 
 chiefs were absent. For no long time is it possible that 
 New York shall be alien from New England and the 
 States on our southern borders. But the fight at Oris- 
 kany came at the right time to kindle the patriot fires, 
 to draw the lines between the belligerents, to merge old 
 world antagonisms into American patriotism. In the 
 
 *See Lotlirop's Life of Rev. Samuel Kirkland, p. 233, for a notable illus- 
 tration. 
 
94 OEISKANY MEMORIAL. 
 
 blood slied in tliat liistoric field, New York was bap- 
 tized as a State, aud as a State in an enduring republic, 
 in a united nation. 
 
 SIGNIFICANCE FEOM LOCATION. 
 
 The Battle of Oriskany was the more significant be- 
 cause it was fought near the center of the Long House 
 of the Iroquois. Indian phrase had so styled the val- 
 ley, for which they placed the western door at the 
 opening of the waters at Niagara, and the eastern door 
 where the Mohawk seeks the Hudson,* It was held 
 with its approaches, when the white men came, by the 
 Six Nations, the master tribes among the Indians. 
 They had discovered its fitness for the path of empire 
 and the seat of dominion. Cadwallader Golden, in 
 1738, in an official report,f noted the peculiar feature 
 that here " some branches of the largest rivers of North 
 America, and which run contrary courses, take their 
 rise within two or three miles of each other ; " the Mo- 
 hawk flowing into the Hadson, the St. Lawrence finding 
 affluents to carry northward, the Susquehanna to add 
 to Chesapeake bay ; and from the western walls of the 
 Long House, waters seek the Mississippi and the Gulf. 
 This configuration gave, naturally, political and mili- 
 tary significance to what is now the center of New 
 York.^f The Iroquois from it became little less than 
 lords of the continent. Into it the French missionaries 
 early came to spy out the land, with that devotion 
 which led Father Joguesf to "write the name of Jesus 
 on the barks of trees in the Mohawk Valley," in 1642, 
 
 * Morgan's League of the Iroquois, p. 40. 
 f Documentary History of New York, vol. 4, p. 112. 
 
 JDeWitt Clinton's Address on the Iroquois. Campbell's Life of Clinton, 
 p. 210. Brodhead's History of New York, vol 2, p. 8. 
 II Bancroft, vol. 2, p. 310. 
 
ADDRESS OF HON. ELLIS H. EOBEETS. 95 
 
 and that foresight which for generations prompted the 
 French Governors of Canada to aim to expel the 
 English by the instrumentality of the Iroquois.* In 
 critical i:)eriods the British found the Iroquois, by their 
 fidelity and jDrowess, a sufficient bulwark against French 
 encroachments, f Fi-om Manhattan the Dutch had 
 reached out and planted Fort Orange at Albany, and 
 had made friends and kept friends with the Iroquois. 
 Over from the New Eno-laud settlements the English 
 crowded into lands whose advantages they clearly saw, 
 and the Eiiglish Governors at Manhattan were glad to 
 frame treaties to grant to the Iroquois the same advan- 
 tages which they had enjoyed from the Dutch. :f Yet 
 the first permanent settlers in a portion of the valley 
 were Germans from the palatinate, who came hither in 
 1712-13, after stopping on the Hudson.|| Sir William 
 Johnson, himself an Irishman, took great pains to 
 gather British colonists about him, and was in large 
 measure successful, and the Scotch colony was influ- 
 ential and self-asserting. As from the Long House of 
 the Iroquois, waters flow in all directions, so into it 
 tended currents of population from all directions. The 
 Dutch jjroprietors could not stop this cosmopolitan 
 drift. The German immigration prevented tendencies 
 so distinctively British as prevailed in other colonies. 
 The large share of northern New York in the Anglo- 
 French wars, continued its traditional importance. § 
 
 Here between Ontario and Champlain, it Avas decided 
 that the nascent State should be cosmopolitan and not 
 
 * Paris Documents, Documentary History, vol. 9, p. 954, 958. 
 
 f Bancroft, vol. 2, p. 152. 
 
 :): Brodhead's History of Neve York, vol. 1, p. 744. 
 
 II Certain Germans who had sought England for a refuge, it is said, became 
 interested in the Mohawks who visited Queen Anne, and were by the chiefs 
 induced to migrate to America. 
 
 § Ex-Governor Horatio Seymour, in his lecture on the History and Topog- 
 raphy of New York, has admirably presented the relations of the State, 
 growing out of its natural situation. 
 
96 OEISKANY MEMORIAL. 
 
 Dutch.* Here in large part it was decided, if not that 
 the political relations of the State should be British 
 and not French, that the language, the civilization, the 
 social tendencies should be cast in the mold of Hamj)den 
 and Milton and Shakepeare, rather than in those of 
 Paris and Versailles. This whole reo;;ion had indeed 
 been included in New France. Louis XVI and his 
 ministers watched events here with especial interest, 
 and naturally desired that Britain should not continue 
 to possess what France had lost. If St. Leger was 
 beaten where Frontenac and Montcalm had swept in 
 victory, the infant republic, with French aid, might 
 stand and grow a rival to British power. Here large 
 impetus was given to the decision that this continent 
 should be American and not British. 
 
 The location of Oriskany rendered the battle con- 
 trolling in determining the attitude of the Mohawk 
 valley, and in putting an end to British hopes of roy- 
 alist uprising there. It shattered and rendered useless 
 the British alliance with the Indians. It helped to in- 
 sure French co-operation with the colonies, and brought 
 us the fleet of D'Estaing the next summer. It paved the 
 way to the victory over Burgoyne. Without Oriskany, 
 there could have been no Saratoga. Herkimer laid in 
 blood the corner-stone of that temple of un winged 
 victory, which was completed on the heights where 
 Burgoyne surrendered. Afterwards through the long 
 contest, althouo-h local raids and savasre butcheries 
 were perpetrated, no operations of grand war were 
 attempted in these historic regions. While nominally 
 British purposes were unchanged, the colonies north 
 and east of New York bay escaped the ravages of 
 
 * August 1, 1802, Rev. John Taylor, a missionary from New England, 
 visited Utica on his way west, and says of it : " Utica appears to be a mixed 
 mass of discordant materials. Here may be found people of ten or twelve 
 different nations, and of almost all religions and sects." 
 
ADDKESS OF HON. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. 97 
 
 broad conflict, and entered upon their career of national 
 growth and prosperity. 
 
 CONCLUSION". 
 
 Extravagant eulogy never honors its object. Per- 
 sistent neglect of events which have molded history, is 
 not creditable to those who inherit the e^olden fruits. 
 We do not blush to grow warm over the courage 
 which at Plataea saved Greece forever from Persian 
 invasion. Calm men praise the determination which at 
 Lepanto, set limits to Turkish conquests in Europe. 
 Waterloo is the favorite of rhetoric amono; Euo-lish- 
 speaking people. But history no less exalts the Spartan 
 three hundred who died at Thermopylae, and poetry 
 immortalizes the six hundred whose leader blundered 
 at Balaklava. Signally negligent have the people of 
 Central New York been to the men and the deeds that 
 on the soil we daily tread, have controlled the tides of 
 nations, and fashioned the channels of civilization. 
 After a hundred years we begin to know what the in- 
 vasion of St. Leger meant. A century lifts up Nicholas 
 Herkimer, if not into a consummate general, to the plane 
 of sturdy manliness and of unselfish, devoted patriot- 
 ism, of a hero who knew how to fight and how to 
 die. History begins to appreciate the difficulties which 
 surrounded Philip Schuyler, and to see that he appeared 
 slow in bringing out the strength of a patriot State, 
 because the scales of destiny were weighted to hand 
 New York over to Johnson and Burgoyne and Clinton 
 and King Greorge, His eulogy is, that when popular 
 impatience, and jealousies in other colonies, and ambi- 
 tions in the army, and cliques in Congress, superseded 
 him in the command of the northern armies of the 
 United States, he had already stirred up the Mohawk 
 valley to the war blaze at Oriskany ; he had relieved 
 Fort Stanwix and sent St, Leger in disgraceful retreat ; 
 
i^'8 OEISKANT MEMOEIAL. 
 
 Bennington had been fought and won ;* he had thus 
 shattered the British alliance with the Indians, and had 
 trampled out the tory embers in the Mohawk Valley ; 
 he had gathered above Albany an army flushed with 
 victory, and greatly superior to Burgoyne's forces in 
 nmnbers, and it was well led and adequate to the task 
 before it. 
 
 Oriskany, the Indians interpret is the Place of Net- 
 tles. Out of that nettle danger Herkimer plucked for 
 the Mohawk Valley, and through it for the republic, 
 the flower safety. In that Place of Nettles, Central 
 New York may find much to stir it to deeper knowl- 
 edge of its history and its relations, to greater anxiety 
 to be just to those who have served it worthily, to 
 keener appreciation of the continental elevation which 
 nature has reared for us, and upon which we may build 
 a structure more symmetrical and more beneficent than 
 the Parthenon, — a free State based on equal justice, 
 strong in the virtue of its citizens, devoted to all that 
 is best and most beautiful in mankind, inspired by the 
 noblest achievements in history, manfully meeting the 
 humblest duties, and struggling upward to the highest 
 ideals. Names and deeds that live a hundred years, 
 change hills and valleys into classic ground. The cen- 
 tury which runs backward is only the dawn of those 
 which look into the future. Central New York must 
 have a worthy career before it to justify the traditions 
 of the Long House of the Iroquois ; of the real states- 
 manship of the League of the Six Nations, and of the 
 eloquence of their chief men ; of the Jesuit missionaries 
 and the Samuel Kirklands and the Lutheran clergymen, 
 who consecrated its waters and its soil and its trees ; of 
 those who saved it from French occupation ; of those 
 who kept out the Stuarts and drove out King George. 
 
 * General Gates took command of the army before Burgoyne, August 14, 
 1777, but had nothing to do with Bennington. 
 
APPENDIX TO HISTORICAL ADMESS. 
 
 1. The Name Oriskant. (Page 58.) 
 
 The orthography of Oriskany has been settled by custom con- 
 trary to Indian euphony. St. Leger writes it Oriska; Colonel 
 Willett changes the initial to Eriska ; Captain Deygart (Clinton 
 manuscripts) writes Orisco. In London documents, (Colonial 
 History, vol. 8, p. 690,) we find Oriske. 
 
 In a " Chorographical map of the Province of New York," 
 London, 1779, is Ochriscany Patent granted to T. Wenham & Co. 
 In a map of 1790, this becomes Ochriskeney (Documentary History 
 of New Tork, vol. 1.) 
 
 In his League of the Iroquois, L. H. Morgan gives the Indian 
 derivation, showing that the name comes from the Mohawk dialect. 
 
 In the several dialects the form is as follows: 
 
 Seneca dialect, 0-his-heh; Cayuga, 0-his-ha; Onondaga, 0-his-ka; 
 Tuscarora, Ose-hase-keh ; Oneida, Ole-hisk ; Mohawk, Ole-his-ka ; 
 the significance in each case being the Place of Nettles. 
 
 The last syllable of Oriskany is a termination signifying a 
 stream, the same as ana or anna. 
 
 2. Btjilding of Fort Stanwix. (Page 63.) 
 
 The building of Fort Stanwix in 1758, is recorded in Docu- 
 mentary History of New York, vol. 4, p. 323, and a topographical 
 map is given of the country between the Mohawk and Wood 
 Creek, from an actual survey in November, 1758. General Aber- 
 crombie's order to General Stanwix to erect the fort is there pre- 
 served. Fort Williams had at an earlier day stood in the neigh- 
 borhood. Fort Stanwix was not finished in 1760, when M. Pouchot 
 passed it. (Hough's Translation of his Memoir, p. 138.) 
 
 Out of compliment to General Philip Schuyler the attempt was 
 made to change the name of this Fort, but old Peter Schuyler had 
 given the title to the old Fort at Utica, and Stanwix has clung to 
 the historic work at Rome. 
 
 3. Peace Councils at Fort Stanwix. (Page 63.) 
 
 In 1768 it had been the scene of an important council, when 
 thirty-two hundred Indians of the Six Nations assembled to treat 
 
100 OEISKAlSrY MEMORIAL. 
 
 witli representatives of Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey- 
 Sir William Johnson then closed the " Treaty of Fort Stanwix." 
 The original record will be found in the Documents relating to the 
 Colonial History of New York, vol. 8, p. Ill and following. 
 
 In 1784 a grand council was held here between the chiefs of the 
 Six Nations and commissioners on the part of the United States^ 
 and a treaty of jieace was negotiated. 
 
 4. St. Leger's Troops Designated in Lonpon. (Page 61.) 
 
 This extract from an official letter from Lord George Germaine 
 to General Carleton, dated Whitehall, twenty-sixth March, 1777, 
 is taken from the " State of the Expedition from Canada," published 
 in London, 1780, by General Burgoyne in his own defense: "With 
 a view of quelling the rebellion as quickly as possible, it is become 
 highly necessary that the most speedy junction of the two armies 
 should be effected, and therefore, as the security and good govern- 
 ment of Canada absolutely require your presence there, it is the 
 King's determination to leave about 3,000 men under your com- 
 mand, and to employ the remainder of your army upon two 
 expeditions, the one under the command of Lieutenant General 
 Burgoyne, who is to force his way to Albany, and the other under 
 command of Lieutenant Colonel St. Leger, who is to make a 
 diversion on the Mohawk River. 
 
 "As this plan can not be advantageously executed without the 
 assistance of Canadians and Indians, His Majesty strongly recom- 
 mends it to your care to furnish both expeditions with good and 
 sufficient bodies of those men ; and I am happy in knowing that 
 your influence among them is so great that there can be no room 
 to apprehend that you will find it difficult to fulfill His Majesty's 
 expectations. ****** 
 
 It is the King's further pleasure that you put under command of 
 Colonel St. Le^rer : 
 
 -"s^ 
 
 Detachment from the 8th Regiment, 100 
 
 Detachment from the 34th Regiment, 100 
 
 Sir John Johnson's regim^mt of New York, 133 
 
 Hanau Chaffeui-s, 342 
 
 675 
 
 together with a sufficient number of Indians and Canadians, and 
 after having furnished him with proper artillery, stores, provisions- 
 
APPENDIX TO HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 101 
 
 and every other necessary article for his expedition, and secured 
 to him every assistance in your power to afford and procure, you 
 are to give him orders to proceed forthwith to and down to the 
 Moliawk river to Albany and put himself under the command of 
 Sir William Howe. 
 
 "I shall write to Sir William Howe from hence by the first 
 packet; but you wil] nevertheless endeavor to give him the ear- 
 liest intelligence of ' this measure, and also direct Lieutenant 
 General Burgoyne and Lieutenant Colonel St. Leger to neglect no 
 opportunity of doing the same, that they may receive instructions 
 ft-om Sir William Howe. You will at the same time inform tliem 
 that, until they shall have received orders from Sir William Howe, 
 it is His Majesty''s pleasure that they act as exigencies may re- 
 quire, and in such manner as they shall judge most proper for 
 making an impression on the rebels and bringing them to obedience; 
 but that in so doing they must never lose view of their intended 
 junctions with Sir William Howe as their principal objects. 
 
 "In case Lieutenant General Burgoyne oi- Lieutenant Colonel 
 St. Leger should happen to die or be rendered, through illness, 
 incapable of executing these great trusts, you are to nominate to 
 their respective commands such officer or officers as you shall 
 think best qualified to supply the place of those whom His 
 Majesty has, in his wisdom, at present appointed to conduct these 
 expeditions." 
 
 5. KiKKLANP AND THE INDIANS. (Page 68.) 
 
 Reverend Samuel Kirkland wrote to the committee at Albany, 
 June 9, 17Y5, "Colonel Johnson has orders from government (of 
 course the British government) to remove the dissenting minister 
 fi'om the Six Nations, till the difficulties between Great Britain 
 and the colonies are settled. * * All he has against me 
 I suppose to be this: A suspicion that I have interpreted to the 
 Indians the doings of the Continental Congress, which has unde- 
 ceived and too much opened the eyes of the Indians for Colonel 
 Johnson's purposes. I confess to you, gentlemen, that I have been 
 guilty of this, if it be any transgression. * * j apprehend 
 my interpreting the doings of the Congress to their sachems has 
 done more real service to the cause of the country, or the cause of 
 truth and justice, than £500 in presents would have effected." 
 Jones' Annals of Oneida County, p. 852. 
 
102 ORISKAISTT MEMOEIA.L. 
 
 6. General Schuyler's Fear. (Page 68.) 
 
 In a letter to the Committee of Safety, dated July 24, 1777, 
 General Schuyler says: 
 
 " If Burgoyne can penetrate to Albany, the force which is cer- 
 tainly coming by way of Oswego, will find no difficulty in reaching 
 the Mohawk river, and being arrived there will be joined by tories 
 not only, but by every person that finds himself capable of re- 
 moving, and wishes to make his peace with the enemy, and by the 
 whole body of the Six Nations." 
 
 7. Sir John Johnson the British Leader at Oriskany. 
 
 (Page 69.) 
 
 William L. Stone, to whom so much is due for a fair statement 
 of the Battle of Oriskany, insists that Sir John Johnson was not 
 in the battle at all, naming Watts, Butler and Brant, in this order 
 as leaders. And W. W. Campbell, in his Annals of Tryon county, 
 places the " Indians and tories under Brant and Butler." Irving 
 in his Life of Washington follows these authorities. Stone justi- 
 fies his denial of Johnson's presence in the battle by Colonel Wil- 
 lett's assertion in his narrative, that Singleton, one of the prisoners 
 taken in the sortie, told him that " Sir John Johnson was with him 
 (Singleton) when the camp was attacked." These words of Wil- 
 lett are in the paraphrase by Willett's son, (Narrative, page 53,) 
 transformed into a statement that Johnson was " in his tent with 
 his coat off, and had not time to put it on before his camp was 
 forced." 
 
 In view of the importance of the operations then in progress, 
 this statement is intrinsically improbable. It is contradicted by 
 the positive language of St. Leger, who, in his Narrative (Biir- 
 goyne's Defense) clearly says: "Sir John Johnson put himself at 
 the head of the party," which went to Oriskany, " and began his 
 march that evening at five o'clock, and met the rebel corps at the 
 same hour the next morning." St. Leger attempted a movement 
 against the sortie, but he used Lieutenants only, as he could not 
 have done if Johnson had been in camp. See the tenth section of 
 this Appendix, p. 106. 
 
 In an official letter from Colonel Daniel Claus, (St. Leger's 
 saperintendent of Indians,) he distinctly avers : " Sir John John- 
 son asked leave to join his company of light infantry and head the 
 
APPENDLX TO HISTORICAL ADDEESS. 103 
 
 whole, which was granted; Colonel Butler and other Indian officers 
 were ordered with the Indians." Colonial History vol. 8, p. 721, 
 
 President Dwight (Travels, vol. 3, p. 194,) who made the battle 
 a study in l'i99, at Whitestown and Rome, says: "Sir John had 
 scarcely left the ground to attack General Herkimer." And again 
 after the battle: "At the return of Sir John," p. 195, This was 
 the clear understanding of the generation to whom about the battle- 
 field and the Fort, the fight was as the alphabet; and it has the 
 weight of authority in its favor. 
 
 Indeed, taking the language of St. Leger and Clans together, it 
 is absolutely incontrovertible. 
 
 8. General Putnam Aids in the Relief. (Page 82.) 
 
 In the Clinton Papers at Albany is the original of the following 
 letter : 
 
 "Peck's Kill, August 14, 1777. 
 
 "Dear Sir: — Received yours of the fourteenth inst. In conse- 
 quence of it and former orders received from General Washington 
 have ordered Colonel Cortlandt's and Colonel Livingston's regi- 
 ments to march immediately to the northward to the relief of 
 Fort Schuyler, or as you shall see fit to direct them. 
 
 " I wish them a speedy and safe arrival and you most successful 
 enterprise against those worse than infernal s. 
 
 " With great respect, I am your obedient humble servant, 
 
 "ISRAEL PUTNAM." 
 
 "To his Excellency, Governor Clinton." 
 
 9. Governor Clinton to the Committee of Safety. 
 
 (Page 89.) 
 
 The following is the text of a letter from Governor George 
 Clinton, copied from the original in the State Library at Albany : 
 
 "Albant, August 22, 1777. 
 
 "General Harchheimer is dead of his wounds. His leg was 
 taken off and he suiwived it but a few hours. General Arnold 
 with his party is at Fort Dayton. About 100 of the militia of 
 Tryon county only are with him. I have issued my positive 
 orders to the officers commanding the respective regiments there 
 
104 OEISKANT MEMORIAL. 
 
 to detach one-half to join General Arnold's army. Colonels Cort- 
 land's and Livingston's regiments marched this evening for his 
 further reinforcement. 
 
 " The enemy in that quarter having acquired a considerable 
 accession of numbers from Indians and tories, the above measures 
 were rendered necessary. The garrison, however, by very late 
 accounts, are high in spirits and well provided, and I have no 
 doubt we shall in a few days receive the most agreeable intelli- 
 gence from that quarter. From the Oneidas and Tuscaroras, 
 whose chieftains are now with General Arnold, we have the fullest 
 assurance of assistance but have nothing to expect from any other 
 tribes of the Six Nations xintil our successes intimidate them into 
 friendship. Since the affair at Bennington the scalping business 
 seems to have ceased." 
 
 10. St. Leger's Own Narrative. (Page^ 64, 102.) 
 
 General Burgoyne published in London, in 1780, a defense of 
 his campaign in America, under the title : " A State of the Expedi- 
 tion from Canada, as laid before the House of Commons." Li the 
 Appendix is the following interesting document : 
 
 "Colonel St. Leger's Account op Occurrences at Fort 
 
 Stanwix." 
 
 " A minute detail of every operation since my leaving La Chine, 
 with the detachment entrusted to my care, your excellency will 
 permit me to reserve to a time of less hui'ry and mortification than 
 the present, while I enter into the interesting scene before Fort 
 Stanwix, which. I invested the third of August, having previously 
 pushed forward Lieutenant Bird of the King's regiment, with 
 thirty of the King's troops and two hundred Indians, under the 
 direction of Captains Hare and Wilson, and the Chiefs Joseph and 
 Bull, to seize fast hold of the lower landing place, and thereby cut 
 off the enemy's communication with the lower country. This was 
 done with great address by the lieutenant, though not attended 
 with the effect I had promised myself, occasioned by the slackness 
 of the Messasagoes. The brigade of provisions and ammunition 
 boats I had intelligence of, being arrived and disembarked before 
 this party had taken post. 
 
 " The fourth and fifth were employed in making arrangements 
 for opening Wood Creek, (which the enemy, with indefatigable 
 
APPENDIX TO HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 105 
 
 labor of one hundred and fifty men, for fourteen days, had most 
 effectually choaked up,) and the making a temporary road from 
 Pine Ridges, upon Fish Creek, sixteen miles from the fort, for a 
 pi-esent supply cf provision and the transport of our artillery ; the 
 first was effected by the dilligence and zeal of Captain Bouville, 
 assisted by Captain Ilarkimer, of the Indian department, with one 
 hundred and ten men, in nine days; While Lieutenant Lundy, 
 acting as assistant quarter-master general, had rendered the road 
 in the worst of weather, sufficiently practicable to pass the whole 
 artillery and stores, with seven days' provision, in two days. 
 
 " On the fifth, in the evening, intelligence arrived by my dis- 
 covering parties on the Mohawk river, that a reinforcement of 
 eight hundred militia, conducted by Gsneral Herkimer, were on 
 their march to relieve the garrison, and were actually at that 
 instant at Oriska, an Indian settlement, twelve miles from the fort. 
 The garrison being apprised of their march by four men, who were 
 seen to enter the fort in the morning, through what was tliought 
 an impenetrable swamp, I did not think it prudent to wait for 
 them, and thei-eby subject myself to be attacked by a sally from 
 the garrison in the rear, while the reinforcement employed me in 
 front. I th*-efore determined to attack them on the march, either 
 openly or covertly, as circumstances should offer. At this time, I 
 had not two hundred and fifty of the King's troops in camp ; the 
 various and extensive operations I was under an absolute necessity 
 of entering into, having employed the rest ; and therefore could 
 not send above eighty white men, rangers and troops included, 
 with the whole corps of Indians. Sir John Johnson put himself 
 at the head of this party, and began his march that evening at 
 five o'clock, and met the rebel corps at the same hour the next 
 morning. The impetuosity of the Indians is not to be described 
 on the sight of the enemy (forgetting the judicious disposition 
 formed by Sir John, and agreed to by themselves, which was to 
 suffer the attack to begin with the ti-oops in front, while they 
 should be on both flanks and rear,) they rushed in hatchet in hand, 
 and thereby gave the enemy's rear an opportunity to escape. In 
 relation to the victory, it was equally complete, as if the whole 
 had fallen ; nay, more so, as the two hundred who escaped only 
 served to spread the panic wider; but it was not so with the 
 Indians ; their loss was great, (I must be understood Indian com- 
 putation, being only about thirty killed and the like number 
 wounded, and in that number some of their favorite chiefs and 
 confidential warriors were slain.) On the enemy's side, almost all 
 
 G 
 
106 OEISKAlSrY MEMORIAL. 
 
 their principal leaders were slain. General Herkimer has since 
 died of his wounds. It is proper to mention, that the four men 
 detached with intelligence of the march of the reinforcement, set 
 out the eA'ening before the action, and consequently the enemy 
 could have no account of the defeat, and were in possession only 
 of tlie time ajipointed for their arrival; at which, as I suspected, 
 they made a sally with two hundred and fifty men toward Lieuten- 
 ant Bird's post, to facilitate the entrance of the relieving corps, or 
 bring on a general engagement, Avith every advantage they could 
 wish. 
 
 " Captain Ployes was immediately detached to cut in upon their 
 rear, while they engaged the lieutenant. Immediately upon the 
 departure of Captain Hoyes, having leai-ned that Lieutenant 
 Bird, misled by the information of a cowardly Indian, that Sir 
 John was pressed, had quitted his post to march to his assistance, 
 I marched the detachment of the King's regiment, in support of 
 Captain Hoyes, by a road in sight of the garrison, which, with 
 executive fire from his party, immediately drove the enemy into 
 the fort, without any further advantage than frightening some 
 squaws and pilfering the packs of the warriors which they left 
 behind them. After this affair was oyer, orders were immediately 
 given to complete a two-gun battery, and mortar beds, with three 
 strong redoubts in their rear, to enable me, in case of another 
 attempt to relieve the garrison by their regimented troops, to 
 march out a larger body of the King's troops. 
 
 " Captain Lernoult was sent with one hundred and ten men to 
 the lower landing place, where he established himself with great 
 judgment and strength, having an enclosed battery of a three- 
 pounder opposed to any sally from the fort, and another to the 
 side of the country, where a relief must approach ; and the body 
 of his camp deeply entrenched and abbatised. 
 
 " When by the unabating labor of officers and men, (the small- 
 ness of our numbers never admitting of a relief, or above three 
 hours' cessation for sleep or cooking,) the batteries and redoubts 
 were finished, and new cheeks and axle-trees made for the six- 
 pounders, those that were sent being rotten and unserviceable. 
 
 " It was found that our cannon had not the least effect upon the 
 sod-work of the fort, and that our royals had only the power of 
 teazing, as a six-inch plank was a sufficient security for their 
 powder magazine, as we learnt from the deserters. At this time 
 Lieutenant Gleni.'^, of the artillery, whom I appointed to act as 
 assistant engineer, proposed a conversion of the royals (if I may 
 
APPENDIX TO HISTOKICAL ADDRESS. 107 
 
 use the expression) into howitzers. The ingenuity and feasibility 
 this measure strilting me very stronglj^, the business was set about 
 immediately, and soon executed, when it was found that nothing 
 prevented their operating with the desired effect but the distance, 
 their chambers being too small to hold a sufficiency of powder. 
 There was nothing now to be done but to approach the town by 
 sap to such a distance that the rampart might be brought within 
 their practice, at the same time all materials were preparing to 
 run a mine under their most formidable bastion. 
 
 "In the midst of these operations intelligence was brought in 
 by our scouts, of a second corps of 1,000 men being on their 
 march. The same zeal no longer animated the Indians ; they com- 
 plained of our thinness of troops and their former losses. I imme- 
 diately called a council of the chiefs ; encouraged them as much 
 as I could ; promised to lead them on myself, and bring into the 
 field 300 of the best troops. They listened to this, and promised 
 to follow me, and agreed that I should reconnoitre the ground 
 properest for the field of battle the next morning, accompanied by 
 some of their chief warriors to settle the plan of operations. 
 When upon the ground appointed for the field of battle, scouts 
 came in with the account of the first number swelled to 2,000; 
 immediately after a third, that Genei-al Burgoyne's army was cut 
 to pieces, and that Arnold was advancing by rapid and forced 
 marches with 3,000 men. It was at this moment I began to sus- 
 pect cowardice in some and treason in others ; however, T returned 
 to camp, not without hopes, with the assistance of my gallant coad- 
 jutor. Sir John Johnson, and the influence of the superintending 
 colonels, Claus and Butler, of inducing them to meet the enemy. 
 A council, according to their custom, was called, to know their 
 resolutions, before the breaking ujj of which I learned that 200 
 were already decamped. In about an hour they insisted that I 
 should retreat, or they would be obliged to abandon me. I had 
 no other party to take, and a hard jjarty it was to troops who 
 could do nothing without them, to yield to their resolves; and 
 therefore proposed to retire at night, sending on before my sick, 
 wounded, artillery, &c., down the Wood Creek, covering them by 
 our line of march. 
 
 " This did not fall in with their views, which were no less than 
 treacherously committing ravage upon their fiiends, as they had 
 lost the opportunity of doing it upon their enemies. To effect 
 this they artfully caused messengers to come in, one after the 
 other, with accounts of the near approaches of the rebels; one 
 
108 ORISKANY MEMORIAL. 
 
 and the last affirmed that they were within two miles of Captain 
 Lernoult's post. Not giving entire credit to this, and keeping to 
 my resolution of retiring by night, they grew furious and aban- 
 doned ; seized upon the officers' liquor and cloaths, in spite of the 
 efforts of their servants, and became more formidable than the 
 enemy we had to exj)ect. I now thought it time to call in Captain 
 Lernoult's post, retiring with the troops in camp to the ruined fort 
 called William, in the front of the garrison, not only to wait the 
 enemy if they thought proper to sally, but to protect the boats 
 from the fury of the savages, having sent forward Captain Hoyes 
 Avith his detachment, Avith one piece of cannon, to the place where 
 Bull Fort stood, to receive the troops who waited the arrival of 
 Captain Lernoult. Most of the boats were escorted that night 
 beyond Canada Creek, where no danger was to be apprehended 
 from the enemy. The creek at this place, bending from the road, 
 has n deep cedar swamp between. Every attention was now 
 turned to the mouth of the creek, which the enemy might have 
 possessed themselves of by a rapid march by the Oneyda Castle. 
 At this place the whole of the little army arrived by twelve o'clock 
 at night, and took post in such a manner as to have no fears of 
 any thing the enemy could do. Here we remained till three 
 o'clock next morning, when the boats which could come up the creek 
 arrived, or rather that the rascally part of all nations of the Indians 
 would suffer to come up ; and proceeded across Lake Oneyda to 
 the ruined Fort of Brereton, where I learnt that some boats were 
 still laboring down the creek, after being lightened of the best 
 part of their freight by the MessHsagoes. Captain Lernoult pro- 
 posed, with a boat full of armed men, to repass the lake that night 
 to relieve them from their labor, and supply them with provision. 
 This transaction does as much honor to the humanity as to the 
 gallantry of this valuable officer. 
 
 "On my arrival at the Onondago Falls I received an answer t& 
 my letter from Your Excellency, which showed, in the clearest 
 light, the scenes of treachery that had been practiced upon me. 
 The messenger had heard indeed on his way that they were col- 
 lecting the same kind of rabble as before, but that there was not 
 an enemy within forty miles of Fort Stanwix. 
 
 "Soon after my arrival here I was joined by Captain Lernoult, 
 with the men and boats he had been in search of. I mean immedi- 
 ately to send off for the use of the upper garrison, all the over- 
 plus provisions I shall have, after keeping a sufficiency to cari'y 
 my detachment down, which I mean to do with every expedition 
 
APPENDIX TO HISTORICAL ADDEESS. 109 
 
 in my power the moment this business is effected, for which pur- 
 pose I have ordered liere the snow. The sloop is already gone 
 from this witli her full lading. 
 
 " Officers from each corps are sent to Montreal to procure neces- 
 saries for the men, who are in the most dejilorable situation from 
 the plunder of the savages, that no time may be lost to join your 
 army. 
 
 " I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect, sir, Your 
 Excellency's most obedient and most faithful servant, 
 
 "BARRY ST. LEGER." 
 
 "Oswego, August 27, 1111. 
 
 " His Excellency General Burgoyne.'' 
 
 11. British Authority on the Iju'ortance of St. Legek's 
 Expedition. (Page 87.) 
 
 The first authority on this point is General Burgoyne, who in 
 his paper "for conducting the war from the side of Canada," urges 
 the expedition by " the Lake Ontario and Oswego to the Mohawk 
 River, which," he says, "as a diversion to facilitate every proposed 
 operation, would be highly desirable." (Defense, Appendix, p. vi.) 
 
 Second. It will be remarked in the letter of Lord George Ger- 
 maine, he announces " the King's determination " to employ the 
 army in Canada " upon two expeditions," one by Burgoyne and 
 the other by St. Leger, thus placing both on the same footing. 
 See the extract from the letter in tlie fourth section of this Appen- 
 dix, IX 100. 
 
 The third authority to be cited on this point is the British 
 Annual Register for 1777, (under the auspices at least of Edmund 
 Burke,) where we read : " In these embarassing and difficult cir- 
 cumstances General Burgoyne received information that Colonel 
 St. Leger had arrived before, and was conducting his operations 
 against Fort Stanwix. He instantly and justly conceived that a 
 rapid movement forward at this critical period would be of utmost 
 importance. If the enemy proceeded up the Mohawk and that St. 
 Leger succeeded, he would be liable to get between two fires, or 
 at any rate. General Burgoyne's army would get between him and 
 Albany, so that he must either stand an action or by passing the 
 Hudson River, endeavor to secure a retreat higher up to the New 
 England provinces. If, on the other hand, he abandoned Fort 
 Stanwix to its fate, and fell back to Albany, the Mohawk country 
 
110 OEISKANT MEMORIAL. 
 
 would of course be entirely laid open, the juncture with St. Leger 
 established, and the entire army at liberty and leisure to prescribe 
 and choose its future line of operations." 
 
 General Bnro'oyne in his Defense (p. 102,) uses these words: 
 " It will likewise be remembered that Lieutenant Colonel St. Leger 
 was at this time before Fort Stanwix ; every hour was pregnant 
 with critical events." 
 
 The History of the Civil War, by an Officer of the (British) 
 Army, London, 1780, p. 384, says: 
 
 " Fortune, which had been hitherto favorable to General Bur- 
 goyne, now began to withdraw her caresses, and like a flirting 
 female, broke from him in the moment of possession." 
 
 Consult also section thirteenth of this Appendix, (p. 111.) 
 
 12. GovEKNOR Clintox o^t the Battle of Oriskant and the 
 Tryon County Militia. (Pages 80, 82.) 
 
 The following important letter is found in the original manu- 
 script in the State Library at Albany. It was addressed to the 
 several colonels in Tryon county: 
 
 "Headquarters, Half Moon, 22d August, 1111. 
 
 ^l 
 
 Sir: While I have the highest sense of the loyalty, valor and 
 bravery of the militia of Ti-yon county, manifested in the victory 
 gained by them under the comma?ul of their late worthy General 
 Herkimer, for which, as tlie chief magistrate of the free and inde- 
 pendent State of New York, they have my most hearty thanks, it 
 gives me the greatest pain to be informed that any difficulty should 
 arise in their joining the array under General Arnold, and thereby 
 enabling him to finish the war in that quarter, by raising the 
 siege of Fort Schuyler and destroying the enemy's army in that 
 quarter, and restoring peace and safety to the inhabitants of 
 Tryon county. Their noble exertions against the common enemy 
 have already gained them the greatest honor, their perseverance 
 will secure them peace and safety. In both I am greatly inter- 
 ested, and it is my duty and I hereby most positively order that 
 you immediately join General yVrnold with one-half of your regi- 
 ment completely armed, equipt and accoutred, and march under 
 his command to the relief of Fort Schuyler. As soon as the ser- 
 vice will admit General Arnold will dismiss you. If any are hardy 
 enough to refuse to obey your orders given in consequence of this. 
 
APPENDIX TO HISTOEICAL ADDRESS. Ill 
 
 you are immediately to report the names of the same to General 
 Arnold, who will transmit the same to me, that they may be dealt 
 with with the utmost rigor of the law. 
 
 " I am your obedient servant, 
 
 "GEORGE CLINTON." 
 
 Frederick Sammons in his manuscript narrative, states that 
 Arnold, after he had relieved the Fort, "directly marched his 
 troops to Stillwater." Sammons was in this army. He had been 
 off on duty as a scout in the early days of August. 
 
 13. The Mohawk: Valley at Sakatoga. (Pages 89, 92, 110.) 
 
 The "History of the Civil War in America, by an Officer in the 
 British Army," Captain Hall, London, 1780, says, p. 397: "The 
 retreat of Colonel St. Leger inspired tlie enemy with fresh ardor, 
 and as they had now no longer anything to fear on the Mohawk 
 river, a numerous and hardy militia from that country immediately 
 joined their army in the neighborhood of Albany, which now 
 advanced and took post near Stillwater, where they were also 
 joined by a body of troops under Arnold, who had, in fact, been 
 detached to the relief of Fort Stanwix, though he was at a great 
 distance when the Jintsse of the garrison succeeded in saving the 
 place." 
 
 " Botta's History of the United States " declares sijecitically : 
 "The successes of the Americans under the walls of Fort Schuyler, 
 (Stanwix,) besides having inspired the militia, produced also the 
 other happy effect of enabling them, relieved i'rom the fear of in- 
 vasion in the country upon the Mohawk, to unite all their forces 
 against the army of Burgoyne." (Vol. 1, p. 465.) 
 
 In the "History of the war with America, France and Spain, by 
 John Andrews, LL. D.," (London, 1786,) vol. 2, p. 402, the case is 
 thus stated: "The failure of the expedition against Fort Stanwix, 
 together with the defeat of Bennington, were very severe blows 
 to the British interest in those parts. They animated tlie Ameri- 
 cans to a surprising degree. They began now confidently to 
 promise themselves that General Burgoyne himself would share 
 the same fate as his officers." 
 
 General Burgoyne in a letter to Lord Germaine, dated Camp, 
 near Saratoga, August 20, 1777, says: "I am afraid the expecta- 
 tions of Sir J. Johnson greatly fail in the rising of the country. 
 On this side 1 find daily reason to doubt the sincerity of the reso- 
 
112 OKTSKANr MEMORIAL. 
 
 lution of tlie professing loyalists. I liave about four huuilred, but 
 not balf of thom armed, who may be depended upon ; the rest are 
 ti-immers, merc^ly actuated by interest. The groat bulk of the 
 country is undoubtedly with the Congress, in principle and zeal ; 
 and their measures are executed with a secrecy and dispatch that 
 are not to be equaled." 
 
 Cieneral Burgoyne, in his Defense, (p. 114,) presents this as a cou- 
 clusi^'e ai'gument in his own behalf: 
 
 " The circumstances of the action at Bennington established a 
 yet more mcLmcholy conviction of the fallacy of any dependence 
 upon supposed friends. The noble lord has said, that ' I never 
 despaired of the campaign before the aflhir at Bennington; that I 
 had no doubt of gaining Albany in as short a time as the army 
 (in due condition of supply) could accomplish the march.' I 
 acknowledge the truth of the assertions in their fullest extent ; all 
 my letters at the time show it. I will go further and in one sense 
 apply with the noble lord the epithet 'fatal' to the aifair of Ben- 
 nington. The knowledge I acquired of the professors of loyalty 
 was 'fatal,' and put an end to every expectation from enterprise, 
 unsustained by dint of force. It would have been excess of frenzy 
 to have trusted for sustenance to the plentiful region of Albany. 
 Had the march thither been unopposed, the enemy, finding the 
 British army unsupplied, would only have had to compel the tories 
 to drive the cattle and destroy the corn, and the capitulation of 
 Albany instead of Saratoga must have followed. Would the tories 
 have risen ? Why did they not rise around Albany and below 
 when they found Mr. Gates' army increasing by separate and 
 distinct parties from remote distances ? They were better quali- 
 fied by their situation to catch the favorable moment, than I was 
 to advise it. Why did they not rise in that populous, and, as sup- 
 posed, well affected district, the German Flats, at the time St. 
 Leger M\as before Fort Stanwix ? A critical insurrection from any 
 one point to create diversion would probably have secured the 
 success of the campaign. But to revert to the reasons against a 
 rapid march after the affair of Bennington. It was then also 
 known that by the false intelligence respecting the strength of 
 Fort Stanwix, the infamous behavior of the Indians, and the want 
 of the promised co-operation of the loyal iniiabitants, St. Leger had 
 been obliged to retreat. The first plausible motive in favor of haz- 
 ardous haste, the facilitating his descent of the Mohawk, was at 
 an end." 
 
 It is pleasant to add to this testimony the following: 
 
APPENDIX TO HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 113 
 
 Council op Safety to John Hancock, President of 
 
 Congress. 
 
 "Kingston, August 26, 1777. 
 
 "Sir: I have the honor of transmitting to you the letters of 
 General Schuyler and Governor Clinton, giving us the agreeable 
 intelligence of the raising of the siege of Fort Schuyler. The 
 gallantry of the commander of the garrison of that Fort and the 
 distinguished bravery of General HerkiniL-r and his militia, have 
 already been productive of the most desirable consequences. The 
 brave and more fortunate General Stark with his spirited countrj'-- 
 men hath, as you know, given the enemy a signal coup at Benning- 
 ton. The joint result of these providential instances of success 
 hath revived the drooping hopes of the desponding, and given 
 new vigor to the firm and determined. We have therefore the 
 pleasing expectation of compelling General Burgoyne in his turn 
 .to retire. " I have the honor to be, &c., 
 
 "PIERRE VAN CORTLANDT." 
 
 14. The British Account of the Affair. 
 (Pages 67, 83, 89, 90.) 
 
 The British Annual Register for 1777, makes the following 
 statement of the affair, which has become the standai-d British 
 history : 
 
 " St. Leger's attempt upon Fort Stanwix (now named by the 
 Americans Fort Schuyler,) was soon after its commencement 
 favored by a success so signal as would, in other cases and a more 
 fortunate season, have been decisive, as to the fate of a stronger 
 and more important fortress. General Herkimer, a leading man 
 of that country, was marching at the head of eight or nine hun- 
 dred of the Tryon county militia, with a convoy of provisions, to 
 the relief of the fort. St. Leger, well aware of the danger of 
 beino- attacked in his trenches, and of -withstanding the whole 
 weight of the garrison in some particular and probably weak 
 point at the same instant, judiciously detached Sir John. Johnson 
 with some regulars, the whole or part of his own regiment and the 
 savages, to lie in ambush in the wood and interrupt the enemy 
 upon their march. 
 
 "It should seem by the conduct of the militia and their leader, 
 that they were not only totally ignorant of all military duties, 
 but that they had even never heard by report of the nature of an 
 
114 ORISKANT MEMORIAL. 
 
 Indian wai-, or of that ])ec'uliar service in the woods, to which 
 i'rom its nature and situation this country was at all times liable. 
 Without examination of their ground, without a reconnoitering or 
 flanking party, they plunged blindly into the trap that was laid 
 for their destruction. Being thrown into a sudden and inevitable 
 disordei-, by a near and heavy tire on almost all sides, it 
 was completed by the Indians who, instantly pursuing their fire, 
 rushed in upon their broken ranks and made a most dreadful 
 slaughter amongst them with their spears and hatchets. Not- 
 withstanding their want of conduct the militia shewed no want of 
 courage in their deplorable situation. In the midst of such ex- 
 treme danger, and so bloody an execution, rendered still more 
 terrible by the horrid appearance and demeanor of the principal 
 actors, they recollected themselves so far as to recover an ad- 
 vantageous ground, which enabled them after to maintain a sort 
 of running fight, by which about one third of their number was 
 l^reserved. 
 
 " The loss was supposed to be on their side about four hundred 
 killed, and half that number prisoners. It was thought of the 
 greater consequence, as almost all those who were considered as the 
 principal leaders and instigators of rebellion in that country were 
 now destroyed. The triumph and exultation were accordingly great, 
 and all opposition from the militia in that country was supposed 
 to be at an end. The circumstance of old neighborhood and per- 
 sonal knowledge between many of the parties, in the present rage 
 and animosity of faction, could by no means be favorable to the 
 extension of mercy; even supposing that it might have been 
 otherwise practiced with pi'udence and safety, at a time when the 
 power of the Indians was rather prevalent, and that their rage 
 was implacable. For according to their computation and ideas of 
 loss the savages had purchased this victory exceeding dearly, 
 thirty-three of their number having been slain and twenty-nine 
 wounded, among whom were several of their principal leaders and 
 of their most distinguished and favorite warriors. The loss ac- 
 cordingly rendered them so iliscontented, intractable and ferocious 
 that the service was greatly affected by their ill disposition. The 
 unhappy ]jrisoners were, however, its first objects, most of whom 
 they inhumanly butchered in cold blood. The New Yorkers, 
 rangers and other troops were not without loss in this action. 
 
 " On the day, and probably during the time of this engagement, 
 the garrison having received intelligence of the approach of their 
 friends, endeavoi'cd to make a diversion in their favor by a vigor- 
 
APPENDIX TO HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 115 
 
 ous and well-conducted sally, under the direction of Colonel Wil- 
 let, their second in command. Willet conducted his business with 
 ability and spirit. He did considerable mischief in the camp, 
 brought oif some trophies, no inconsiderable spoil, some of which 
 consisted in articles that were greatly wanted, a few prisoners, and 
 retired with little or no loss. He afterwards undertook, in com- 
 pany with another otiicer, a much more perilous expedition. 
 They passed by night throiigh the besiegers' works, and in con- 
 tempt of the danger and cruelty of the savages, made their way 
 for fifty miles through pathless woods and unexplored morasses, 
 in order to raise the country and bring relief to the fort. Such an 
 action demands the praise even of an enemy. 
 
 " Colonel St. Leger left no means untried to profit of his victory 
 by intimidating the garrison. He sent verbal and written nies- • 
 sages stating their hopeless situation, the utter destruction of their 
 friends, the impossibility of their obtaining relief, as General Bur- 
 goyne, after destroying everything in his power, was now at 
 Albany receiving the submission of all the adjoining counties, and 
 by prodigiously magnifying his own force. He represented that 
 in this state of things, if through an incorrigible obstinacy, they 
 should continue hopeless and fruitless defense, they would, accord- 
 ing to the practice of most civilized nations, be cut off from all 
 conditions and every hope of mercy. But he was particularly 
 direct upon the pains he had taken in softenhig the rage of the 
 Indians from their late loss and obtaining from them security that 
 in case of an immediate surrender of the fort every man of the 
 garrison should be spared, while on the other hand they declared, 
 with utmost bitter execrations that if they met with any further 
 resistance they would not only massacre the garrison, but that 
 every man, womai> and child in the Mohawk country would nec- 
 essarily, and however against his will, fall sacrifices to the fury of 
 the savages. This point, he said, he pressed entirely on the score 
 of humanity. He promised on his part, in case of an immediate 
 surrender, every attention which a humane and generous enemy 
 could give. The Governor, Colonel Gansevoort, behaved with 
 great firmness. He replied that he had been entrusted with the 
 charge of that garrison by the United States of America ; that he 
 would defend the trust committed to his care at every hazard and 
 to the utmost extremity, and that he should not at all concern 
 himself about any consequences that attended the discharge of 
 his duty. It was shrewdly remarked in the fort that half the 
 pains would not have been taken to display the force immediately 
 
116 OEISKANY MEMORIAL. 
 
 without, or the success at a distance, if they bore any proportion 
 at all to the magnitude in Avliich they were represented. 
 
 "The British commander was much disapj^ointed in the state of 
 the fort. It was stronger, in better condition, and much better 
 defended than he expected. ^Vfter great labor in his approaches 
 he found his artillery deficient, being insufficient in weight to 
 make any considerable impression. The only remedy "was to' 
 bring his approaches so near that they must take effect, which he 
 set about with the greatest diligence. 
 
 " In the mean time the Indians continued sullen and untractable. 
 Their late losses might have been cured hj certain advantages, 
 but the misfortune was they had yet got no plunder, and their 
 prospect of getting any seemed to grow every day fainter. It is 
 the peculiar characteristic of that people to exhibit in certain in- 
 stances degrees of courage and perseverance which shock reason 
 and credibility, and to portray in others the greatest irresolution 
 and timidity, with a total want of that constancy which might 
 enable them for any length of time to struggle with difficulty. 
 
 " Whilst the commander was carrying on his operations with 
 the utmost industry the Indians received a flying report that 
 Arnold was coming with 1,000 men to relieve the fort. The com- 
 mander endeavored to hasten them, by promising to lead them 
 himself, to bring all his best troops into action, and by carrying 
 their leaders out to mark a field of battle, and the flattery of con- 
 sulting them upon the intended plans of operation. Whilst he 
 was thus endeavoring to soothe their temper and to revive their 
 flagging spirits, other scouts arrived with intelligence, probably 
 contrived in part by themselves, which first doubled and after- 
 wards trebled the number of the enemy, with the comfortable ad- 
 dition that Burgoyne's army was entirely cat to pieces. 
 
 " The Colonel returned to camp, and called a council of their 
 chiefs, hoping that by the influence Avhich Sir John Johnson and 
 Superintendents Clans and Butler, had over them, they might still 
 be induced to make a stand. He was disappointed. A part of 
 the Indians decamped whilst the council was sitting and the re- 
 mainder threatened peremptorily to abandon him if he did not 
 immediately retreat. 
 
 " The retreat was of course precipitate, or it was rather, in 
 plain terms, flight, attended with disagreeable circumstances. 
 The tents, with most of the artillery, fell into the hands of the 
 garrison. It appears by the Colonel's own account that he was as 
 apprehensive of danger from the fury of his savage allies, as he 
 
APPENDIX TO HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 117 
 
 could be from the resentment of his American enemies. It also 
 appears from the same authority that the Messasagoes, a nation of 
 savages to the West, plundered several of the boats belonging to 
 the army. By the American accounts, which are in part confirmed 
 by others, it is said that they robbed the officers of their baggage 
 and of every other article to which they took any liking, and the 
 army in general of their provisions. They also say that a few 
 miles distance from the camp they first stripped of their arms and 
 afterwards mui-dered witli their own bayonets, all those British, 
 German and American soldiers, who from any inability to keep up, 
 fear or any othei- cause, were separated from the main body. 
 
 "The state of the fact with respect to the intended relief of 
 the fort is, that Arnold had advanced by the way of Half Moon 
 up the Mohawk river with 2,000 men for that purpose ; and that 
 for the greater expedition he had quitted the main body and ar- 
 rived by forced marches through the woods, with a detachment 
 of 900 at the fort, on the twenty-fourth in the evening, two days 
 after the siege had been raised. So that upon the whole the in- 
 tractableness of the Indians, witli their watchful apprehension of 
 danger, probably saved them from a chastisement which would not 
 have been tenderly administered. 
 
 "Nothing could have been more untoward in the present situa- 
 tion of affairs than the unfortunate issue of this expedition. The 
 Americans represented this and the affair at Bennington as great 
 and glorious victories. Nothing could excel their exultation 
 and confidence. Gansevoort and Willet, with General Stark and 
 Colonel Warner, who had commanded at Bennington, were ranked 
 among those who were considered as the saviours of their country. 
 The northern militia began now to look high and to forget all 
 distinctions between themselves and regular troops. As this con- 
 fidence, opinion and pride increased, the apprehension of General 
 Burgoyne's army of course declined, until it soon came to be 
 talked of with indifference and contempt, and even its fortune to 
 be publicly prognosticated." 
 
 The account in Andrews' History of the War in America, (Lon- 
 don, 1786,) is a simple condensation from the Register. The 
 Dublin History borrows the identical words. 
 
 The History of an " Officer of the Army," London, 1780, has no 
 new authorities, and sheds no different light. 
 
 The "Impartial History of the Civil War," London, 1780, treats 
 the affair in the same spirit. 
 
 William Gordon, D. D., in his " History of the Rise, Progress 
 and Establishment of the Independence of the United States of 
 
118 ORISKANY MEMORIAL. 
 
 America,'' (London, 1788,) claims to have had access to the papers 
 of Washington and other American o-enerals, and writes with the 
 freshness of gossip. His story of Oriskany and Fort Stanwix has 
 this character, and he states that he had some of his facts from 
 Reverend Samuel Kirkland. Besides the references elsewhere 
 made, lie adds only a few touches of color to this local chronicle. 
 
 15. St. Leger's Boast and Co>rFiDEisrcE. (Page 91.) 
 
 The following extract of a letter from Lieutenant Colonel St. 
 Leger to Lieutenant General Burgoyne, brought through the 
 woods by an Indian, dated before Fort Stanwix, August 11, 1*111, 
 is copied from Almon's "American Remembrancer for 1777," 
 p. 392 : 
 
 "After combating the natural difficulties of the river St. Law- 
 rence and the artificial ones the enemy threw in my way at Wood 
 Creek, I invested Fort Stanwix the third instant. On the fifth I 
 learnt from discovering parties on the Mohawk river that a body 
 of one thousand militia were on their march to raise the siege. 
 On the confirmation of this news I moved a large body of Indians, 
 witli some troops the same night, to lay in ambuscade for them on 
 their m^arch. They fell into it. The corapletest victory was ob- 
 tained ; above four hundred lay dead on the field, amongst the 
 number of whom were almost all the principal movers of rebellion 
 in that country. There are six or seven hundred men in the fort. 
 The militia will never rally ; all that I am to apprehend, therefore, 
 that will retard my progress in joining you, is a reinforcement of 
 what they call their regular troops, by the way of Half Moon, up 
 the Mohawk river. A diversion, therefore, from your army by 
 that quarter will greatly expedite my junction with either of the 
 gi'and armies." 
 
 The Remembrancer for that year gives as a letter from Sir Guy 
 Carleton a statement " That Colonel St. Leger, finding Fort Stan- 
 wix too strongly fortified and the garrison too numerous to be 
 taken by assault, and the Indians being alarmed by a false report 
 of the approach of a large body of the rebel continental troops, 
 he had given over the attempt of forcing a passage down the Mo- 
 hawk river, and returned to Montreal, from whence he had pro- 
 ceeded to Ticonderoga, intending to join Lieutenant General 
 Burgoyne by that route." 
 
APPENDIX TO HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 119 
 
 16. Bennington Counted Before Oriskany in Time. 
 
 (Page 91.) 
 
 Sted^nan's (Britisli) History of the R'nolution, p. 353, says : 
 
 "The defeat of Colonels Baum, Breynian anl St. Leger ener- 
 vated the British cause in no ordinary degree. There were many 
 of the inhabitants not attached to either )>arty by principle, and 
 who had resolved to join themselves to that which should be 
 successful. These men, after the disasters at Bennington and 
 Stanwix, added a sudden and powerful increase of strength to the 
 Americans." 
 
 17. Colonel Claus' Letter to Secretary Knox at London. 
 
 (Pages 69, 79, 80.) 
 
 In the eighth volume of the Documents relating to the Colonial 
 History of New York, (p. 718 and following,) is an official letter 
 from Colonel Daniel Claus, written from Montreal, October 16, 
 1777, which was brought to light after all the histories of the 
 Battle of Oriskany, which are generally familiar, were written. It 
 is necessary to complete the record. Colonel Claus writes : 
 
 "Sir; I take the liberty to give you such an account of the 
 expedition I was appointed to this campaign, as my capacity will 
 permit me, and which though tedious, I used all the conciseness in 
 my power. 
 
 " On my arrival at Quebec the first of June, Sir Guy Carleton 
 being at Montreal, my letter from Lord George Germaine was for- 
 warded to him by Lieutenant Governor Cramahe that day, and my- 
 self arrived there a few days after. I waited upon Sir Guy, who 
 acknowledged the receipt of the letter, but said nothing further 
 upon it, than addressing himself to Captain Tice, who was in 
 England with Joseph (Brant,) and there at Levy, that I had now 
 the command of him and those Indian officers and Indians that 
 were destined for Brigadier St. Leger's expedition. A day or two 
 after I waited on him again for his orders and instructions, and 
 asked what rank I was to have on the expedition. He replied on 
 the latter; that it could not be settled here. * * * 
 
 " Some time before our march I informed myself of Sir Guy 
 Carleton, of the state Fort Stanwix was in ; he told me that by 
 the latest accounts from Colonel Butler, there were sixty men in 
 a picketed place. Determined to be sure, I despatched one John 
 Hare, an active Indian officer, with the Mohawk chief John 
 
120 ORISKANT MEMORIAL. 
 
 Odiseruney, to colleot a small party of Indians at Swegachy and 
 reconnoitre Fort Stanwix, as well as possible and bring off some 
 prisoners if they could. 
 
 " On the twenty-third of June, I set out from La Chine near 
 Montreal. The Brigadier who was getting the artillery boats 
 ready to take in two sixes, two threes, and four Cohorns, (being 
 our artillery for the expedition,) was to follow the day after ; and 
 proceeded for an island destined for oiir rendezvous, in the entrance 
 of Lake Ontario, called Buck island, in company with Sir John 
 Johnson and his regiment. In my way thither I collected a body 
 of a hundred and fifty Misisagey and Six Nation Indians. All the 
 Indians of the inhabited part of Canada whom I had under my 
 care for fifteen years, and was best acquainted with, were destined 
 for General Burgoyne's army. The Misisagey and Six Nations, 
 the Brigadier intended should accompany him in an alert to Fort 
 Stanwix, by a short cut through the woods, from a place called 
 Salmon Creek on Lake Ontario, about twenty miles from Oswego, 
 in order to surprise the garrison and take it with small arms. 
 
 "Between sixty and seventy leagues from Montreal- my recon- 
 noitering party returned and met me, with five prisoners (one 
 lieutenant) and four scalps, having defeated a working party of 
 sixteen rebels as they were cutting sod towards repairing and 
 finishing the old fort, which is a regular square, and garrisoned 
 by upwards of six hundred men, the repairs far advanced and the 
 rebels expecting us, and were acquainted with our strength and 
 route. I immediately forwarded the prisoners to the Brigadier 
 who was about fifteen leagues in our rear. On his arrival within 
 a few leagues of Buck Island he sent for me, and, talking over the 
 intelligence the rebel prisoners gave, he owned that if they intended 
 to defend themselves in that fort our artillery was not sufficient to 
 take it. However, he said, he has determined to get the truth of 
 these fellows. I told him that having examined them separately 
 they agreed in their story. And here the Brigadier had still an 
 opportunity and time of sending for a better train of artillery and 
 wait for the junction of the Chasseurs, which must have secured 
 us success, as every one will allow. However, he was still iuU of 
 his alert, making little of the prisoners' intelligence. 
 
 " On his arrival at Buck Island the eighth of July, he put me in 
 orders as superintendent of the expedition and empowered me to 
 act for the best of my judgment for His Majesty's service, in the 
 management of the Indians on the expedition, as well as what 
 regarded their equipment, presents, &c., he being an entire 
 
APPENDIX TO HISTOEICAL ADDEESS. 121 
 
 stranger thereto. There was then a vessel at the Island which 
 had some Indian goods on board, which Colonel Butler liad pro- 
 cui'ed for the expedition, but upon examination I found that 
 almost every one of the above articles I demanded at Montreal 
 were deficient and a niei'e impossibility to procure them at Buck 
 Island, had I not luckily provided some of those articles before I 
 left Montreal at my own risk, and with difficulty Brigadier St. 
 Leger found out thirty stand of arms in the artillerj'^ stores at 
 Swegachy, and I added all my eloquence to satisfy the Indians 
 about the rest. 
 
 " The Brigadier set out fi-om the Island upon his alert the nine- 
 teenth of July, I having been ordered to proceed to Oswego with Sir 
 John Johnson's regiment and a company of Chasseurs lately arrived, 
 there to convene and prepare the Indians to join the Brigadier at 
 Fort Stanwix. On my arrival at Oswego, twenty-third July, I 
 found Joseph Brant there, who acquainted me that his party, con- 
 sisting of about three hundred Indians, would be in that day, and 
 having been more than two months upon service, were destitute of 
 necessaries, ammunition, and some arms. Joseph at the same time 
 complaining of having been very scantily supplied by Colonel But- 
 ler with ammunition when at Niagara in the spring, although he 
 acquainted Colonel Butler of his being threatened with a visit 
 from the rebel General Herkimer, of Tryon county, and actually 
 was afterwards visited by him with three hundred men Math him, 
 and five hundred at some distance; when Joseph had not two 
 hundred Indians together, but, resolutely declaring to the rebel 
 General that he was determined to act against them for the King, 
 he obliged them to retreat with mere menaces, not having twenty 
 pounds of powder among his party. 
 
 " The twenty-fourth of July I received an express from Briga- 
 dier St. Leger at Salmon Creek, about twenty miles from Oswego, 
 to repair thither with what arms and vermilion I had, and that 
 he wished I would come prepared for a march through the woods. 
 As to arms and vermilion I had none, but prepared myself to go 
 upon the march, and was ready to set off, when Joseph came into 
 my tent and told me that as no person was on the spot to take 
 care of the number of Indians with him, he apprehended in case I 
 should leave them they would become disgusted, and disperse, 
 which might prevent the rest of the Six Nations to assemble, and 
 and be hurtful to the expedition, and begged I would first repre- 
 resent these circumstances to the Brigadier by letter. Brigadier 
 St. Leger mentioned indeed, my going was chiefly intended to 
 
 H 
 
122 0E.I8KANY MEMORIAL. 
 
 quiet the Indians with him, who were very drunk and riotous, and 
 Captain Tice, who was the messenger, informed me that the Brig- 
 adier ordered the Indians a quart of rum apiece, which made them 
 all beastly drunk, an<l in which case it is not in the jiower of man 
 to quiet them. Accordingly I mentioned to the Brigadier by 
 letter the consequences that might affect his Majesty's Indian in- 
 terest in case I was ro leave so large a number of Indians that 
 were come already and still expected. Upon which representation 
 and finding the Indians disajiproved of the plan, and were unwill- 
 ing to proceed, the Brigadier came away from Salmon creek and 
 arrived the next day at Oswego with the companies of the eighth 
 and tbirty-fourth regiments and about two hundred and fifty 
 Indians. 
 
 " Having equipped Joseph's party with what necessaries and 
 ammunition I had, I appointed the rest of the Six Nations to as- 
 semble at the Three Rivers, a convenient i)lace of rendezvous, and 
 in the way to Fort Stanwix, and desired Colonel Butler to follow 
 me with the Indians he brought with him from Niagara, and equip 
 them all at Three Rivers. 
 
 " The twenty-sixth of July left Oswego, and second of August 
 arrived with the Brigadier and the greatest part of the troops be- 
 fore Fort Stanwix, which was invested the same evening. The 
 enemy having stop])ed up a narrow river, called Wood Creek, by 
 cutting of trees across it for about twenty miles, along which our 
 artillery, provisions and baggage were to pass, which passage to 
 cut open required a number of men, as well as cutting a road 
 through the woods for twenty-five miles, to bring up the artillery, 
 stores, &c., that were immediately wanted, which weakened our 
 small army greatly. 
 
 "The third, fourth and fiftli the Indians surrounded the fort and 
 fired from behind logs and rising grounds, at the garrison, wher- 
 ever they had an object, which prevented them from working at 
 the fortifications in the day. The fifth, in the alternoon, accounts 
 were brought by Indians, sent by Joseph's sister from Canajoharie, 
 that a body of rebels were on their march and would be within 
 ten or twelve miles of our camp by night. A detachment of 
 about four hundred Indians was ordered to reconnoitre the enemy. 
 Sir John Johnson asked leave to join his company of light infantry 
 and head the whole, which was granted. Colonel Butler and 
 other Indian oflicers were ordered with the Indians. 
 
 " The rebels having an imperfect account of the number of 
 Indians that joined us, (being upward of eight hundred,) not 
 
APPENDIX TO HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 128 
 
 thinking them by one-fourth as many, and being sure as to our 
 strength and artillery, (which we learned by prisoners,) that they 
 knew it from their emissaries before we left Canada. They there- 
 fore, on the sixth, marched on, to the number of upwards of eight 
 hundred, with security and carelessness. 
 
 " When within six miles of the Fort they were waylaid by our 
 party, surprised, briskly attacked, and after a little resistance, 
 repulsed and defeated ; leaving upwards of five hundred killed on 
 the spot, among which were their principal officers and ring- 
 leaders ; their general was shot through the knee, and a few days 
 afterward died of an amputation. 
 
 " We lost Captains Hare and Wilson of the Indians, Lieutenant 
 McDonald of Sir John's regiment, two or three privates and thirty- 
 two Indians, among which were several Seneka chiefs killed. Cap- 
 tain Watts, Lieutenant Singleton of Sir John's regiment, and 
 thirty-three Indians wounded. 
 
 " During the action when the garrison found the Indians' camp 
 (who went out against their reinforcement) empty, they boldly 
 sallied out with three hundred men, and two field pieces, and took 
 away the Indians' packs, with their clothes, wampum and silver 
 work, " they having gone in their shirts, as naked to action ;" and 
 when they found a party advancing from our camp, they returned 
 with their spoil, taking with them Lieutenant Singleton and a 
 private of Sir John's regiment, who lay wounded in the Indian 
 camp. 
 
 " The disappointment was rather greater to the Indians than 
 their loss, for they had nothing to cover themselves at night, or 
 against the sveather, and nothing in our camp to supply them till I 
 got to Oswego. 
 
 "After this defeat and having got part of our artillery up, some 
 cohom shells were thrown into the Fort, and a few shots fired. 
 A flas: then was sent with an account of the disaster of their in- 
 tended relief, and the garrison was summoned to surrender pris- 
 oners of war, to be marched down the country, leaving baggage, 
 &c., behind, to satisfy the Indians for their losses. 
 
 " The rebels knowing their strength in garrison, as well as forti- 
 fication, and the insufficiency of our field pieces to hurt them, and 
 apprehensive of being massacred by the Indians for the losses sus- 
 tained in the action ; they rejected the summons and said they 
 were determined to hold out to the extremity. 
 
 " The siege then was carried on with as much vigor as possible 
 for nineteen days, but to no purpose. Sir John Johnson proposed 
 
12-4 OKISKANT MEMORIAL. 
 
 to follow the blow given to the reinforcements, (who were chiefly 
 Mohawk rivei" people,) to march down the conntry with about two 
 hundred men, and I intended joining him with a sufficient body of 
 Indians; but the Brigadier said he could not spare the men, and 
 disapproved of ii. The inhabitants in general were ready (as we 
 afterwards learned) to submit and come in. A flag then was sent 
 to invite the inhabitants to submit and be forgiven, and assurance 
 given to pre\'ent the Indians from being outi'ageous ; but the com- 
 manding officer of the German Flats hearing of it, seized the flag, 
 consisting of Ensign Butler of the Eighth Regiment, ten soldiers 
 and three Indians, and took them up as spies. A few days after, 
 General Arnold, coming with some cannon and a reinforcement, 
 made the inhabitants return to their obedience. The Indians, find- 
 ing that our besieging the fort was of no effect, our troops but few, 
 a reinforcement, as was reported, of fifteen hundred or two thous- 
 and men with field pieces by the way, began to be dispirited and 
 fell ofi:' by degrees. Tlie chiefs advised the Brigadier to retreat 
 to Oswego antl get better artillery from Niagara, and more men, 
 and so return and renew the siege ; to which the Brigadier agreed, 
 and accordingly retreated on the twenty-second of August. On 
 our arrival at Oswego the twenty-sixth and examining into the 
 state of the troops' necessaries, the men were without shoes and 
 other things which only could be got at Montreal, the Brigadier at 
 the same time having received a letter from General Burgoyue to 
 join him, either by a march through the Avoods back of Tryon 
 county, (which was impracticable,) or the way he came. He 
 adopted the latter on account of procuring necessaries for the men. 
 The Indians were as much as possible reconciled to this resolution, 
 with a promise that they should be convened as soon as Colonel 
 Butler could return from Montreal with some necessaries for them. 
 There being Indian traders at Oswego, I saw myself under a ne- 
 cessity to clothe those Indians that lost their packs by the rebels 
 at Fort Stanwix, Avhich made them return home contented. 
 
 " Thus has an expedition miscarried merely for want of timely 
 and good intelligence. For it is impossible to believe that had the 
 Brigadier St. Leger known the real state of the fort and garrison 
 of Fort Stanwix, he could possibly have proceeded from Montreal 
 without a sufficient train of artillery and his full complement of 
 troops. And yet by what I find, very large sums have been ex- 
 pended on account of government at Niagara upon the Indians 
 these two years past, and they at the same time kept inactive ; 
 whereas, had these presents been properly applied, the Six Nations 
 
appt:ndix to historical address. 125 
 
 might not only prevent Fort Stanwix from being re-establisheil, 
 but even let not a rebel come near it or keep it up ; it being almost 
 in the heart of their country, and they with reluctance saw the 
 Crown erect a fort there last war. All the good done by the ex- 
 pedition was, the ringleaders and principal men of the rebels of 
 Tryon county were put out of the way; but had we succeeded, it 
 must be of vast good effect to the Northern operations, and its 
 miscari-ying, I apprehend, to my deep concern, to be the reverse." 
 
 18. Roster op Oriskaxy. (Pages VI, 72.) 
 
 For several weeks in June and July, 1877, the Utlca Herald 
 appealed to the descendants of those engaged in the battle, and to 
 all others, for names to make up a Eoster of Oriskany, to preserve 
 the names of all persons who took part in that important action. 
 As the sum of its efforts, from all sources, that journal gathered 
 the following list : 
 
 ROSTER OF ORISKANY. 
 
 * Brigadier General Nicholas Herkimer ; Captain George 
 Herkimer; (Descendants, Warren Herkimer, Janesvilie, Wis.; 
 Aniste Herkimer Greene, Herkimer; Adilda Herkimer Eaton, 
 Herkimer ; Emily Herkimer Greene, Little Falls.) Colonel 
 Frederick Visscber, Mohawk; (Descendant, S. G. Visscher, 
 Rome.) * Colonel Ebenezer Cox, Canajoharie; Colonel Jacob 
 G. Klock, Palatine ; (Descendant, Josiah Siiull, Ilion.) Colonel 
 Peter Bellinger, German Flats; * Frederick Ayer, (Oyer) 
 Schuyler ; \ Major Blauvelt, Mohawk ; f Captain George Henry 
 Bell, Fall Hill ; * Joseph Bell, Fall Hill ; Nicholas Bell, Fall 
 Hill; [Captain John Breadbeg, Palatine; John Henry Adam 
 Becher, Little Falls; Adam Bellinger; Colonel John Bellin- 
 ger, Utica; Wm. P. Bellinger, Utica ; (Descendant, Henry B. 
 Ostrom, L^tica.) J Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Bellinger, 
 German Flats ; * Samuel Billington, Palatine, Committee of 
 
 Safety; Billington; * Major John Blevin; f Captain 
 
 Jacob Bowman, Canajoharie; John Boyer; Lieutenant Col- 
 onel Samuel Campbell, Cherry Valley; (Descendant, Judge 
 W. W. Campbell, Cherry Valley.) * Lieutenant Robert Camp- 
 bell, Cherry Valley; Major Samuel Clyde, Cherry Valley; (De- 
 scendants, Jefferson N. Clyde, Alfred G. Clyde, Cherry 
 Valley; DeWitt C. Clyde, Middlefield.) Jacob Castler; John 
 * Killed, f Wounded. | Taken prisoner. 
 
126 ORISKANY MEMOKIAL. 
 
 Castler; Adam Casslek; (Fatlier of John A. Casler, Miiiden.) 
 Jacob Clemens, Schuyler; (Uescend;uit, Michael Clemens, 
 Seliuyler.) Captain A. CoPEMAN,Minden; Richard Coppernoll; 
 
 * Robert Ckouse, Canajohario ; * Benjamin Davis ; * Captain 
 John Davis, Mohawk; Martinus Davis, Mohawk ; (a brother of 
 Captain John Davis.) Nicholas DeGrafp, Anisterdam ; Captain 
 John Marx Demuth, Dcerfield ; * Captain Andrew^ Dillen- 
 BACK, Palatine ; John Doxtader, German Flats ; Captain Henry 
 DiEFENDORP, Canajoharie; Hon (John) Peter Dunckel, Freys- 
 bush; Hon Garrett Dunckel, Freysbusb; Hon Nicholas 
 Dunckel, Freysbush; Francis Dunckel, Freysbusli ; * John 
 Dtgert, Committee of Safety ; Captain William Dygert, Ger- 
 man Flats ; (Descendant, James M. Dygert, Ilion.) * Major 
 John Eisenlord, Stone Arabia ; Peter Ehle, Palatine ; Jacob 
 Empie, Palatine; William Cox, St. Johnsville; Henry Failing, 
 Canajoharie; Jelles Fonda; Captain Adam Fonda; Valentine 
 Fralick, Palatine; J f Major John Frey, Palatine; * Captain 
 Christopher P. Fox, Palatine ; Christopher W. Fox, Palatine ; 
 Charles Fox, Palatine ; Peter Fox, Palatine ; Christopher 
 Fox, Palatine; (Nephews of Christopher W. Fox.) Peter 
 FoLTS, Fort Herkimer; (Grandson, Jacob P. Folts, Oneida.) 
 George Geortner, Canajoharie ; Captain Lawrence Gros, Min- 
 den ; * Nicholas Gray, Palatine ; Lieutenant Samuel Gray, 
 Herkimer; (Descendant, Colonel I. J. Gray, Utica.) Cap- 
 tain Graves; Captain Jacob Gardinier, Mohawk; 
 
 Lieutenant Samuel Gardinier, Mohawk; * Lieutenant Petrus 
 Groot, Amsterdam ; Heney Harter, German Flats ; John 
 Adam Helmer, German Flats ; * Captain Frederick Hel- 
 MER, German Flats; John Heyck, Palatine; Nicholas Hill; 
 Lieutenant Yost House, Minden; John Hoover, Little Falls; 
 
 * Lieutenant Colonel Abel Hunt, Canajoharie; Andrew Keller, 
 Palatine ; Christian Huffnail, Minden ; Jacob Keller, Pala- 
 tine; Solomon Keller, Palatine; * Major Dennis Klapsattle, 
 German Flats; Jacob Klapsattle, German Flats; Peter Kilts, 
 Palatine ; George Lintner, Minden ; George Lighthall, Minden ; 
 LIenry Lonus, Minden ; Solomon Longshore, Canajoharie; Lieu- 
 tenant Peter Loucks, Little Falls; Peter Loucks, Litte Falls; 
 
 * Jacob Markell, Sprinofield ; (Descendant, Oliver Markell, 
 Springfield Center.) * William Merckley, Palatine; John P. 
 Miller, Minden; Jacob Mover, (now Myers,) German Flats; 
 Lieutenant David McMaster, Florida; Adam Miller, Minden; 
 Henry Miller, Minden ; David Murray, Fonda ; Christian 
 
APPENDIX TO HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 127 
 
 Nelles; John D. Nellis, Palatiue; (Descendant, Mrs. A. C. 
 Johnson, Marcy.) Peter Nestle, Palatine ; * Honorable Isaac 
 Paris, Palatine, and his son who was also killed; John Makx 
 Petei, Little Falls; * Lieutenant Dederiah Marx Petrie, 
 Herkimer; Dr. William Petky, Herkime]-, Committee of 
 Safety; (Grandsons, Kobert and Samuel Earl.) f Joseph 
 Petry, Dayton ; * Captain Samuel Pettingill, Mohawk ; f Adam 
 Price, Minden ; Nicholas Pickard, Minden ; Richard Putnam, 
 Mohawk; Abraham D. Quackenboss; j- Jacob Rachiour, Min- 
 den ; George Ratnor, Minden ; Captain Nicholas Rector, Ga- 
 roga; John Rother, (Roth) Minden; John Adam Hartman, 
 Herkimer; Colonel John Roof, Fort Stanwix ; (Descendant,*Dr. 
 F. A. Roof, Rhinebeck. ) Marx Raspach, Kingsland; (Descend- 
 ant, John A. Rasbach, Ilion.) Henry Sanders, Minden; Sam- 
 son Sammons, Fonda, Committee of Safety ; Jacob Sammons, 
 Fonda; (Descendant, Colonel Simeon Sammons.) * William 
 Schaver; Ensign John Jacob School, Palatine; * Colonel Saff- 
 EENESS Seeber, Canajoharie ; (Descendants, William Seeber, 
 Saffreness Seeber, Miltord.) f Captain Jacob Seeber, Canajo- 
 harie ; f Lieutenant William Seeber, Canajoharie ; (Descendants, 
 Luther Seeber, Saffreness Seeber, James W. Seeber, Nicho- 
 las Seeber, William Seeber, Adam Seeber.) f Private Henry 
 Seeber, Canajoharie; * Private James Seeber, Canajoharie; 
 Lieutenant John Seeber, Minden; *Audolph Seeber, Minden ; 
 Peter Sitz, Palatine; RuroLPH Siebert; Thomas Spencer, In- 
 dian Interpreter ; Christian Schell, Little Falls ; George Smith, 
 Palatine; (Descendant, C. M. Smith, Steuben, N. Y.) Naomi 
 Brooks, Boonville ; Nicholas Smith ; (Father of Colonel Nicholas 
 Smith, Utica.) Colonel Henry Siarin, Schuyler; (Descendant, 
 J. H. Starin, New York.) Captain Rudolph Shoemaker, Cana- 
 joharie; Thomas Shoemaker, German Flats; * Joseph Snell, 
 Snellbush, now Manheim; * Jacob Snell, Snellbush, now Man- 
 heim ; Peter Snell, Snellbush, now Manheim; George Snell, 
 Snellbush, now Manheim ; * John Snell, Stone Arabia ; (the 
 above were brothers.) * John Sxell, Jr., Stone Arabia; (a son 
 of George and a fifer.) * Frederick Snell, Snellbush. (Of the 
 Snells Mr. SiMMS writes: It has been said for many years that 
 nine Snells went into the battle and that seven of the number 
 remained there. We have made an effort to trace them out 
 and here is the result thus far : Five brothers and a relation, per- 
 haps a cousin, and a son of one of the brothers.) Lieutenant Jere- 
 miah SwARTS, Mohawk; John G. Sillenbeck; John Shults, 
 
128 ORISKANT MEMORIAL. 
 
 Palatine; George Shults, Stone Arabia ; * Frederick Stevens, 
 German Flats ; (Desconclant, IIenry Stevens, Columbia.) Peter 
 Summer; Adam Thumb, Palatine; (Descendant, Absalom Thumb, 
 St. Johnsville.) Jacob Timmerman, St. Johnsville; Lieutenant 
 Henry Timmerman, St. Johnsville ; Henry Thompson, Fulton- 
 ville; Lieutenant Martin C. Van Alstine, Canajoharie ; *John 
 Van Antwerp ; George Van Deusen, Canajoharie ; Peter 
 Van Alstine, Root; Evert Van Epps, Fultonville; Thomas 
 Van Horn, Vanhornsville ; Henry Vedder; f Conrad Vols, 
 (now FoLTZ,) German Flats; Lieutenant Jacob Vols, German 
 Flajs ; * Major Harmanus Van Slyck, Palatine; * Major Nicho- 
 las Van Slyck; Captain John Visscher, Mohawk ; J Lieutenant 
 Colonel Henrt Walradt, German Flats ; George Walter, 
 Palatine ; Major George E. Watts ; Lieutenant Colonel Peter 
 Waggoner, Palatine; Lieutenant Peter Waggoner, Jr., Pala- 
 tine; George Waggoner, Palatine; John Waggoner, I'alatine; 
 (Descendants, the Wagner family of Palatine Biidge. ) Jacob 
 Wagner, Canajoharie; John Wagner, Canajoharie; Garrett 
 Walrath; Lieutenant Henry Walrath; Peter Westerman, 
 Canajoharie ; *John Wollover, Fort Hei-kimer ; Abraham Woll- 
 OVER, Fort Herkimer; f Peter Wollover, Fort Herkimer; 
 * Richard Wollover, Fort Herkimer ; Jacob Wever, German 
 Flats; Peter Jams Weaver, German Flats; Michael Wid- 
 RiCK, Schuyler ; * Lawrence Wrenklb, Fort Herkimer ; (De- 
 scendant, Jacob Wrinkle, Forestport, Oneida county.) fDr. 
 Moses Younglove, Surgeon ; Captain Robert Yates ; f Nicho- 
 las Yerdon, Minden. 
 
 OFFICERS AT FORT STANWIX. 
 
 Peter (^ansevoort, Colonel ; Marinus Willett, Lieutenant 
 Colonel; (Descendant, Rev. Wm. M. Willett, Bergen, N. J.) 
 Robert Cochran, Major; George Symes, Adjutant; Thomas 
 Williams, Quartermastei". 
 
 First Company. — E. Van Bunschooten, Captain ; Jon. 
 Pearcy, First Lieutenant ; Thomas Oostrander, Second Lieu- 
 tenant. 
 
 Second Company. — Thomas Dewitt, Captain ; Benjamin Bo- 
 gardus. Second Lieutenant! 
 
 Third Compant:. — Cornelius T. Jansen, Captain; N. Vandeb 
 Heyden, First Lieutenant ; James Dubois, Second Lieutenant ; 
 Samuel English, Ensign. 
 
APPENDIX TO HTSTORICAL ADDRESS. 129 
 
 Fourth Company. — Abraham Swartwoudt, Captain; Philip 
 Conine, First Lieutenant ; G. R. G. Livingston, Second Lieuten- 
 ant ; Samuel Lewis, Ensign. 
 
 Fifth Company. — Aaron Austin, Captain ; John Ball, First 
 Lieutenant ; Gerrit Staats, Second Lieutenant. 
 
 Sixth Company. — James Gregg, Captain; Levi Stockwell, 
 First Lieutenant ; James Blake, Second Lieutenant ; George 
 Dennison, Ensign. 
 
 Seventh Company. — Henry N. Piebout, Captain; Isaac Bo- 
 gert, First Lieutenant ; Wm. Mead, Second Lieutenant ; Chris- 
 topher HuTTEN, Ensisn. 
 
 Eighth Company. — John Houston, Captain ; John Welch, 
 First Lieutenant ; Prentice Bowen, Second Lieutenant. 
 
 Colonel Mellen ; Colonel Allen ; Colonel Bleecker ; Colonel 
 John James Davis ; Colonel Johnson ; Lieutenant Diefendorf ; 
 Lieutenant M'Clenner; Major Ballam; Ensign Chase; Ensign 
 Bailey ; Ensign Lewis ; Ensign Magee ; Ensign Arnent ; Ger- 
 SHORN Gilbert; (Descendant, Geo. Gilbert, Carthage.) Jabez 
 Spicer; Isaac Covenhoven ; Ensign Jonathan Dean, West- 
 moreland ; John Schuyler, Westmoreland ; Captain Johannis 
 Roof; (Father of Colonel John Roof, at Oriskany.) 
 
 The regiments as stated in the text, (page 72,) were raised by- 
 districts. Tryon county had four. The Mohawk district lay 
 lowest down the river. Next west, and to the south of the river, 
 was the Canajoharie district, reaching to Little Falls and to 
 Cherry Valley. Palatine district lay north of the river, and ex- 
 tended west from the Mohawk district to Little Falls. The dis- 
 trict of German Flats and Kingsland include 1 all the territory 
 west of Little Falls on both sides of the river. 
 
 Colonel Cox's regiment had been ordered to Ticonderoga in the 
 preceding winter, as the manuscript narrative of Frederick Sam- 
 mons, states. This narrative is now in the possession of Colonel 
 Simeon Sammons, of Fonda, who has kindly permitted the writer 
 to peruse it. 
 
130 ORisKAisrr memorial. 
 
 At the coucliisiou of IVti-. Roberts' speech, Mr. Sey- 
 iviour exhibited the revolutionary relics. Among these 
 "was the brass snare drum, sent up from Albany by 
 Mrs. Lansing. On the brass coat of the drum was the 
 following inscription : 
 
 " Presented 
 by Peter Gansevoort, of the city of Albany, counsellor-at-law, to 
 the Albany Republican Artillery Company, on the 22d February, 
 1832." 
 
 "Taken from the enemy on the 22d Aug., 1777, when the 
 British army under Gen. St. Leger, raised the siege of Fort Stan- 
 Avix, which fortress had been valiantly defended by the garrison 
 under the command of Colonel Peter Gansevoort for 21 days." 
 
 A powder horn which had come down fi'om the old 
 days was exhibited, also an English musket taken from 
 the enemy on that self-same field, and now the property 
 of Dr. J. D. Clyde, of Cherry Valley. A card attached 
 related that with that musket Colonel Clyde was 
 knocked down at the Battle of Oriskany. These relics, 
 or mementoes, were viewed with curious interest by the 
 people, as many as possible pressing up to make per- 
 sonal examination of them. 
 
 The chairman introduced Major Douglass Campbell, 
 of New York, a great-grandson of Lieutenant Colonel 
 Samuel Campbell, of Cherry Valley, who was second in 
 command of Colonel Cox's regiment, which boi'e the 
 brunt of the fio;ht. After the woundino- of Gen. Herki- 
 mer and the death of Colonel Cox, Colonel Campbell 
 was left in command, and led off the victorious American 
 forces from the battle-ground. Major Camj^bell said : 
 
ADDRESS OF MAJOR DOUGLASS CAMPBELL 
 
 EAISTK OF NEW YORK IN THE EEVOLUTION. 
 
 More than two thousand years ago the mountain 
 fastnesses of Greece witnessed a battle which history- 
 has made immortal. The force engaged upon the 
 Grecian side numbered but three hundred, and yet 
 while history shall be read and poetry sung, fame will 
 perpetuate the memory of the little baud that held the 
 passes of Thermopylae. Leonidas was defeated, but in 
 defeat he taught his enemy that while a drop of Grecian 
 blood coursed through a Grecian heart, the hordes of 
 the Persian invader could gain no foothold on the 
 sacred soil. 
 
 We meet to-day to celebrate a victory won by eight 
 hundred men, eight hundred gallant yeomen of New 
 York, a victory as creditable to the valor of the men 
 who won it as any recorded in history, and withal a 
 victory the most important in its results, of any gained 
 in the revolutionary struggle. 
 
 I am delighted, Mr. President, to see assembled here 
 this countless multitude. It shows that at length the 
 people of New York are waking up to realize the 
 grandeur of the history of their native State. I have 
 read some histories of the United States, which I have 
 laid down after a perusal, with the cpestion in my 
 mind, was there any such colony as New York, were 
 there any colonies of the Revolution except Massa- 
 chusetts and Virginia? Virginia, the mother of Presi- 
 dents ; Massachusetts, the maker of our school books. 
 As Governor Seymour has eloquently said to day, the 
 
132 ORISKAZSTT MEMORIAL. 
 
 liistory of New York lias yet to be written, and when 
 that liistory is written, the world will see that in the 
 stnio'o'le for the rights of freemen, extendino^ over more 
 than a hnndred years prior to the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, New York led the van of the thirteen colonies. 
 Every one of the o-reat civil battles were fouo-ht out on 
 the soil of New York. 
 
 The speaker then enlarged upon the characteristics 
 of the early settlers of the colony. The Dutch, he said, 
 were the brothers and sons of the men who had de- 
 feated in the open field the trained soldiers of Philip. 
 They were warriors by instinct, but aliove all, they 
 were patriots. They were the peo23le who established 
 the first great republic, enforced the doctrine of uni- 
 versal religious toleration, and proclaimed the watch- 
 word, "Taxation only by consent." But the Dutch 
 were not alone. The great distinguishing feature of the 
 jjopulation of New York has always been its cosmo- 
 politan character — what it is to-day it has always been. 
 With the Dutch were mingled the Walloons and 
 Huguenots, driven out of France by religious persecu- 
 tions ; the New Englauders, overflowing from Massa- 
 chusetts and Connecticut ; and, in later days, the 
 Germans, transplanted from the Palatinate, and the 
 Scotch-Irish, driven out of Scotland by the intolerance 
 of the House of Stuart, Is it any wonder that a people 
 so composed should have loved liberty as they loved 
 their lives ? 
 
 They obtained their first Legislature in 1683, and 
 they wrung it from the reluctant Duke of York by re- 
 fusing any longer to pay taxes, unless they were 
 imposed by their own consent. The Duke's collector 
 of revenue, attempting to levy duties, was arrested, 
 thrown into prison, and tried for treason by the indig- 
 nant populace. 
 
ADDKES8 OF MAJOR CAMPBELL. 133 
 
 The first Assembly of New York convened in 1683, 
 passed an act entitled a Chai'ter of Eights and Privi- 
 leges, which is probably the most remarkable document 
 of the colonial times. It sets forth what they consid- 
 ered to be theii- rights as Americans, and it reads so like 
 the Declaration of Independence that it is difficult to 
 understand that it was passed nearly two hundred years 
 ago. Many of the phrases of the Declaration are taken 
 from it word for word. But this act was only an 
 enactment on the statute books ; it showed what the 
 colonists desired ; what they did is of more importance. 
 
 They esta,blished the right of petition, freedom of 
 religious worship and freedom of the press. These 
 were established by the great State trials in the colo- 
 nies, and the sister provinces shared the traits. In 
 establishing freedom of religious worship in the trial of 
 McKemie, in 1707, they also settled another question, 
 which, so far as I can learn, has been substantially 
 overlooked. McKemie, a Presbyterian clergyman, was 
 arrested for preaching without a license from the Gov- 
 ernor, the Governor's instructions providing that no 
 minister should preach in the province without his 
 license. McKemie took the position, in which he was 
 sustained by his three counsel, the ablest lawyers in 
 New York, and all Episcopalians, that the royal 
 instructions had no force as law. Heretofore the royal 
 prerogative had been supreme in the colonies, but 
 when the jury acquitted the prisoner its death knell 
 was sounded. 
 
 Then the colonists refused to raise money by taxa- 
 tion unless it could be disbursed by a treasurer of their 
 own ; then they refused to permit amendment to their 
 money bills; and then to make any but annual appro- 
 priations for the expenses of government. In all these 
 struggles the New Yorkers were successful, but they 
 fought out the fight alone. 
 
134 ORISKANY MEMORIAL. 
 
 At length fclie English Government saw that nothing 
 could be done with such a I'efractory people, and re- 
 solved that Parliament itself should tax the colonies. 
 This resolution, proclaimed in respect to New York as 
 early as 1711, was not practically enforced, however, 
 till fifty years thereafter. Then the famous stamp act 
 was passed and the continent was all aflame — still, 
 however, New York led the van of opposition. The 
 first organized resistance by the nonimportation agree- 
 ment among the merchants was started in New York, 
 next followed Philadelphia, and last came Boston. 
 This effected the repeal of the detested act. Then 
 came the tea bill and the revolution, and how well 
 New York did its part therein seems to be known 
 to few. 
 
 The position of New York has always been peculiar. 
 The great part of its territory was occuj^ied by the 
 Six Nations, who were the Romans of the Indian race. 
 They were sage in council, wily in diplomacy, fearless 
 in battle. All during the colonial times the settlers in 
 New York were warring with the Indians. After the 
 English conquest of 1664, the colonists were at peace 
 with the natives within the province, but carried on a 
 ceaseless contest with the French in Canada and their 
 Indian allies. When the revolution broke out, the 
 Indians in the main continued faithful to the crown, 
 and proved the most dangerous enemy to the people of 
 New York. The work of repelling their incursions and 
 protecting the borders from their ravages was as im- 
 portant as any that was cast upon the continental 
 armies. All this work New York had to do, and when 
 we add the number of her militia engaged in this 
 border warfare to those in the regular service of Con- 
 gress, New York furnished by long odds many more 
 soldiers in proportion to her population than any of 
 
ADDRESS OF MAJOR CAMPBELL. 135 
 
 the thirteen colonies. But aside from this border ser- 
 vice, New York furnished more than her quota to the 
 regular continental arnny, and only two other colonies 
 did as much. 
 
 Such is a brief outline of some of the facts in the 
 glorious record of New York. Was I not right in say- 
 ing that the people at large know little of her history? 
 
 Among her military achievements the little battle 
 which we celebrate to-day, occupies a proud position. 
 We know the whole plan of the British campaign, and 
 it was laid out with great military skill. 
 
 The war thus far had brought a series of disasters 
 to the armies of the rebellious colonists. The English 
 Cabinet determined to make a grand effort and termin- 
 ate the struffficle. New York was then as alwavs the 
 key of the continent. It was resolved to send out 
 three expeditions for its capture; one under the com- 
 mander-in-chief, to start from New York and follow 
 the Hudson, one under Burgoyne, to march from tlie 
 North by the way of Lake Champlain, and the third 
 under St. Leger, to start from Oswego and go down 
 the Mohawk Valley. The three armies were to unite 
 at Albany when their work was done. None of them 
 ever reached their destination. 
 
 When the news was sounded through these valleys 
 that St. Leger, with a force of British troops, tories and 
 Indian allies was on the march, the whole population 
 were at once aroused. On the way from Oswego stood 
 Fort Schuyler, the old Fort Stanwix of the French 
 and Indian war. St. Leger saw that he must take this 
 fort or nothing could be gained. When he encamped 
 before it, a summons went out to the loyal men of New 
 York to hasten to its aid. 
 
 Our eloquent Lieutenant Governor has told us how 
 the German settlers in this valley obeyed the summons 
 
136 ORISKAlSrY MEMORIAL. 
 
 and flocked around the gallant Herkimer; but the 
 jDatriotic response was not confined to them. The sum- 
 mons reached up to the hills of what is now Otsego, 
 and there met as hearty a lesponse as along the borders 
 of the Mohawk. The Scotch-Irish of Cherry Valley, 
 and the surrounding towns turned out nearly to a man, 
 and fought in the regiment of Colonel Cox, which 
 crossed the ravine before the attack, and then bore the 
 brunt of the battle. Of the events of the day I need 
 not speak; you have heard them already. Officers and 
 privates fought together, each handled the ritie, and 
 from behind a friendly tree, picked ofl:' the savage In- 
 dians or the still moi^e savage tories. When the day 
 closed, the expedition of St. Leger had received its 
 death blow. His Indian allies faded into thin air, the 
 Mohawk Valley was saved, its patriotic soldiers flocked 
 to Saratoga, and the grij) around the throat of Bur- 
 goyne was tightened, till his army dropped like a life- 
 less corpse. Then some assistance from France, in 
 money, soldiers and supplies, and the fortunes of war 
 were turned. 
 
 Have we not the right to say that New York should 
 be proud of its record in the revolutionary struggle ? 
 Have not the descendants of these men who fought at 
 Oriskany a right to be proud as they tread the soil 
 made sacred by the blood of their fathers? 
 
 It may be remarked here that speakers rarely have 
 larger, more intelligent, or more attentive audiences, 
 than this which thronged about the west stand from 
 the beginning to the close of the exercises. The sun 
 was at times oppressively hot, but men and women 
 endured its glare and burning with a heroism worthy 
 of the occasion. The speakers wei'e frequently gi-eeted 
 
REMARKS OF HON. PHILO WHITE. 137 
 
 with cordial applause, and urged not to hurry to a 
 conclusion. 
 
 At the close of Major Campbell's address, Mr. Sey- 
 mour called upon Mr. Frederick Pfeiifer, drummer of 
 the Old Utica Band, to show what the captured snare 
 drum above alluded to was capable of. Mr. Pfeiffer 
 came on the platform and made the old drum show to 
 tlie best possible advantage. 
 
 On the stand, amono- the veterans of the War of 
 1812, was Philo White, a grandson of Hugh White, the 
 founder of Whitestown, who addressed the chairman as 
 follows : 
 
 REMARKS OF HON. PHILO WHITE. 
 
 THE MOTHER OF TOWNS RETAESTS ORISKANY. 
 
 Mr. President: — It may seetn presuming for an 
 humble individual to obtrude his voice upon the atten- 
 tion of the immense assemblage of our fellow-country- 
 men by whom we are now surrounded, especially in 
 the presence of so many of the eminent men of our 
 Empire State, illustrious alike for their talents, their 
 virtues, and their expansive patriotism. But, honored 
 as a comrade of the conscript veterans of our second 
 War of Independence, and standing here as the sole 
 representative of my town and my lineage among them, 
 I may crave the privilege of reverently offering my 
 aspirations to heaven for having been mercifully spared 
 with life and health to witness, and to participate in, 
 this magnificent and impressive American jubilee, so 
 
138 OEISKANY MEMORIAL. 
 
 appropriately inaugurated on this the one hundredth 
 anniversary" of the ever glorious Battle of Oriskany, 
 
 And I am sure I correctly interpret the sentiment of 
 all my fellow-townsmen, in giving expression to their 
 grateful emotions for the distinguished honor this day's 
 impressively grand demonstration imparts to our good 
 old town of Whitestown, whose territorial expansion 
 whilom stretched fi'om the German Flats to the Great 
 Lakes, her first town meeting having been held at the 
 Cayuga Ferry. She was the j^rimeval town of all 
 Western New York, and the nucleus of the earliest 
 permanent civilized community within that broad re- 
 gion of our now Empire State. It was within the area 
 of Whitestown's present circumscribed limits, that the 
 memorable Battle of Oriskany was fought, and her 
 sons have been the nursing custodians of that ensan- 
 guined field. The soil of that battle ground was en- 
 riched by a sutfusion of the blood of the patriot heroes 
 who fell thereon ; and to their indomitable prowess the 
 primal liberties of our common country are essentially 
 indebted. The fame of their courageous achievements 
 consequently fills a notable page in Whitestown's his- 
 toric annals. 
 
 Animated by the recital of these inspiiing reminis- 
 cences, re exhilarated by inhaling the patriot atmos- 
 phere that prevades the vast concourse of a grateful 
 people who have to-day come up to this consecrated 
 battle-field, to honor the heroism, and to embalm a 
 remembrance of the thrice glorious deeds of their 
 ancestors, I may be pardoned as a journalist of "auld 
 lang syne," for proposing that all the essential proceed- 
 ings connected with this great Centennial Anniversary 
 Jubilee, including the very masterly address of ex-Gov- 
 ernor Seymoui', the president of the day, and the 
 inspiringly eloquent speeches of the other distinguished 
 
EEMAEKS OF HON. PHILO WHITE. 189 
 
 gentlemen who have addressed this vast auditory, be 
 printed in pamphlet or book form, so as to impart to 
 the Battle of Oriskany, in an enduring shape, that 
 prominence in the calendar of the ever living achieve- 
 ments incident to our first War of Independence, to 
 which its universally conceded importance entitles it ; 
 and whereby the rectitude of history may Ije vindicated, 
 and the name of Oriskany be ranged alongside of those 
 of Saratoga and Yorktown, as theatres of the most mo- 
 mentous events in the great revolutionary straggle of 
 our grandsires, that gave birth to ours, the empire 
 republic of the American hemisphere. 
 
 With these discursive remarks, Mr. President, I beg 
 to submit my proposition to the consideration of this 
 meeting, or the general Permanent Committee, defer- 
 ring the manner and form of disposing of the matter to 
 those who are younger and more expert in modern 
 journalism than myself. 
 
 The exercises were closed by the reading of a poem 
 prepared for the occasion, by Rev. Dr. Charles D. 
 Helmer, D. D., of Chicago, by Mr, Seymour. 
 
POEM 
 
 P^AN TO ORISKANY. 
 
 BY EEV. CHARLES DOWNES HELMER, D. D. 
 
 Beleaguered men of Stanwix, brave as those 
 Who faced a million of their foes 
 
 At old Thprmopyla3; 
 Good cheer to you upon the wild frontier ! 
 For citizens in arms draw near 
 
 Across Oriskany. 
 
 But hark ! amidst the forest shades the crash 
 Of arms, the Savage yell — with flash 
 
 Of gory Tomahawk; 
 For Johnson's Royal-Greens, and Leger's men, 
 And Brant's Red Fiends, are in that glen 
 
 Of dark Oriskany. 
 
 From down the valley, where the Mohawk flows, 
 Were Imrrying on to meet their foes 
 
 The patriot yeomanry ; 
 For Gansevoort within his fortress lay, 
 In peril and besieged that day. 
 
 Beyond Oriskany. 
 
 As men who fight for home and child and wife. 
 As men oblivious of life 
 
 In holy martyrdom. 
 The Yeomen of the Valley fought that day, 
 Throughout thy fierce and deadly fray — 
 
 Blood-red Oriskany. 
 
 From rock and tree and clump of twisted brush 
 The hissing gusts of battle rush — 
 
 Hot breathed and horrible ! 
 The roar, and smoke, like mist on stormy seas, 
 Sweep through thy splintered trees — 
 
 Ilard-fought Oriskany. 
 
POEM BY EEV. C. D. HELIIEE, D. D. 141 
 
 Heroes are born in such a chosen hour ; 
 From common men they rise, and tower, 
 
 Like thee, brave Herkimer ! 
 Who wounded, steedless, still beside the beech 
 Cheered on thy men, with sword and speech, 
 
 Jn grim Oriskany. 
 
 Now burst the clouds above the battle roar. 
 And from the pitying skies dow^n pour 
 
 Swift floods tumultuous ; 
 Then fires of strife unquenched flame out again^ 
 Drenching with hot and bloody rain 
 
 Thy soil, Oriskany. 
 
 But ere the sun went toward the tardy night, 
 The Valley then beheld the light 
 
 Of freedom's victory ; 
 And wooded Tryon snatched from British arms 
 The empire of a million farms — 
 
 On bright Oriskany. 
 
 The guns of Stanwix thunder to the skies; 
 The rescued wilderness replies ; 
 
 Forth dash the garrison ! 
 And routed Tories, with their savage aids, 
 Sink reddening through the sullied shades — 
 
 From lost Oriskany. 
 
 Behold, Burgoyne ! with hot and hating eyes, 
 The New World's flag at last o'erflies 
 
 Your ancient Heraldry ; 
 For over Stanwix floats triumphantly 
 The rising Banner of the Free — 
 
 Beyond Oriskany. 
 
 A hundred years have passed since then ; 
 And hosts now rally there again — 
 
 To crown the century; 
 The proud posterity of noble men 
 Who conquered \n the bloody glen 
 
 Of tamed Oriskany. 
 
142 OKI. KAN Y MEMORIAL. 
 
 AT THE EAST STAND. 
 
 The amplntbeatre in which this platform was situated 
 rises from the ravine wliere tlie contest took place. 
 The stand faces the east, the brook flowing immedi- 
 ately in front of it. On the other side of the l)rook 
 a goodly number of seats Avere ]>laced, and directly 
 beyond them rises the steep side of the hill, curving 
 around to the right. The sun shone brightly, and 
 umbrellas were about as numerous as the ladies. The 
 uniforms of the soldiery, and the red jackets of the fire 
 laddies, served to add variety and brilliancy to the 
 scene. 
 
 At 2.80 p. M. the meetino- at the east stand was 
 called to ordei' by Hon. James Stevens, Mayor of 
 Kome, chairman. A uumlier of the veterans of the 
 war of 1812 occupied chairs directly in the rear of the 
 s])eakers. 
 
 Mr. Stev^ens first introduced to the audience Hon. 
 Clarkson N. Potter, of New York. He sj)oke as fol- 
 lows : 
 
ADDRESS OF HON. CLARKSON N. POTTER. 
 
 POWER AND MAGNATiflMITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 I was born in the Mohawk Valley and feel therefore 
 a Datural interest in this celebration of an event u]3on 
 which the peace and preservation of that valley de- 
 pended ; in which the men of the valley bore such noble 
 part; and from which resulted so largely the success 
 of the American revolution. And yet I confess that it 
 was only within the last few years that I was at all 
 aware of the importance of the Battle of Oriskany. 
 One dav at dinner in Washing-ton some reference was 
 made to the battle of Saratoa'a as one of the fifteen 
 
 a 
 
 decisive battles of the world, when my friend Judsje 
 Campbell called our attention to the importance of the 
 Battle of Oriskany, and its effect upon the result at 
 Saratoga. 
 
 Then for the first time I properly understood how 
 the third of the great movements which comprised the 
 British phan for separating and sul)jugating the colo- 
 nies — a plan ably conceived, and so far triumj)hantly 
 executed — had l)een frustrated by the courage and 
 tenacity and devotion of the men of the Mohawk 
 Valley. 
 
 I subsequently sought — as Judge Campbell had 
 sought some years before — to obtain from Congress a 
 suitable appropriation to carry into effect the resolution 
 of the Continental Cono-ress directino- the erection of 
 a monument to the memory of General Herkimer. I 
 regret that my effort was not successful. I trust that 
 your celebration of that important engagement will 
 furnish the occasion foi- another and more successful 
 movement in that resfard. 
 
144 OEISKANY MEMORIAL, 
 
 When we recall the power and influence, the wealth 
 and numbers of New York — when we remember that 
 she has a population of over five millions of people, 
 that she stands lar away the first of all the States in her 
 capital, in her commerce, in her exchanges, and is even 
 first in the value of her manufactures, and in the value of 
 her agricultural products as Avell, it is, indeed, difficult 
 to realize that within a period but little more than the 
 lifetime of some now here, she was a poor colony of 
 less than 200,000 people, inferior in numbers and im- 
 portance to Virginia, or Pennsylvania, or Massachusetts, 
 or North Carolina. 
 
 This prodigious growth she owes in part to her pos- 
 session of the only great water way between the ocean 
 and the lakes, and in part to her great seaport and to 
 her central position between New England and the 
 South, which have given her people a v: st commerce 
 and developed in them a great activity, and at the eame 
 time a large liberality of thought and opinion as well. 
 
 But holding this great natural way within her 
 borders it was early foreseen what greatness was in store 
 for her. She might have kept aloof from the revolu- 
 tionary struggle to which many of her people were 
 opposed, and seated upon this highway she might have 
 levied tolls upon the rising traffic between the seaboard 
 and the West, until she had amassed riches beyond the 
 tales of the Orient. But she preferred rather, with a 
 liberality which Sparks, the historian, has said was al- 
 most without precedent in history, to cast in her lot 
 with her sister colonies, and ])eai' her share in the com- 
 mon struggle and the common risk. And althous^h her 
 commissioners had no authority to join in the Declara- 
 tion of Independence, it was no sooner communicated 
 to the provincial Legislature then assembled at White 
 Plains, than she at once adopted and proclaimed it. 
 
ADDEESS OF HON. CLARKSON N. POTTER. 145 
 
 How lar2;e a sLare in the stru<2:o:les, the burdens, and 
 the trials of this nation since then New York has had 
 we all know. Is it too much to say that no one of the 
 great crises to which the republic has been exposed 
 would have been successfully arid triumphantly passed 
 had not New York been on the side that j)revailed? 
 To-day, while she is first of all the States in wealth, 
 in prosperity, and in financial power, if she is not first 
 in her influence in the councils of the nation, it is, I 
 think, because her representatives have failed to appre- 
 ciate the necessity and the advantage of combination 
 and of union there. One of the most prominent states- 
 men of the time — himself from New England — said to 
 me not long ago, that "if New York onl}^ sent her 
 best men to the national councils and kept them there,, 
 and they were united, she might dictate the policy of 
 the United States; that lying as she did between the 
 extremities of the country, in territory and opinion, 
 and with her all-reaching traffic and capital, she might, 
 by proper concert among her people, control ideas as 
 well as trade, and give direction to the legislation of 
 the country." 
 
 For myself, then, I welcome every occasion which 
 recalls the sujfferings and sacrifices, and the dignity and 
 prosperity of this State. I have, perhaps, an overmuch 
 pride in her character and history. There has always 
 been, as it seems to me, a high purpose and a noble 
 liberality in the conduct of New York. Hers were 
 among the first declarations for individual liberty and 
 for the right of the colonies to regulate their local 
 aflfairs; hers has been always a most earnest devotion 
 to national unity; hers the justest and most catholic 
 course, whether in her treatment of her own people, of 
 strangers coming within her borders, or of her sister 
 States; hers indeed always a large and generous spirit 
 which, it seems to me, may well be emulated. 
 
14<5 ORISKANY MEMORIAL. 
 
 Yie do well, tlieu, to renew the memorv of our 
 fathei's' days — days of want and trial, of courage and 
 devotion, to recall, in these times of luxury and extrav- 
 agance and speculation, their steadiness, and thrift, and 
 economy, and industry; here upon the battle-field of 
 one of the bloodiest battles of the Revolution to re- 
 member their courage and sacrifices, as only a few days 
 since at Kingston we had occasion to recall their wisdom 
 and judgment and State craft. We do well also to 
 realize how largely and wisely they builded, and how 
 great and noble has become the State which they 
 founded; and, grateful for her past prospei'ity and 
 worthy history, to resolve to carry forward her great- 
 ness, to foster the well being of her peo])le, and their 
 pride in and devotion to the State; so that she may 
 always be found in the van of this great nation — first 
 in numbers, in wealth, in power and in virtue. 
 
 At the close of his speech three cheers were pro- 
 posed for Mr. Puttei', and were given with a hearty 
 good will. Rev. Dr Haven, Chancellor of Syracuse 
 University, w^as then introduced. 
 
ADDRESS OF CHANCELLOR E. 0. HAYEN. 
 
 THE WAR OF 1776 VINDICATED. 
 
 One hundred years ago to-day on these grounds was 
 fought a desperate contest. It requires some power of 
 imagination to reproduce the scene. The population 
 of the United States was not then much more than 
 half as great as the present population of the State of 
 ISTew York. The population of New York then was 
 not equal to a single county now. The region round 
 about this spot was mostly a wilderness and a swamp. 
 A few hardy adventurers had found their way to these 
 regions. North of us, along Lake George and by the 
 tributaries of the Hudson, was General Burgoyne, with 
 a thoroughly disciplined army of abouit 8,000 men, 
 accompanied with thousands of Indians and a few 
 American toiies. 
 
 West of us, making their way from Oswego towards 
 Fort Stanwix, were Colonel St. Leger and a company 
 of infantry and some eight hundred Indians, and a 
 number of tories, aiul some regular British soldiery. 
 General Herkimer and about eight hundred American 
 militia hastily armed, were on their way to aid the 
 Americans in Fort Stanwix. All at once, without a 
 moment's warning, they were attacked by the British 
 and Indian foes and a desperate hand to hand conflict 
 followed. Nearly half the Americans fell. General 
 Herkimer himself was wounded, and leaning against a 
 stump cheered on his men. They sold their lives 
 dearly. In the meantime Colonel Willet sallied out of 
 the Fort with two hundred men and destroyed the 
 Indian camp. The darkness of night ended the conflict. 
 
148 OEISKANY MEMOEIAL. 
 
 It looked like a success to the British, but it was 
 really a success to the Americans. The British and 
 Indians were both disheartened. They stormed Fort 
 Stanwix but foiled, and within two weeks retreated 
 from this part of the State, and in a short time the 
 whole of Burgoyne's army, wearied by failures and 
 beaten on the battle-field, surrendered their arms. 
 
 The Battle of Oriskany was really one, and a most 
 important one, in the many stubborn conflicts which 
 led to the surrender of Burgoyne, and the discomfiture 
 of the British in the general plan to sweep down from 
 the north, and meet their forces under Howe and 
 Clinton, in New Yoik city, and thus hold the entire 
 country. 
 
 The sun has witnessed on this planet many battles. 
 This earth has drunk the blood, and this air has dis- 
 solved the corpses of more men and women and children 
 slain by the rod hand of war, than now walk or breathe 
 on its surface. Yes, enough, were they resurrected, to 
 populate the earth far more densely than now, to fill 
 every city and to break the silence of every desert with, 
 the hum of conversation and noise of busy life. If men 
 should celebrate only the centennials of all the battles 
 as great as Oriskany, all mankind would have nothing 
 else to do — except, perhaps, occasionally to break into 
 a new fight to keep up the su23ply. Why, then, cele- 
 brate the centennial of Oriskany ? 
 
 The value of Vjattles is -not to be estimated by their 
 magnitude. There have been contests of large armies,, 
 endino^ in the carnaofe and death of uncounted thou- 
 sands, when the object of neither party rose higher 
 than plunder, and when to a wise and impartial ob- 
 server in the heavens, it would have been a matter of 
 perfect indifference which should gain the victory. 
 All through the days of ancient history a great major- 
 
ADDRESS OF CHANCELLOR E. O, HAVEN. 149 
 
 ity of wars have been waged on the principle that 
 might makes right, and that the physically strong need 
 make no apology for enslaving the weak. The walls of 
 Babylon were cemented with human blood. The Mace- 
 donian empire was a hasty conglomerate structure, 
 thrown up by an invading army. Rome sent her 
 standards to the ends of the earth that all provinces 
 might furnish fields for plunder to the chief families of 
 the city. The wars of modern Europe have been strug- 
 gles to prevent despotism by maintaining a balance of 
 power. 
 
 War without just cause is wholesale murder. War 
 that could well have been avoided is criminal man- 
 slaughter. 
 
 But there have been times when men have been 
 compelled to die — to become slaves — or to arm them- 
 selves, submit to discipline and smite down the op- 
 posers at the risk of their own lives — and then war 
 becomes just and noble, and the men who show wisdom 
 and bravery and perseverance deserve the plaudits of 
 their fellows, and the eulogy of posterity. 
 
 Such was the war of the Israelites for the defense of 
 their country against Rome; such was the war of 
 Great Britain when invaded by France and Spain, and 
 such was the war of our fathers when an attemj^t was 
 made by the most jDowerful nation of earth to rob 
 them of their ancestral privileges and reduce them to 
 vassalage and shame. The Battle of Oriskany was not 
 a great battle : but a small sharp blow, well directed 
 between the eyes of an unjust foe, well deserves to be 
 remembered. 
 
 For what did our fathers fight ? For what did our 
 mothers run the bullets in their homely moulds, take 
 down the muskets and putting them into the hands of 
 their husbands and sons, say with tears in their eyes, 
 
150 ORISKANY :\rEMORIAL. 
 
 but courage in their hearts — "Go and drive away the 
 invading foe?" 
 
 Did our fathers fight for wages, for bounty, for plun- 
 der? Their waees would not meet their immediate 
 
 "s^ 
 
 wants. Their uniform was rags. There was nothing- 
 to j^lundei- in their own half-wilderness home. 
 
 The}' fought for principle. They fought for self- 
 defense. They fouglit for the freedom which their own 
 ancestors had ol)tained by immigration to the new 
 world, and had transmitted to them. 
 
 It has been asserted by some loose thinkers that the 
 American Revolution was a rebellion, and that Wash- 
 ington was only a successful rebel. This is a libel on 
 history. It is less than half a truth and therefore, in 
 effect a total lie. In the beo-innina; of the contest Great 
 Britain rebelled. A solemn compact had been made 
 with the thirteen colonies, one l)y one, when they were 
 founded, that they should have the right of self-govern- 
 ment. This contract was broken by Great Britain. 
 She annulled the charters under which our fathers had 
 been allured into the wilderness. Great Britain and 
 France had waged a fierce contest in which France lost 
 her American colonies, and then the English colonies in 
 America were unjustly called upon to pay a part of the 
 expense. They declined, unless their own representa- 
 tives could determine what should be paid and how it 
 should be collected. Their rights were sacrificed. An 
 irrepealable contract was annulled. They were treated 
 as slaves, not as Englishmen. Foreign armies were 
 hired to fight against them. The Indian savages were 
 bribed and coaxed to attack them, and the feeble 
 thirteen colonies found themselves alone in the world, 
 unprotected, unaided. France had not yet come to 
 their helj^. 
 
 Then there was but one alternative — submission, 
 which meant slavery; or resistance, which was called 
 
ADDRESS OF CHANCELLOK E, O. HAVEN. 151 
 
 rebellion, but which was really a war for original 
 rights. 
 
 Let us not think harshly of the cousins of our grand- 
 parents, who lived across the Atlantic Ocean, There 
 was a much wider gulf between the government and 
 the people of Great Britain in 1777, than now in 1877. 
 Then the government "svas a small aristocracy and the 
 mass of the people were unrej^resented. The great body 
 of the intelligent people of Great Britain sympathized 
 with the American colonists. Since that time the Eng- 
 lish people have passed through a greater revolution at 
 home than the American people did in the war of 1776. 
 Why, even fifty years after the American Revolution 
 the people were in a state of semi-servitude. As a 
 proof of it, let me quote only one sentence from au 
 interesting book just published : The Life and Letters 
 of Lord Macaulay, by his nephew, G. Otto Trevelyan, 
 M. P., p. 150: 'At that time, (1830,) the press was 
 gagged in England and throttled in Scotland. Every 
 speech or sermon or pamphlet, from the substance of 
 which a crown lawyer could torture a semblance of 
 sedition, sent its author to the jail, the hulks or the 
 pillory." 
 
 Fifty years before this time, that is in 1777, the 
 French people, the German people, the Italian people,, 
 as well as the Russian people were serfs, and the 
 English people but little better. 
 
 That series of little battles, of which Oriskany was 
 one, was fought not merely for America, but for all 
 mankind. It was to maintain the compact of England 
 Avith the people, for the advantage of the people. 
 Hitherto, sovereigns when in danger would make great 
 promises to the people, but when in safety forget them. 
 The American people were determined that the old 
 compact should be kept. It is an oft quoted proverb: 
 
152 OKISKANY MEMORIAL. 
 
 " When the devil was sick, the devil a monk would be. 
 But when the devil was well, the devil a monk was he ! " 
 
 So when tlie kings were sick, tlie kings very kind 
 would be ; but wlieu tlie kino;s o-ot well — there was a 
 ne"w I'eckoning ! 
 
 War is nsuall}' founded on an awful mistake. So 
 was it in this case. Great Britain did not know her 
 own colonists. She undervalued them. She practically 
 despised them. She thought them half civilized or less. 
 She expected with a small, compact and a well trained 
 army to walk throuo^h America from Canada to South 
 Carolina, like a housewife sweeping a kitchen. 
 
 Burgoyne was a scholar, and a gentleman, and a 
 brave soldier. He did splendid service for his country 
 before he came to America and afterwards. Americans 
 can respect him. But his proclamation made while in 
 command of the British army in America, which sur- 
 rendered to Gates, was so inflated and bombastic as to 
 remind us of the military bulletins of Turkey or Mexico, 
 or of the declaration made by the king of Dahomy with 
 a trumpet after bis dinner, that all the rest of the world 
 may now eat, their master having dined ! 
 
 Let me quote a few words to verily my criticism : 
 
 "At the head of troops in the full powers of health, 
 discipline and valor, determined to strike when neces- 
 sary," etc. 
 
 "Let not people be led to disregard it by considering 
 their distance from the immediate situation of my camp. 
 I have but to give stretch to the Lidian forces under 
 my direction, and they amount to thousands, to over- 
 take the hardened enemies of Great Britain," etc. 
 
 But again I say, friends, let us have no hard words 
 for the British people of that day. They and our 
 fathers were of one bone and of one flesh. It was 
 simply the lot of our fathers to fight the battle for the 
 
ADDRESS OF CHAN^CELLOR E. O. HAVEN. 153 
 
 whole of their race, and for all mankind. Had they 
 fallen, the hands on the dial of human history would 
 have stopped — nay, been thrust backward more than a 
 century. They succeeded, and all Europe lifted her- 
 self up from her abasement, and a many-tongued shout 
 of exultation arose from her people. The star spangled 
 banner took its place among the flags of the nations — 
 representing not despotism, but freedom and a country, 
 first in liberty, and first in progress among the nations 
 of the earth. It is the flag of hope and the flag of 
 promise. It is the ensign of freedom and universal 
 suffrage. Thank God it does not float over a slave, nor 
 over a man not permitted to vote — except he be a 
 violator of the law. 
 
 Who were the people upon whom God had imposed 
 this responsibility? By a sifting process the strongest 
 and best specimens of European people were selected 
 and brought to these shores. The religious, the free- 
 domdoving, the adventurous, the strong. They were 
 poor. They lived in log houses and ate from wooden 
 dishes, and their food was primitive and coarsely 
 cooked. They were clad in homespun and with little 
 variety. Pianos were unknown. Spinning wheels were 
 universal. Mowing machines had never been heard of, 
 but sickles were in common use. Wooden ploughs and 
 hand flails helped develope the muscles of the men, and 
 the only sewing machines were vitalized by good human, 
 souls, and the men particularly liked to call them their 
 own. 
 
 But beneath the rustic simplicity of those days might 
 be seen the truest manhood and womanhood on earth. 
 The men governed the State and the woman presided 
 in the family. 
 
 A township is the mother of the State, and the family 
 is the primordial element or nucleus of the township. 
 
154 ORISKAXY JIEMOEIAL. 
 
 In 1777, the American people were undoubtedly tLe 
 best educated and the most relio-ious population on the 
 face of the round earth. One who could not read and 
 write was as rare as an idiot — and indeed, the two were 
 regarded about as one. The school house and the meet- 
 ing house were as universal as the fire-place or the table 
 or any other essential thing. It was a Bible-respecting 
 people. It was a self-respecting people. Such a peo- 
 ple can not consent to yield the God-given privileges 
 of their fathers. 
 
 But, friends, the l)attles were fought and the victory 
 won before we came on the stage of action. Some of 
 us can remember the stories we heard in our childhood 
 from the lips of the old veterans, who seemed to our 
 eyes and ears to belong to another race of men — among 
 us, but not of us. Some of them were poorly clad; 
 some of them, I am sorry to say, did not seem to be 
 wholly ignorant of the nature and effects of hard cider 
 and New England rum. But whether poor or rich, 
 privates or ofiicers, how we used to venerate them, and 
 love to gather around them to hear their thousand time 
 told tales ! They were regarded not merely as soldiers, 
 but as saviors ; not merely as conquerors, but creators 
 of liberty and life. 
 
 It seems so reasonable that a people should choose 
 their own rulers and make their own laws, that it may 
 be fancied that it would have been brought about had 
 Americans not declared and earned their independence. 
 But it surpasses human sagacity to see how it could 
 have been done. After the American Revolution came 
 the fierce and original French Kevolution, which shat- 
 tered the most terrible despotism of earth into frag- 
 ments that can never be gathered ; the quiet English 
 Revolution that has made the limited monarchy of 
 Great Britain almost as free as a republic ; revolutions 
 
ADDRESS OF CIIAKCELLOR E. O. HAVEN. 155 
 
 in Italy and Austria and in other lands — and to-day, 
 everywliei-e tlie peoples are maintaining that all gov- 
 ernments proceed from them and are established for 
 their welfare. 
 
 But have we not a w^ork at home to do? What 
 mean these thunder murmurings of a contest, not 
 between labor and capital, but between lal)orers and 
 the employers of laborers ? Statesmen must not quietly 
 assume that " whatever is, is right." The strongest 
 government in the world is a republic, but no govern- 
 ment on earth can always repress disorder if the great 
 majority believe that they are wronged. It is a time 
 then for sober thou2:ht. 
 
 Every generation has its ow^n work. We can not 
 live by eulogizing our fathers and mothers. Our eyes 
 are not in the backs of our heads. Let us build the 
 monuments of the dead, but let us be quick about it 
 and spend the most of the time and the most of our 
 money in building houses for the living. "A living 
 dog is better than a dead lion." But let us raise living 
 lions. The intellect of our statesmen should be em- 
 ployed not in defending the past but in devising means 
 w^Lereby the present can be improved. Let the Ameri- 
 can Republic be alive and progressive alike in every 
 part, so that the Bunker Hills and Benningtons and 
 Oriskanies and Saratogas of all time may tell the same 
 story of devotion to principle, to freedom and to right. 
 
 The Chancellor's voice was clear and ringing, and 
 carried with it an abundance of magnetism, as the fre- 
 quence of applause testified. Both of these speakers 
 were internipted at times by cries of assent and aj^pro- 
 bation, the audience showing thereby their interest and 
 enthusiasm. 
 
156 OEISKANT MEMORIAL. 
 
 At the close of Dr. Haven's address, three rousing 
 cheers were again given for the speaker, and cries of 
 " good, capital," were heard on every side. 
 
 Hon. Samnel Earl, of Herkimer, was the next speaker 
 introduced. He prefticed his speech by the remark that 
 in order to be heard well and projDerly, he would need 
 a voice equal to that of all the Indians and artillery 
 here congregated one hundred years ago. 
 
ADDRESS OF SAMUEL EARL, ESQ. 
 
 GENERAL IIERKTIIER AND HI3 FA]\riLY. 
 
 We have assembled here to-day, upon tliis historic 
 ground, to celebrate tlie one hundredth anniversary of 
 the Oriskauy Battle; and to do honor, also, to the 
 memory of the patriots of the Mohawk Valley, by 
 whose valor and indomitable courao-e the Ijattle was 
 won. And as a descendant of one of the prominent 
 actors in that fierce and terrible strao-o-le, I take 
 especial ]3ride in joining with you in doing honor to the 
 memory and brave achievements of our patriotic ances- 
 tors who met upon these grounds, the cruel and merci- 
 less invaders of their soil, and drove them back. To 
 many of you it must be especially interesting, as I con- 
 fess it is to me, to view the grounds where, amid the 
 hoiTid din of savage warfare and savage butchery, your 
 ancestors and mine fought undismayed one of the most 
 important battles in the War of the Revolution. 
 
 It was here upon this spot that the first great blow 
 was struck, and check given to the grand scheme, 
 inaugurated by the tory ministry of Great Britain for 
 the campaign of 1777, which was intended and expected 
 to accomplish the complete and final subjugation of the 
 American colonies. The scheme was a grand one, and 
 well planned, and it appeared to those planning it and 
 to those entrusted to carry it out, that it ^vould cer- 
 tainly succeed. It was confidently expected that the 
 means set in motion for the campaign of that year 
 would be fully adequate to the task of successfully 
 crushing out the rebellion of the colonies. The j)lan, 
 in short, was to put in motion a large and overpowering 
 
158 OEISKANT IVrEMOETAL. 
 
 foi'ce, well equipped and supplied with materials of 
 war, from different points, under different leaders, and 
 all destined to meet at the same point, which was 
 Albany. St. Leger and his forces were to proceed by 
 way of Oswego to the Mohawk Valley, and thence to 
 Albany, while at the same time General Burgoyne and 
 his army were to proceed by way of Lake Champlain, 
 and join St. Leger at Albany, and to meet there also 
 Sir Henry Clinton, who was to arrive with his forces 
 from New York, by way of the Hudson river. The 
 plan was, l^y this campaign, to divide the colonies — to 
 cut off" New York and New England from the colonies 
 south, and by that means to crush out the spirit of lib- 
 erty at the north, and finally overpower the colonies 
 south. The success of the campaign would most likely 
 have changed the tide of our affairs. But the expedi- 
 tions all failed, and the first great blow to that well 
 planned campaign was given upon the spot where we 
 are assembled to-day. That blow was struck by the 
 patriotic militia of Tryon county, under their brave 
 General, Nicholas Herkimer. 
 
 It will be remembered that the year 1777 found the 
 inhabitants of the Mohawk Valley desponding and de- 
 spairing of success. Many of the hitherto ardent sup- 
 porters of the patriot cause favored giving up the 
 contest. They had endured the struggle for two years, 
 and their first ardor foi- the cause of liberty had, in a 
 measure, died out ; and in all parts of the valley there 
 were disaffected persons. Many had laid down their 
 arms and renewed their allegiance to the ci'own, and 
 become loyalists. While many others had taken their 
 arms and gone over to the enemy, and become the cruel 
 tories of the Revolution. This defection to the cause 
 of liberty was confined to no particular locality. It 
 divided neighborhoods and even families — brothers and 
 
ADDRESS OF SAMUEL EARL, ESQ. 159 
 
 parents often took diiierent sides, and throno-liout 
 Tryon county there were more or less of tory adher- 
 ents — of tory sympathy, and of tory hopes and expecta- 
 tions. All this led to fretpient outbursts of passion and 
 exasperated feelings between the inhabitants, entertain- 
 ing different political views and opposing sympathies — 
 and as well may be supposed, an intense feeling of 
 hatred and animosity soon grew up between the inhab- 
 itants thus situated, and ties of former friendships, and 
 of consanguinity even, were obliterated and lost amid 
 the savage feeling, suspicions and want of charity 
 engendered between the parties. Just at this time, and 
 when the feeling to which I have referred was at its 
 heighth, and when many of the bravest men in the val- 
 ley of the Mohawk began to feel that it was useless to 
 prolong the struggle, St. Leger made his appearance at 
 Oswego, with the motley forces under his command, 
 amounting to about two thousand. The appearance of 
 this formidable force at Oswego, and its destination 
 were no sooner made known to Greneral Herkimer, and 
 to the Committee of Safety of Tryon county, than he 
 issued a stirring proclamation to the people of the 
 county, well calculated to arouse their faltering patri- 
 otism, and to dismay the disaffected. It concluded in 
 these well chosen words : " Not doubting that the 
 Almighty power, upon our humble prayers and sincere 
 trust in Him, will then generously succor our arms in 
 battle for our just cause; and victory can not fail on 
 our side." It had its intended effect, and was responded 
 to by the militia of Tryon county in the same patriotic 
 spirit in which it was issued by their brave and patri- 
 otic general. But it must not be understood that all 
 to whom it was addressed obeyed its call or flew to his 
 standard — far from it. Many, and some even of the 
 brave general's own family relatives sought the stand- 
 
160 ORISKANY MEMORIAL. 
 
 ard of St. Leo;er. It is certain that one brother at least 
 had gone over to the enemy, and that an influential 
 brother-in law was then with St. Leger, and that other 
 near and influential relatives were then open enemies 
 of the patriot cause. But by his exertions, and at his 
 command there assembled at Fort Dayton, now Herki- 
 mer village, by the fourth of August, 1777, about eight 
 hundred militia, with their ofiicers, taken from the 
 whole body of the county, from Schenectady westward ; 
 and there also the Committee of Safety for Tryon 
 county met and joined the militia. That was their 
 appointed place of rendezvous, and there they met for 
 the well understood purpose of marching at once to the 
 relief of Fort Stanwix — ^vhich, as they were informed, 
 was then invested by St. Leger, with a superior force. 
 They understood that unless relief came, and came 
 quickly, the beleaguered garrison would surrender, and 
 that with its surrender their homes would be sacked 
 by a ruthless and savage enemy, in a victorious march 
 down the Mohawk Valley. This the brave militia and 
 their ofiicers, and the members of the Committee of 
 Safety, who volunteered to accompany them, well 
 understood. And they felt and understood also the 
 supreme urgency of immediately marching to the relief 
 of the fort. The stirring proclamation which had been 
 issued to them, and the, appeals of the Committee of 
 Safety, all meant haste to go to the relief of the fort — 
 haste to strike a blow which would turn back the in- 
 vaders of their soil — and in haste they marched from 
 their place of rendezvous on the fourth of August. 
 They marched v/itli alacrity and with resolute hearts, 
 yearning to drive back the enemy and save their homes 
 from pillage and fire Their route lay on the north 
 side of the I'iver as far as XJtica, where they crossed, and 
 on the night of the fifth they encamped at or near the 
 
ADDRESS OF SAMUEL EARL, ESQ. 161 
 
 present site of Whitestown — and there, on the morning^ 
 of the sixth, occurred the scene between the brave Gen- 
 eral and some of his officers and members of the Com- 
 mittee of Safety, which is so well known to history. 
 And we do well to-day, as we look back to that period 
 when so many and so great dangers threatened the lives 
 and the homes of our patriotic ancestors, to consider, as 
 Avell as we can, the situation just as it was, and as it ap- 
 peared to them, and then to say in our hearts whether 
 they were not right, as they saw the situation, in demand- 
 ing that they should be led on to meet the enemy. Their 
 General, who had up to this time been urging haste, now 
 proposed to wait for reinforcements ; and a counsel of 
 officers and of the members of the Committee of Safety, 
 was held, at which the question of delay was vehem- 
 ently discussed. None can say that the advice of Gen- 
 eral Herkimer was not, to say the least, prudent ; and 
 none ought to say that it was prompted by anything 
 less than a proper regard for the safety of his neighbors 
 and fi'iends who so promptly answered to his call ; and 
 none can say that it was through cowardice or treachery 
 that he preferred to wait for reinforcements. It was 
 seemingly well to do so, as Arnold was at that moment 
 on his way with ample force to join him. But the 
 brave men who disagreed with him, and insisted in 
 such strong language that the onward movement should 
 be made at once, acted in good faith, and from what 
 appeared to them a necessity. They started out to 
 relieve a fort greatly imperilled, and to them it seemed 
 that they should not halt until they had accomplished 
 their purpose. They could not understand why they 
 should wait for reinforcements. They felt and believed 
 they were fully able to successfully cope with the 
 enemy, and were ready to do it. It was unjust, how- 
 ever, to assail the motives of their General because he 
 
162 ORISKANT MEMORIAL. 
 
 felt it prudent to wait to be reinforced ; and yet when 
 ^Ye consider that there were assembled the very best 
 men of the valley, the safest and most intelligent ad- 
 visers, fathers, sons and brothers who had left their 
 homes and their families unprotected in the rear, we 
 can well see, that as they looked upon themselves they 
 saw no need of reinforcements. They felt strong 
 enough, and they were strong enough to drive back the 
 enemy, and they were ready to do it, and to do it at once. 
 The subject of delaying was a surprise to them, and 
 they could not understand it in their impatience to save 
 the fort, so important in the defense of their homes. 
 The intelligent members of the Committee of Safety, 
 -and the officers there assembled, doubtless knew of the 
 defection of many of the brave General's near relatives, 
 and the fact that some of them were then with St. Leger. 
 To them, in view of all the circumstances, the proposed 
 delay seemed unwise and cowardly. Their impatience 
 could not be restrained by the general, and he gave the 
 command to march, which was instantly obeyed, not 
 by cowards, but by brave, determined and earnest men. 
 In my judgment there was no mistake made in giving 
 the command. It was proper to do so. The mistake 
 made was that the line of march was not formed with 
 such precautions against surprises of the enemy as 
 should have been taken. Who was to blame for this, 
 it is now impossible to tell. We can not and dare not 
 charge the blame upon the brave General, for we do not 
 know what his orders were upon this subject. But this 
 is certain, that the necessary military precautions against 
 a surprise were for some cause omitted, and to this must 
 we attribute the fearful havoc and loss of life, which 
 that eventful day witnessed upon these historic grounds. 
 That nothincr was lost or omitted throua-h cowardice or 
 treachery on the part of the brave General or the 
 
ADDRESS 01^ SAMUEL EARL, ESQ. 168 
 
 officers under him, is equally certain. They were all 
 brave. 
 
 The misfortune to the rear guard under Colonel 
 Visscher could not have been prevented by any exer- 
 tions within his power. They could not, from their 
 position, be looking for surprises, except from the rear. 
 They were the rear guard behind the baggage and 
 ammunition wagons — upon the first assault he and his 
 brave men were cut off from the main body, and be- 
 tween him and the rest of the little army the road, a 
 narrow causeway, was completely blocked up and made 
 impassable, in consequence of the teams and wagons 
 being thrown into inexti-icable confusion. Thus sit- 
 nated the rear guard was assailed with a superior force 
 upon disadvantageous ground, and routed. No bravery 
 could have prevented the misfortune. The trap set for 
 General Herkimer's forces was sprung, and it struck 
 with terrific force the rear, which was soon thrown into 
 confusion and driven back in disorder. This, under the 
 circumstances, it would seem was inevitable. 
 
 I do not believe, and I can not believe, as has been 
 asserted, that General Herkimer was apprised in ad- 
 vance of the ambuscade which awaited him, and that 
 he expected it here upon this spot on his way to the 
 fort. This is incredilde, as it can not be suj)posed that 
 the General would have neglected to make ample pro- 
 vision for it. It would have been discreditable in him 
 not to have provided for any emergency of that kind 
 of which he had notice, even though he were forced by 
 his turbulent officers to give the order to march on 
 against his better judgment. But he had no notice. 
 It was a surprise, planned by St. Leger, and the execu- 
 tion of it placed mainly in the hands of Sir John 
 Johnson, and of that cunning and savage Indian war- 
 rior, Joseph Brant. But the question hei'e occurs, how 
 
164 OEISKANT MEirORIAL. 
 
 did St. Leger know (for he did know) of the raarcli of 
 tlie force under General Herkimer for the relief of Fort 
 Stanwix? He knew just when the relieving force left 
 Fort Dayton, and what its strength was. Molly Brant, 
 who had been the faithful Indian wife of Sir William 
 Johnson, was the person who sent the intelligence to 
 St. Leger's camp of General Herkimer's approach. She 
 was the sister of Joseph Brant, the celebrated Indian 
 chief who had command of the Indians. She was a 
 remarkable woman, Indian thouoh she was. It was 
 through her sagacity and influence that Sir William 
 Johnson, "with whom she had lived, as his wife, for up- 
 ward of twenty years, acquired and maintained, to the 
 time of his death, such a controlling influence over the 
 Six Nations. Upon his death she was obliged to leave 
 Johnson Hall, where she had been so long mistress, and 
 return to live with her o-\vn tribe, at the Indian castle 
 on the south side of the Mohawk, about two miles 
 below the residence of General Herkimer. Her keen 
 eye saw everything that was going on, and she secretly 
 sent an Indian in advance to apprise St. Leger of Gen- 
 eral Herkimer and his forces ffoius; to the relief of Fort 
 Stanwix. By this timely information Sir John Johnson 
 and the Indians had leisure to prepare the ambuscade 
 which bere took place. But slie paid dearly, as subse- 
 quent events proved, for givdng the information which 
 cost so many lives of the best men in the upper valley 
 of the Mohawk. 
 
 General Herkimer could not have known — and did 
 not know that his march was to be intercepted at this 
 place, otherwise he would have prevented the surprise 
 which led to so o-reat a slaug^hter of his neicrhbors and 
 cost him liis own life. Colonel Glaus, the son-indaw of 
 Sir A¥illiam Johnson, and who was with St. Leger's 
 forces, wrote to the British Secretary of War under 
 date of October 16, 1777, as follows: 
 
ADDRESS or SAMUEL EAEL, ESQ. 165 
 
 "The 5th of August, in the afternoon, accounts were brought 
 by Indians sent by Joseph's sister (^ Molly) from Canajoharie, that 
 a body of rebels were on their way and would be within ten or 
 twelve miles of our camp that night. A detachment of about 400 
 Indians was ordered to reconnoiter the enemy. Sir John Johnson 
 asked leave to join his company of light infantry and head the 
 whole, which was granted. Colonel Butler and other Indian offi- 
 cers were ordered with the Indians." 
 
 On November 6, 1777, Colonel Glaus wrote to the 
 Secretary as follows: 
 
 "The Indian action near Fort Stanwix, happening near a settle- 
 ment of Oneida Indians in the rebel's interest, who were at the 
 same time in arms against our party, the Six Nations Indians, after 
 the action, burnt their houses, destroyed their field-crops and killed 
 and carried away their cattle. This the rebel Oneidas, after our 
 retreat, revenged upon Joseph's sister and her family (living in the 
 upper Mohawk town) on Joseph's account, robbing them of cash, 
 clothes, cattle, &c., and driving them from their home; then pro- 
 ceeded to the Mohawk's town and dealt in the same manner with 
 the poor women and children whose husbands were in the king's 
 service. Joseph's sister and family fled to Onondaga, the council 
 place of the Six Nations, laying her grievances before that body. 
 The Six Nations, with whom she had always had a great sway 
 during the late Sir William Johnson's lifetime, and even now — 
 and I understand the Six Nations to render her satisfaction by 
 committing hostilities upon that tribe of Oneida rebels that com ■ 
 raitted the outrasres." 
 
 a 
 
 It will be seen by the testimony here furnished just 
 how the intelligence of Herkimer's advance reached 
 St. Leger's camp before Fort Stanwix, and that the 
 result of that intelligence was the ambuscade by the 
 Indians under Brant, and by the British regulars and 
 tories under Sir John Johnson. Here the blow was 
 struck, which, while it was at the sacrifice of many 
 lives of the wisest and best men in the valley of the 
 Mohawk, staid the enemy in their progress, and finally 
 resulted in their hasty flight to Canada. It was a 
 
166 OEISKANr MEMORIAL. 
 
 teiTil)le blow to tlie enemy, and while the check here 
 given to them was cause of great thankfulness on the 
 part of the liberty loving people of the valley, yet it 
 brought sadness to many a heart by the loss of par- 
 ents, sons and brothers. The noble and brave-hearted 
 General Herkimer was among those who made upon 
 these fields at that .time the sacrifice of their lives. 
 His life went out nobly and bravely for his country's 
 cause. 
 
 General Nicholas Herkimer was the oldest son of 
 John Jost Herkimer, who was among the first to settle 
 upon the German Flats. He was a Gei'man, as were 
 all the first settlers. They emigrated from a district of 
 country in Germany called the Lower Palatinate, on 
 the Rhine, and were called Palatines. The story of 
 their coming to America, and of their wanderings until 
 thej^ settled down on the patent which was granted to 
 them in 1725, is an interesting one, but not impoi-tant 
 to be given here. They styled themselves High Ger- 
 mans, and were Lutherans. The patent of land granted 
 to them extended on both sides of the river from the 
 Little Falls, westward as far as Frankfort, and was 
 divided into narrow lots feeing the river. John Jost 
 Herkimer drew and first lived upon lot No. 36, on 
 the south side of the river. This lot is now owned by 
 James H. Steele, Esq., and George H. Orendorf, and is 
 distant about one-half a mile below the old stone 
 church. Here General Herkimer was doubtless born 
 soon after his father had established his home upon the 
 lot. And upon that lot, and in that vicinity, he spent 
 the days of his childhood and of his youth, following the 
 vocation of a farmer's boy. The house in which he was 
 reared survived the Revolution, and was the only house 
 to which the torch was not applied when the destruc- 
 tion of the settlement in that vicinity took place in 
 
ADDRESS OF SAMUEL EARL, ESQ. 167 
 
 the War of the Revolution. This house stood on the 
 easterly side of a knoll projecting l^eyond the foot of 
 the hill, and near a small rivulet of pure water. The 
 old house, built in primitive style, remained standing- 
 until about twenty -five years ago, and there is nothing 
 now to indicate where it stood, save the cavity of the 
 cellar, and that is nearly obliterated. The time will soon 
 come when there will be nothing left to indicate the spot 
 where the brave hero s23orted when a child, and grew 
 to manhood. As early at least as 1730 there was a 
 school house in which there was a school kept upon or 
 near the site of the old church, which is distant about 
 a half mile from where this house stood. And it is a 
 notable fact that upon the same spot there has been a 
 school house and a public school kept from that time 
 down to the present. It is altogether probable that at 
 the school kept at this place the young patriot received 
 all the education he ever got in school — which is known 
 to have been limited, and was in German. The only 
 language spoken at the German Flats at that time, or 
 heard from the pnlpit, was the German, and in this he 
 was instructed, as I have seen his writing in the Ger- 
 man language. At the church, near by his father's 
 residence, he was instructed in the catechism, and there 
 he was taught in the Holy Scriptures, with which he 
 showed himself so familiar in his dying hour. His 
 father was a prominent and influential man among the 
 German settlers. In the church which was erected 
 upon the site of the present old stone church, he was a 
 leading spirit, as appears from records still in existence. 
 In 1751, when it was proposed to erect a new edifice 
 in the place of the old one, we find him addressing, 
 as sole petitioner, the Colonial Governor, the following 
 petition for a license to circulate a subscription in aid 
 of the church : 
 
168 OEISKANT MEMORIAL. 
 
 To his Excellency, the Honourable George Clinton, Captain-Gen- 
 eral and Goveriior-in-Chief of the province of New York and 
 Territories thereon depending in America, Vice-Admiral of the 
 pame, and Admiral of the White Squadron of his Majesty's 
 Fleet : 
 
 The humble petition of Johan Joost Hercheimer, of Burnet's 
 Field, in the County of Albany, yeoman, in behalf of himself and 
 the rest of the inhabitants. High Germans living there, humbly 
 sheweth : 
 
 That your petitioner and sundry other High Germans, to the 
 number of one hundred families and upwards, at present resident 
 at Burnet's Field, in this province, propose, with your Excellency's 
 permission, to erect a Stone Church on the South side of the 
 River, upon a convenient spot of ground already purchased by 
 the Inhabitants, for the Worship of Almighty God, according to 
 the discipline of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church. But 
 finding themselves unable alone to finish and complete the same, 
 your petitioner, therefore, in behalf of the said Inhabitants, humbly 
 prays your Excellency will be favourably pleased to grant a Brief 
 or Lycense to crave the voluntary assistance and contribution of 
 all well disposed persons within this province, for completing the 
 said structure, altogether intended for Divine Worship. 
 
 And your petitioner, as in duty bound, shall ever pray, &c. 
 
 JOHAN JOOST HERCHEIMER. 
 
 Fort George, 
 
 in 
 
 New York, 
 
 October 6, 1751. 
 
 Be it so. 
 
 G. Clinton. 
 
 And at a later clay, the buildiug of the church having 
 been interrupted by the French and Indian war, we 
 find him chosen as one of the committee to circulate 
 the subscription, but in consequence of infirmities of 
 age he declined and deputed another in his place. The 
 original appeal is in the following language: 
 
 To All Christian People to whom this shall come. Whereas, 
 the inhabitants on the south side of the River of Burnet's Field, 
 on the German Flatts, whereas, we are about to erect a ChurcL 
 
ADDKESS OF SAMUEL EARL, ESQ. 169 
 
 wherein the High Dutch Language in the Protestant way should 
 be preaclied. Before the late war, and when the war begun, we 
 was obliged to leave off building, and in the war everything was 
 discharged, as we were desirous to have a place of worship, we 
 have begun to build a Church, but we found ourselfs not able 
 to finish the same, occasioned by the troubles we had in the war, 
 that is to say, all our Houses and Barns, with all we had in them, 
 were burnt, and our Horses and Catties were killed and taken 
 away, and a great many of our People taken Prisoners by the 
 Enemy, which has unabled us to finish the Church. For them 
 Reasons we have desired two of our members, that is to say, 
 Johan Jost Herkemer and Hendrick Bell to try to collect some 
 money of all good people to enable us to have our Church finished, 
 and we hope all good people will take our cause in consideration, 
 as we have no place of Worship now but a small Log House. 
 We are, in behalf of the Congregation and ourselfs, Gentlemen, 
 Your Most Humble Servants, 
 
 AUGLTSTENIS HESS, 
 RODOLF SCHOMAKER, 
 PETER VOLS. 
 
 N. B. — I, being old and unable, I therefore send Peter Vols to 
 do the business of collecting for me. 
 
 JOHANN JOST HERCHHEIMER, Just. 
 
 John Jost Herkimer, tLe father of our hero, was then 
 old. He had become wealthy, and was possessed of va- 
 rious large tracts of land, and had numerous chattels in- 
 cluding negro slaves. He had a large family of children, 
 five sons and eight daughters. At an early day, and 
 before the French and Indian war, and while his child- 
 ren were yet young, he built a stone mansion about 
 three-fourths of a mile west of his first location. This 
 was built a little distance above the old stone church, 
 and it was afterwards, and before the year 1756, in- 
 cluded within the fort called "Fort Herkimer." It. was 
 finely and eligibly located upon the bank of the river, 
 overlooking it and the beautiful valley for some dis- 
 tance both above and below. At that time, and until 
 
170 ORISKANY :\[EMOEIAL. 
 
 long after the revolution, the I'iver was the great thor- 
 oughfare for trade and commerce, and often presented 
 a gay and lively appearance, with its batteaux floating 
 upon its surface, laden with merchandise. To the west 
 of the mansion stood "Fort Dayton," about a mile and 
 a half distant, on the opposite side of the river. Be- 
 tween these foits, and diagonally across the flats, ran a 
 road then and still called the "King's road," and almost 
 in a straight line. This road was the only direct line 
 of communication between the forts, and it was then and 
 for a long time afterwards used as a public highway. 
 
 A plan of the fort surrounding the Herkimer Man- 
 sion, as made in 1756, may be seen in 2d vol. of Doc. 
 Hist, of New York at page 732, and in Benton's His- 
 tory at page 52. The house referred to in this plan 
 was the Herkimer Mansion. A description of the 
 house and Fort may be found in 1st vol. Doc. Hist, of 
 New York at page 527. Here it is altogether probable 
 the General lived until his father conveyed to him the 
 five hundred acres whereon he built his fine residence 
 on the south bank of the river below the Little Falls. 
 This conveyance was made in 1760. The Herkimer 
 Mansion was originally built for a store, and was used 
 as a depot for supplies to Oswego. We may infer from 
 this fact that the General was engaged in traffic at Fort 
 Herkimer prior to the French War, with his father, and 
 that the wealth and early prosperity of the family may 
 be thus accounted for. And to this also may be 
 attributed the fact that he became so generally and 
 favorably known throughout the colony. 
 
 This fort was garrisoned and served as a protection 
 to the inhabitants on the south side of the river at the 
 time of the French and Indian invasion, and also 
 during the War of the Revolution. It is supposed 
 that the General was in command of the fort in 1758, 
 
ADDRESS OF SAMUEL EARL, ESQ. 171 
 
 as senior officer, under his commission as lieutenant 
 in Captain Wormwood's company. 
 
 The house continued to be occupied by the Herkimer 
 family until some time after the Revolution, when it, 
 and so far as I can ascertain, all the Herkimer property 
 at the German Flats fell into other hands. The house 
 began soon to show signs of neglect and decay; and, 
 as I remember it, it was an old neglected and dilapi- 
 dated stone house which looked as if it had gone 
 through several wars. It was taken down to make 
 way for the enlarged Erie canal about 1841, and not a 
 vestige of it is left to indicate its site or its former 
 splendor. 
 
 John Jost Herkimer, as I have said, was a prominent 
 and prosperous man. He had great influence over the 
 German ]>opulation in the upper valley of the Mohawk, 
 and his sons, and particularly the General, shared his 
 influence over his German neighbors. And I hazard 
 nothing in saying that there was not a Palatine descend- 
 ant in the valley who possessed the confidence and 
 respect of the German inhabitants equal to that pos- 
 sessed by General Herkimei-. It is quite certain, also, 
 that next to the family of Sir William Johnson, the 
 Herkimer family was the most prosperous and influen- 
 tial in the valley. The eight daughters of the old 
 patriot were all married, and their husbands were all 
 leading and influential men. Among them I may men- 
 tion Rev. Abraham Rosecrants, Hendrick Frey, Colonel 
 Peter Bellinger and George Henry Bell, names for a 
 long time potent in the valley. The father of this large 
 family, and of our brave hero, died at his residence 
 August, 1775, and was doubtless buried in the church- 
 yard,near by. He made his will April 5, 1771, which 
 I find to have been witnessed by my grandfather. Doc- 
 tor William Petry, who was his family physician. His 
 
172 OEISKATSTY MEMOKIAL. 
 
 will shows that he was possessed of a large estate, and 
 the first l>equest in it is to the Geaeral, in the following 
 language : " I give unto my eldest son, Nicholas Her- 
 kimer, the sum of ten shillings in right of primo- 
 geniture." 
 
 In the next clause of his will he makes ample 
 provision for his wife, and he declares it is his pleasure 
 that his Ijeloved wife, Catharine, shall remain sole and 
 absolute mistress of whatever estate he may die pos- 
 sessed of, real and personal, during her natural life. 
 He then makes a liberal provision for his son John, 
 who is supposed to have been feeble in body and mind, 
 giving him the farm upon which was the family resi- 
 dence, and one hundred acres of land adjoining in 
 addition thereto— two of his best negroes and a good 
 outfit of stock and utensils for the farm — to take pos- 
 session on the death of his wife. And he provided 
 that in case this son should die unmarried or without 
 issue, the estate given him should go to his next heir by 
 the name of Herkimer ; and he provided that John also 
 should not sell any part of the estate given him without 
 the consent of his executors. The only other provision 
 of the will which I deem it important to notice is con- 
 tained in the following clause : " I give and devise unto 
 my loving son, George, and his heirs forever, that lot 
 whereon he now lives, commonly known and distin- 
 guished by the name Lot No, 36." And here I will 
 recall the fact that Lot No. 36 is the same upon which, 
 the old patriarch first settled, and where he resided 
 until he built the stone house, and where, in all proba- 
 bility, all his children were born. He, doubtless, left 
 this son to enjoy his old farm when he removed to his 
 stone mansion in the fort. This son was a true paUiot, 
 and next to his brother, the General, was the most con- 
 spicuous of the family in the revolutionary contest. He 
 
ADDRESS OF SAMUEL EARL, ESQ. 173 
 
 was a leading member of the Tryon County Committee 
 of Safety, and was present with his heroic brother in the 
 battle at this place. He died in 1786, leaving seven 
 children, among whom was the Hon. John Herkimer, 
 who became an active politician and was a member of 
 Congress, elected in 1822. The second son of John 
 Jost Herkimer was Henry, or Heudrick, as he was 
 called. He resided with his father until a few years 
 before the Kevolutiou, when he removed with his 
 family to lands given him by his father at the foot of 
 Schuyler Lake, in Croghan's patent. He came back at 
 the outbreak of the war, and at first went to Stone 
 Arabia and remained with his brother-indaw. Rev. 
 Abraham Rosecrants, a short time and then came to the 
 Herkimer Mansion, where he died before the close of 
 the Revolution. One of his sons, the eldest, it is said, 
 went over to the enemy. He too was possessed of a 
 large estate. He was a joint proprietor with his father, 
 of the Fall Hill patent of 2,324 acres, granted in 1752. 
 I have seen a copy of this son's will, made August 17, 
 1778, and I deem it important, for my present pui'pose, 
 to call attention to the following extract only: 
 
 "I give and bequeath unto my eldest son, Hon Yost Herkimer, 
 the sum of twenty shillings, New York currency, in right of 
 primogeniture, and in case it should so happen that he becomes the 
 heir to the estate of my father, Han Jost Herkimer, which is now 
 in the possession of my brother, John Herkimer, in that case only 
 he is to have one hundred acres of bush land left me bj' my 
 father's will along with the said estate, but of his not becoming 
 heir to the said estate then he is to have an equal third part ot 
 one thousand acres of land at the Lake Cananderago ; part of a 
 patent granted to George Croghan along with his two brothers, 
 George and Abraham, to him and his heirs forever." 
 
 It will be seen by this extract of the will of Henry, 
 that he supposed that a contingency might happen, 
 whereby his eldest son should become the next heir by 
 
17-i OKISKANT JIE.^IORIAL. 
 
 the name Herkimer, and take the estate uuder his 
 father's will, which was given to his brother John. 
 Descendants of Henry still reside on the ancestral 
 lauds at the foot of Schuyler Lake, and one of them, 
 the venerable Timothy Herkimer, is here to-day to help 
 celebrate the event which has made the name of Herki- 
 mer renowned in the annals of our local history. John, 
 the brother of the General, who enjoyed the Herkimer 
 Mansion and lands connected with it, under the will 
 of his father, died in 1817 without issue; and then the 
 question arose who was entitled to the property under 
 the will as the next heir of the testator hy the name of 
 Herhimer. This question went to the courts, and was 
 determined in the case of Jackson vs. Bellinger reported 
 in 18 Johnson's Report, at page 369. It was decided 
 that the property, on the death of John, descended to 
 his heirs-at-law according to the statute regulating de- 
 scents. Upon this decision being rendered, all contro- 
 versy as to the title was ended, and the property passed 
 out of the name of Herkimer. 
 
 The remaining brother of the General, John Jost 
 Herkimer, gave up the contest, went to Canada and 
 took up arms against the colonies. He was attainted 
 under the act of October 22, 1779, together with Sir 
 John Johnson and other leading tories of Tryon county, 
 and lost his estate. 
 
 As to the eight daughters of the old patriarch it is 
 sufficient to say that they were all respectably married, 
 though the husbands of several of them became ardent 
 tories in the revolution, and by their influence and ex- 
 ample, did much to bring distress upon the patriotic 
 inhabitants of the valley. I will not name them here. 
 I will say, however, that among the descendants of the 
 tory branches of the family are veiy many respected 
 and highly honored citizens in our State. 
 
ADDRESS OF SAMUEL EARL, ESQ. 175 
 
 But as to General Herkimer be had no descendants. 
 He never had any children to inherit his virtues, or his 
 good name and fame. Here upon these grounds he 
 exhibited his true character and such virtues, that if he 
 had left descendants worthy of his name, they would 
 be proud to be here to-day, and witness the honor paid 
 to his memory, and to the memory and achievements 
 of the brave men who fought and died by his side. 
 
 The General was a kind-hearted and benevolent man 
 and a good Christian neighbor. He was just such a 
 character as would make him beloved by those who 
 knew him. He was without guile or deceit, generous, 
 brave and honest. Among his neighbors and where he 
 was familiarly known he was called "Hannicol" Her- 
 kimer. He is called by that name in several places in 
 the will of Sir William Johnson. The name "Hanni- 
 col," as is well kown, is a nick-name for Nicholas 
 amono" the Germans in the Mohawk Valley, and was at 
 one time quite common. The General was popular 
 among the German people. The mothers delighted in 
 naming their sons after him, and he stood godfather at 
 many a baptism of children, and in his will he does 
 not overlook the little ones to whom he stood in that 
 responsible and Christian relation. 
 
 It must be admitted that he was neither a great nor 
 a skillful General. He had no education or experience 
 for that accomplishment. He had, however, courage 
 and calmness in the midst of the greatest danger. 
 Such was his nature, that amidst the deafening yells of 
 the savages, and while his friends and neighbors were 
 falling around him like autumn leaves, he could remain 
 cool and self-possessed. He was well known through- 
 out the valley and was highly esteemed for the purity 
 and unselfishness of his character. And he was prosper- 
 ous and lich. His landed estate was large. He had a 
 
176 OKISKANY MEMORIAL. 
 
 tenantiy and slaves and money. Plis residence was the 
 most costly and imposing in the upper Mohawk Valley, 
 and is still standing. I should, perhaps, have stated 
 before, that after the Ixittle was ended, here on that 
 ever memorable day one hundred years ago, Dr. Petry, 
 one of the few survivors of the Committee of Safety, 
 who were in that battle, although severely wounded 
 himself, dressed the General's shattered leg on the field 
 and saw him placed on a litter and leave on his way 
 home. This was the last time Dr. Petry saw him. He 
 did not consider his wound necessarily dangerous, and 
 had no thought of his dying. He often declared to his 
 family and friends that the General's life was sacrificed 
 by an unnecessary and unskillful amputation. Doctor 
 Petry was one of the Committee of Safety, who at the 
 consultation on the fifth of August, strongly urged the 
 onward movement; and I have no doubt, i'vom what I 
 have heard said of him, he did it in strong language. 
 But I have no reason to doubt that the relations be- 
 tween him and the General remained friendly, and he 
 doubtless would have gone home with the wounded 
 General, had he not been himself disabled by a painful 
 wound. The General was attended by a young surgeon 
 who followed General Arnold up the valley, and who 
 amputated his leg so unskillfuUy that he bled to death, 
 I can not better prove this, than by the following 
 account given by the surgeon who performed the 
 operation : 
 
 General Haecomers, August 17, 177 7. 
 
 Dear Uoctoi- — Yesterday morning I amputated General Har- 
 comer's leg, there not being left the prospect of recovery without 
 it. But alas, the patriotic hero died in the evening — the cause of 
 bis death God only knows. About three hours before his depart- 
 ure he complained of pain. I gave him thirty drops of laudanum 
 liquid and went to dress Mr. Pettery. I left him in as good a 
 
ADDEESS OF SAMUEL EARL, ESQ. 177 
 
 M-ay as I could wish with Dr. Hastings to take care of him. 
 When I returned I found him takhig his last gasp, free from spasm 
 and sensible. Nothing more surprised me, but we can not always 
 parry death, so there is an end of it. 
 
 General Arnold left yesterday morning with positive orders to 
 follow him this evening or to-morrow morning. I sent for Scull 
 to take care of the General and Pettery. He is just now arrived. 
 I propose to have Pettery removed to Palatine, where Scull and 
 two regimental mates will take care of him and the other wounded. 
 This evening I will pursue General Arnold, and I suppose will 
 overtake him at Fort Dayton. ***** 
 
 The place and hour of glory draws nigh. No news from Fort 
 Schuyler. I am, dear doctor, your most obedient and humble 
 servant, ROBERT JOHNSTON. 
 
 Tbis letter was addressed to Dr. Jonathan Potts, 
 director of the general hospital for the northern de- 
 partment.* 
 
 In his last moments the dying General showed him- 
 self to be, as he was, a Christian hero. Not a murmur 
 or a word of complaint seems to have escaped his lips. 
 He turned to his Bible, a familiar book to him, and 
 sought therein consolation to a dying Christian. He 
 gave up his noljle life to his country when he was yet 
 in full vigor of health and strength. He was about 
 fifty-five years of age, not older at the time of his death. 
 
 His will which is dated February 7, 1777, is on file 
 in the office of the clei-k of the Court of Appeals. The 
 provisions in it are numerous, and some of them quite 
 interesting as well as characteristic of the brave and 
 kind-hearted man. I will here give only that portion 
 of it relating to his widow, which is in the following- 
 language : 
 
 Item. I give nnto my said beloved wife for her sole property 
 and disposal one of my young negro wenches, named Mya, about 
 one and a half years old. And also I bequeath unto her, her heirs 
 
 * See New England Historical and General Register, (1864,) vol. 18, p. 31. 
 
ITS ORISKANT MEMORIAL. 
 
 and assigns i'orevcv, a certain tract of land in George Clock's 
 patent, containing one hundred acres of woodland, formerly con- 
 veyed by release by Sevei'inus Tygert of Stonearaby dec'd nnto 
 my first married wife dec'd her heirs and assigns. 
 
 (Item. I give unto my said beloved wife Maria, upon this ex- 
 press condition and proviso, that she sliall and will during her 
 widowhood of me behave and conduct herself in chastity and 
 other Christian manners, becoming to a decent and religious 
 widow, further, the following devises in the following manner: 
 That is to say, during the natural life of my said beloved wife, 
 she shall have posses and enjoy, upon the performance of the here- 
 tofore reserved condition and proviso, the room in the north east 
 corner of my present dwelling house, with all the furniture therein 
 being at my disease, and one quarter of one acre in one of the 
 gardens near the house to her choice, and also four apple trees to 
 her choice, free pass and repassing unmolested to the said room, 
 garden, and apj^le trees, and free wood and water upon my said 
 tenements to her use, one of the negro wenches to her choice, be- 
 sides the above mentioned already devised unto her, her heirs and 
 assigns. Also to her choice, one horse and one mare, two cows, 
 six sheep, six hogs, three silver spoons, and four silver tea spoons, 
 one half dozen China teacups and saucers, two pots, one copper 
 kettle, two dishes, six pewter plates, four pewter spoons, two 
 bowles, two pewter teapots, one trammel, one pair of andirons, one 
 dozen knives and forks, one half dozen chairs, one table. The 
 moiety of my linen and homespun store, and the other half to be 
 divided by her among my black servants for their clothing, and 
 all the women clothes left at my decease having been her wearing 
 as well as of my first wife deceased ; all these to be and to hold 
 for the use of her, her heirs and assigns upon the performance of 
 the above express proviso and condition.) 
 
 But upon true proof of her conduct against it, all these devises 
 included in the circumflex, shall be void, and then appertain unto 
 the hereafter named possessor of my present dwelling tenement, 
 and to his heirs and assigns. 
 
 But during the widowhood of her, my said wife, on the same 
 condition and proviso as aforesaid, she shall have, occupy and 
 enjoy the half of my present dwelling house, and of all the issues 
 and profits of the tenement of five hundred acres of land, whereon 
 I now live, and also of all the issues of my wenches, horses and 
 other cattle, but she shall equally pay the half of all the expenses 
 in behalf of the said issues, which must be extra paid besides the 
 work of my servants and cattle; but upon nonperformance of the 
 
ADDRESS OF SAMUEL EAEL, ESQ. 179 
 
 said proviso, this deAnse shall also be void. Further, it is my 
 ■express will and order, that if by the providence of God my 
 present beloved wife, and future widow after my decease, should 
 lawfully marry one of my brothers sons, that then they shall have 
 and enjoy the interests and rents of all my lands lying in the 
 patent granted to Edward Holland, now leased to the respective 
 tenants thereof and also one lot of woodland in the same patent 
 not leased, w^hich is adjacent to the Fallbergh patent, to them, 
 their heirs and assigns forever. But if in case she my said wife 
 should after my decease marry with one of my sisters sons, then 
 the said interests and rents of the said leased lands together with 
 the said one hundred acres of woodland shall be and appertain to 
 ihem, their heii'S and assigns, during both their lives. 
 
 Witliout attempting any explanation of the reasons 
 of the General for contemplating, as he seems to have 
 done, the possibility of the marriage of his widow to 
 one of his nephews, I will say that this event never 
 took place. She did not remain at the homestead of the 
 General long after his death; and it is altogether prob- 
 able she gave up most, if not all, of the provisions made 
 for her in the will. She soon married and went to Can- 
 ada, and but little is known of her subsequent history. 
 This is known, however, that the man she married 
 was poor, and far beneath her in social position. She 
 gave up the comforts of a good home for a hard life, 
 and the remainder of her days, which were probably 
 few, it is said, were spent in poverty and want. 
 
 Durinp- the speech of Mr. Earl an oil ]iortrait of Gen- 
 eral Herkimer was exhibited to the audience. Also 
 the sword of Major House, which was used upon this 
 battle-field. At the close of Mr. Earl's address three 
 more cheers were given in compliment to the speaker. 
 
 M. M. Jones, Esq., of Utica, having heen requested 
 to read the commission of General Herkimer, prefaced 
 it with the following sketch : 
 
REMARKS OF M. M. JOM% ESQ. 
 
 GENERAL HERKIMEr's COMMISSION. 
 
 You will notice that the commission I am about to 
 read to you is in the name of, and issued by the " Con- 
 vention of the Representatives of the State of New 
 York," a body of patriots, anomalous in its election and 
 organization, and seldom heard of except by those who 
 have searched its records, or read slight memorials of 
 it upon the pages of our State history. At the com- 
 mencement of the Revolution, all branches of govern- 
 ment in the Colony of New York, the Governor, 
 Council and General x\ssembly were loyal to George 
 III and his crown. In the Assembly were a few patri- 
 otic men like George Clinton, Philip Schuyler, Simon 
 Boerum, Robert R. Livingston, Jr., Abraham Ten 
 Broeck, Nathaniel Woodhull, but they were too few to 
 accomplish more than keeping the people advised of 
 the designs of the British Government. 
 
 The incipient machinery for beginning a government 
 in this State was, from the necessity of the case, an ema- 
 nation from the people. It had no law for its basis, 
 except that natural law which gives man the right of 
 selfgovernmeut. 
 
 The first and subsequent Colonial Congresses of 
 New York were elected as we at this dav elect our 
 political conventions. They made laws and passed 
 resolutions, and enforced them. They assumed all the 
 powers and duties of a State government. The men 
 who composed them were patriots, and many of them 
 were statesmen. Several of them became members of 
 the Continental Couo-ress, and others became officers 
 and soldiers in the field. 
 
KEMARKS OF M. M. JOIN^ES, ESQ. 181 
 
 The second Continental Congress was to meet at 
 Philadelphia, May 10, 1775. As the General Assembly 
 of New York had refused to appoint delegates to that 
 body, the Committee of the Sons of Liberty for the city 
 and county of New York, in March, 1775, issued a call to 
 the several counties of the colony, asking them to send 
 delegates to meet in New York City, April 20, to elect 
 such delegates. This body, designated a Provincial 
 Convention, was composed of fifty of the leading men 
 of New York, among whom were Governors George 
 Clinton and John Jay, Messrs. Floyd, Lewis, Livingston 
 and Morris, signers of the Declaration of Independence, 
 Generals Schuyler and McDougalL It met April 20, 
 1775, and its powers being exhausted by the election 
 of delegates to Congress, dissolved itself, April 22. 
 The next day, Sunday, the news of the battle of Lex- 
 ington arrived at New York. Electrified by the in- 
 telligence the people began the work of revolution 
 with a high hand. The general committee, increased 
 in numbers and powers, called upon the counties to 
 send delegates to a " Provincial Congress," to be held 
 in New York on the 2 2d of May, 1775. 
 
 This first Provincial Congress elected Peter Van 
 Brugh Livingston its first president, and James McKes- 
 son, secretary. It held three sessions, May 22, July 26, 
 October 4, and dissolved, November 4, 1775. 
 
 The second Provincial Congress was elected May 7, 
 1775, and held three sessions, commencing December 6, 
 
 1775, February 12 and May 8, 1776. 
 
 The third Provincial Congress was elected in April, 
 
 1776, convened in New York May 18, and remained in 
 session until June 30, when it dissolved, as the British 
 troops were about taking possession of the city. 
 
 The foui'th Provincial Congress assembled at White 
 Plains, July 9, 1776. The Declaration of Independ- 
 
182 OEISKANY ilEMOEIAL. 
 
 eiioe was read and iiuanimously adopted. As the colo- 
 nies had now become States, the style of the Provincial 
 Congress of the Colony of New York, was changed to 
 "the Convention of the Representatives of the State of 
 New York." This was the body, under its new name, 
 and with new powers and aspirations, which granted 
 the commission of brigadier general to the patriot hero- 
 of Oriskany. 
 
 This convention removed to Harlem, July 29, to 
 Fishkill, August 29, where it held various short sessions 
 until February 11, 1777, when it adjourned to Kingston. 
 It met at the latter place, March 6, and having formed 
 a State Constitution, the convention was finally dis- 
 solved May 13, 1777. The convention had established 
 a temporary government by electing a Council of 
 Safety, with power to act in all cases under the new 
 constitution until the new government should be 
 elected. 
 
 During the recesses of the Colonial Congress, its 
 powers, or those assumed by it, were exei'cised by Com- 
 mittees of Safety. These bodies took upon themselves 
 all the powers and duties inherent in the people. 
 They raised troops and issued commissions to their 
 officers, they collected and disbursed the taxes, they 
 defined and punished offences against the government, 
 including treason ; they, by resolutions, defined offences 
 against society and their punishment. The members 
 of these Colonial Congresses were in the main great 
 and good men, and they conscientiously executed the 
 trusts conferred upon them by the people. 
 
 In the summer of 1777, the people elected their Gov- 
 ernor, Lieutenant-Governor, Senate and Assembly, and 
 then the government of the Empire State was set in 
 motion. That good man, George Clinton, who was 
 then in the field at the head of the New York militia^ 
 
RE^[AEKS OF M. M. JONES, ESQ. 183 
 
 found himself elected both Governor and Lieutenant- 
 Governor. After due consideration he chose the former, 
 and was in office from 1777 to 1795, aud 1801 to 180-1, 
 and died while vice j^resident of the United States. 
 
 Abraham Yates, Jr., who signed Genei-al Herkimer's 
 commission, was a delegate from Albany in the four 
 Colonial Congresses. At several times in 1775 aud 
 1776 he was president, j9/'0 few., and was president of 
 the convention from August 28 to September 26, 1776. 
 
 John McKesson was secretary until after the adop- 
 tion of the Constitution of 1777. More than forty 
 years afterwards the son of Mr. McKesson was enabled, 
 from his father's memoranda and minutes, to furnish 
 to our State its only authenticated official copy of our 
 Constitution of 1777, and two pages of that copy were 
 supplied from a printed edition. 
 
 GENERAL HERKIMER'S COMMISSION. 
 
 IN CONVENTION OF THE REPEESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OP 
 
 NEW TOKK. 
 
 To Nicholas Herkermer, Esquire, Greeting: 
 
 We resposing Especial trust and Confidence in your Patriotism, 
 Valor, Conduct and Fidelity Do by these presents Constitute and 
 appoint you the said Nicholas Herkermer Brigadier General of the 
 Brigade of Militia of the County of Tryon Embodied for the 
 defence of Amei'ican Liberty and for repelling every Hostile 
 Invasion thereof, you are therefore carefully and dilligently to dis- 
 charge the duty of Brigadier General by doing and performing all 
 manner of things thereunto belonging, and we do strictly charge 
 and Require all officers and Privates under your Command to be 
 Obedient to your Orders as Brigadier General. 
 
 And you are to observe and follow such Orders and directions 
 from time to time as you shall receive from the presert or any future 
 
184 ORISKANY MEMORIAL. 
 
 Congress of tlie United States of America, or from this or any- 
 future Convention of the Representatives, or future Executive 
 Authority of this State, or from the Commander in Chief, for the 
 time being of the Army of the United States, or any other your 
 superior officer, according to the Rules and Discipline of War, in 
 pursuance of the Trust Reposed. in you. Provided such orders 
 and directions of the said commander in Chief, or of such superior 
 officer be grounded on the Authority of the present or any future 
 Congress of the United American States, or the present or any 
 future Convention of the Representatives, or other Executive 
 Authority of this State, Or their Respective Committees of 
 Safety. This Commission to Continue of force until Revoked by 
 this or a future Convention of this State. 
 
 Given at Fish Kills the Fifth day of September in the year of 
 our Lord One thousand Seven hundred and Seventy-Six. 
 
 By Order, 
 
 ABM. YATES, June., President. 
 
 Attest, John McKesson, Secretary. 
 
 The exercises at this stand were closed by the read- 
 ing of the poem, written for the occasion by General 
 DePeyster, of New York : 
 
POEM. 
 
 BY GE:<^ERAL J. WATTS DEPETSTEE. 
 
 Old Seventeen Hunclred and Seventy-ssvon, 
 Of Liberty's throe:-^, was tlie crown and the leaven. 
 Just a century since, August Sixth, was the day 
 When Great Britain's control was first stricken away. 
 Let us sino- then the field where the Yeomen of York 
 Met the Lion and Wolf on their slaughterous stalk; 
 When Oriskany's ripples were crimson'd with blood ; 
 And when strife fratricidal polluted its flood. 
 Oh, glorious collision, forever renowned ! 
 While America lives should its praises resound, 
 And stout Harkeinier's name be the theme of the songr. 
 Who with Mohawk's brave sons broke the strength of the 
 strong. 
 
 To relief of Fort Stanwix the Yorkers drew nigh, 
 
 To succor stout Gansevoort, conquer or die; 
 
 And if unwise the counsels that brought on the fight, 
 
 In the battle was shown that their hearts were all right. 
 
 If their Chief seemed so prudent that "subs" looked askance, 
 
 Still one shout proved their feeling, their courage — " Advance !" 
 
 Most unfortunate counsel ! The ambush was set, 
 Leaving one passage in, but none out of the net, — 
 Of outlets not one, unless 'twas made by the sword 
 Through encompassing ranks of the pitiless horde. 
 Sure never was column so .terribly caught, 
 Nor ever has column more fearlessly fought: — 
 Thus Harkeimer's Mohawkers made victory theirs. 
 For St. Leger was foiled in spite of his snares. 
 
 The loud braggarts who had taunted Harkeimer so free, 
 Ere the fight had begun, were from fight first to flee ; 
 While the stalwart old Chief, who a father had proved, 
 And his life offered up for the cause that he loved, 
 
"J 
 
 186 OEISKATSTY MEMORIAL. 
 
 Mid the war-whirl of Death still directed each move, 
 'Mid the rain from the clouds and from more fatal groove 
 Of the deadlier rifle, — and object assured, 
 To him Palm, both as victor and martyr, inured. 
 
 Search the annals of War and examine with care 
 
 If a parallel fight can discovered be, there. 
 
 When eight hundred green soldiers beset in a wood 
 
 Their assailants, as numerous, boldly withstood ; 
 
 And while Death sleeted in from environing screens 
 
 Of the forest and underbrush, Indians and " Greens " — 
 
 'Gainst the circle without, took to cover within, 
 
 Formed a circle as deadly — which as it grew thin 
 
 Into still smaller circles then broke, until each 
 
 Presented a round that no foeman could breach, 
 
 Neither boldest of savage nor disciplined troops : — 
 
 Thus they fought and they fell in heroical groups — 
 
 But though falling still fighting they wrench'd from the foe 
 
 The great object they marched to attain, and altho' 
 
 The whole vale of the Mohawk was shrouded in woe, 
 
 Fort Stanwix was saved by Oriskany's throe. 
 
 No New Birth, no advance in the Progress of Man, 
 
 Has occurred sinc3 the tale of his suifjrinEcs began. 
 
 Without anguish unspeakable, deluge of blood. 
 
 The Past's buried deep 'neath incarnadine flood. 
 
 So, when, at Oriskany, slaughter had done 
 
 Its fell work with the tomahawk, hunting knife, gun ; 
 
 From the earth soaked with blojd, and the whirlwind of fire 
 
 Rose the living's reward and the fallen's desire, 
 
 Independence ! 
 
 For there, on Oriskany's shore. 
 Was fought out the death-wrestle deciding the war ! 
 
 If our country is free and its flag, first displayed 
 
 On the ramparts of Stanwix, in glory's arrayed ; 
 
 If the old " Thirteen Colonies " won the renown 
 
 " Sic S8m2)€r ti/ra)mis ;" beat Tyranny do vn ; 
 
 Taere, there, at Oriskany, the wedge first was driven, 
 
 By which British Invasion was splintered and riven. 
 
 Though at Iloosic and " Saratog " the work Avas com^jleted^ 
 
 The end was made clear with St. Leger defeated ; 
 
 Nor can boast be disproved, on Oriskany's shore 
 
 Was worked out the grim problem involved in the war. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 GENERAL HERKIMER MONUMENT ASSOCIATION. 
 
 This association was organized in Herkimer county, August 18, 
 1877, and the following plan and ap^ieal for the accomplishment 
 of its desirable object was adopted and issued. The chief officers 
 are Samuel Earl, of Herkimer, President; A. H. Greece, of 
 Little Falls, Secretary, and Ezra Graves, of Herkimer, Treasurer, 
 
 To THE Public : 
 
 The organization of the General Herkimer Monument Association has 
 been completed, and for the information of the public the executive com- 
 mittee begs leave to state in brief the object of the association and its plan 
 for raising funds. It is proposed by this association to erect a suitable mon- 
 ument to the memory of General Nicholas Herkimer, the heroic leader in one 
 of the most important battles of the war for our national independence, and 
 as this tribute to his memory and patriotism has been too long delayed, 
 principally because no persons have ever been appointed, whose special 
 duty it should be to undertake the work, this organization has been eflfected, 
 and will, if the funds be provided, perform the sacred duty so long neg- 
 lected of rearing a monument which shall commemorate the services and 
 sacrifices of General Herkimer and of the brave men who fought and died 
 by his side. It is expected that the greater part of the funds necessary to 
 perform this duty will be raised through memberships to this association, 
 which are fixed at one dollar each, though the committee solicit and expect 
 subscriptions from the wealthy and liberal-hearted beyond the mere fee for 
 membership. Everv person paying one dollar will become a member of the 
 association and be entitled to a voice in all its proceedings, and will receive 
 a certificate of membership. A record in alphabetical order will be kept of 
 all the members of the association, and a record also will be kept of all 
 sums of money paid or received for the use of the association, and by whom 
 paid. The executive committee will from time to time publish the names 
 of persons becoming members, and the gross amount of moneys received, in 
 order that the public may know what progress the association makes in 
 raising funds ; and they appeal to every patriotic man and woman to become 
 members of the association, and they suggest to parents to make their 
 children members also. 
 
 Let there be prompt and generous reponse in all parts of this and adjacent 
 counties, in order that the committee may be enabled to accomplish the 
 object of the association. 
 
 S. EARL, Herkimer. E. M. BURROWS, Middleville. 
 
 J. SHULL, German Flats. J. R. STEBBINS, Little Falls. 
 
 H. LEWIS, SCHUYI.ER. 
 
Oneida filsTORiCAL Society, 
 
 AT UTICA. 
 
 OFFICERS FOR 1878 
 
 President, 
 HORATIO SEYMOUlf. 
 
 Vice Preddentu, 
 
 CHARLES W. HUTCHINSON, ALEXANDER SEWARD, 
 
 EDWARD HUNTINGTON. 
 
 Recording Secretary, 
 S. N. DEXTER NORTH. 
 
 Corresponding Secretary and Librarian, 
 MORVEN M. JONES. 
 
 Treasurer, 
 ROBERT S. WILLIAMS. 
 
 Board of Councilors. 
 
 ROSCOE CONKLING, FRANCIS KERNAN, 
 
 WARD HUNT, ALEXANDER S. JOHNSON, 
 
 WILLIAM J. BACON, JOHN F. SEYxMOUR, 
 
 ELLIS H. ROBERTS, DE WITT C. GROVE, 
 
 THEODORE S. FAXTON, JOHN H. EDMONDS, 
 
 JOHN P. GRAY, DANIEL BATCHELOR, 
 
 JOHN G. CROCKER, DANIEL E. WAGER, 
 
 JOHN STRYKER, SIMON G. VISSCHER, 
 
 OTHNIEL S. WILLIAMS, EDWARD NORTH, 
 
 MICHAEL MOORE, LUTHER GUITEAU, 
 
 PHILO WHITE, WILLIAM D. WALCOTT, 
 
 DANIEL B. GOODWIN, CHARLEMAGNE TOWER, 
 
 POMROY JONES, RICHARD U. SHERMAN. 
 
[From the Magazine of American History, November , 1877.] 
 
 THE HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BATTLE OF 
 
 ORISKANY. 
 
 BY S. N. DEXTER NORTH. 
 
 On the sixth of August the citizens of the Mohawk 
 Valley commemorated at Oriskany, with appropriate 
 exercises, the whole series of events which made that 
 valley so famous and so ill-fated during the Revolution. 
 One hundred years ago on the day and the place of 
 this celebration was fought the most singular battle of 
 the Revolution. But the Battle of Oriskany, in spite 
 of its singular features and its important relation to 
 the campaign of 1777 in Northern New York, is one of 
 which history has thus far barely taken cognizance. It 
 was fought on the uttermost borders of the wilderness 
 by rural soldiers; and the brave commander of the 
 Americans died of his wounds before he had time to 
 Avrite an official account of his victory. But for the 
 industrious zeal of such local historians as Stone, 
 Simms, Campbell and Benton we should have lost all 
 clew to its details. It is remarkable that we have to 
 go to British historians for the most comprehensive 
 summary of its effects. 
 
 In recallino; the forgotten or overlooked importance 
 of the Battle of Oriskany, I have the authority of 
 Burgoyne on the one hand and of General Philip 
 Schuyler on the other, for the inference that without 
 the successful defense of Fort Stanwix there could 
 have been no Saratosra. The whole result of the Revo- 
 lution may therefore be said to have turned upon the 
 campaign against St. Leger, in the Mohawk Valley. 
 
190 OKISKANY MEMOKIAL. 
 
 The bistoriaus of that year have failed to catch and 
 dwell upon this fact. The English historians have 
 more generally appreciated the importance of the 
 St. Leger campaign than our own. This is natural, for 
 in the Whitehall councils of Lord George Germain, 
 where every detail of the expedition was carefully 
 arranged the year before, it was understood that the 
 success of the three-sided campaign against New York 
 might turn upon the success of this branch of it; and 
 Buro-ovne, in his defense, did not hesitate to hint that 
 he might have been saved the necessity of capitulation 
 had he received the expected succor of St. Leo-er. On 
 the other hand, the Continental Congress from first to 
 last manifested an incomprehensible indifference to the 
 defense of the Mohawk Valley. Neither its delibera- 
 tions nor its preparations indicate realization of the fact 
 that it was the key to Albany and the Hudson. The 
 valley was left to its fate. At the last moment, when 
 Schuyler, apprised of St. Leger's advance and the 
 Oriskany battle, insisted upon detaching the army of 
 relief under Arnold, he was accused by his council of 
 officers of thick-headedness and treason. 
 
 The miscarriage of St. Leger's expedition was due to 
 the miscalculation of the home government which 
 pla^nned it. The force under his command was a 
 picked one, but altogether too small. There were 
 three good reasons to excuse and explain this blunder. 
 First, St. Leger's advance was through an unprotected 
 country and against undisciplined forces; second, it 
 was expected, upon the positive assertions of Sir John 
 Johnson, that at every step of his progress his army 
 would be swelled by a rising tide of Mohawk Valley 
 loyalists, until it should reach Albany an irresistible 
 force, sweeping all before it and cutting off the last 
 retreat of the army which held the sources of the 
 
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICATSrCE OF OEISKANY. 191 
 
 Hudson against Bnrgoyne; third, the alliance of the 
 warlike tribes of the Six Nations was relied upon as 
 insuring a sufficient augmentation of forces and a ter- 
 ribly effective co-operation. 
 
 Never did a brilliant plan more miserably miscarry. 
 Each of these three expectations failed in turn. British 
 authorities are silent at the chagrin of the Government 
 over this miscarriage, for it was due almost wholly to 
 the bad judgment of the Government. St. Leger did 
 every thing in the power of a single man to carry out 
 his instructions. At no point in his conduct of the 
 campaign was he open to the criticism of his superiors. 
 The people of the Mohawk Valley execrate the memory 
 of Sir John Johnson with hearty Dutch hatred. But 
 they are nevertheless indebted to his over-sanguine 
 representations and his blinded judgment for the slight 
 preparation made to subdue their valley. The most 
 interesting study which this subject presents may be 
 found in the reasons why these three expectations 
 proved to be false. 
 
 Oriskany was the fii'st battle of the Revolutionary 
 War in which an untrained militia proved its prowess 
 and availability. I have been much interested in trac- 
 ing the antecedents of the eight hundred men who 
 rallied to the call of General Nicholas Herkimer, fol- 
 lowed him into the ambuscade at Oriskany, stood their 
 ground when assailed by an invisible and savage enemy, 
 and fought for five hours until the field was theirs. 
 History made no record of the names of these men; 
 but from family records and local chronicles we know 
 that the army of General Herkimer consisted of four 
 regiments of the militia of Tryon county, containing 
 barely a hundred men each, and reenforced by a mot- 
 ley crowd of volunteers, among whom were many 
 members of the Committee of Safety, physicians, law- 
 
193 OEISKANY MEMOEIAL. 
 
 yers, and at least one member of the Legislature, 
 Officers and privates were civilians, though some had 
 tasted of war in the French invasion of '58. With but 
 few exceptions they were farmers, and were chiefly the 
 descendants of the Palatines, who had moved up the 
 valley shortly after the immigration of 1709. The 
 privates were almost to a man land owners or sons of 
 land owners. Frequent Indian raids had rendered the 
 Tryon county farmers familiar with the use of arms. 
 When called together by the proclamation of General 
 Herkimer, July 17, they were harvesting their hay — 
 a war process in itself In each locality the farmers 
 assembled in bodies, and cut and housed the hay of the 
 farms in routine order, part of the men standing guard 
 with muskets loaded and cocked against a sudden foray 
 of Indians or tories as the case might l)e. 
 
 In the midst of this martial agriculture came the 
 news that Fort Stanwix was invested. They knew 
 that if they did not succor it their crops would be 
 housed for the benefit of the enemy. They all went. 
 Every loyal farm house was denuded of men. Among 
 the militia at Oriskany were many old men of sixty 
 and young men of sixteen. They went in platoons of 
 families. There were nine members of the Snell family 
 in the battle, of whom seven were buried on the field. 
 There were five Waggoners, five Wollovers, five Bellin- 
 gers, four Foxes, four Dui-ckells, five Seebers, four Petries,. 
 and so through all the list. Grandfathers, fathers,, 
 brothers, sons, fought side by side and died together. 
 When this little army, marching haphazard like farmers 
 through the woody defiles that skirted the Mohawk 
 river, found itself suddenly surnmnded and cut in two, 
 and heard the forest resound with the savage war 
 whoop, it neither ran nor faltered. Picked troops 
 never found themselves in a situation quite so terrible. 
 
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICAlSrCE OF ORTSKANT. 193 
 
 When the fate of Napoleon hung upon the household 
 troops of France they charged an enemy that was 
 neither hidden nor savage, that neither fought with 
 horrid yells nor scalped every man who fell. If history 
 afforded any parallel to this feat of a handful of green 
 levies, we might forgive her for having so slighted the 
 Battle of Oriskany. It is not surprising that Lord 
 Greorge Germain did not include the Tryon county 
 militia in his calculations of the chances, for had he 
 been a better student of history than he was he w^ould 
 have found no record like that of Oriskany. 
 
 Again, the Battle of Oriskany w^as the first intima- 
 tion, couched in such terms as to make it unmistakable, 
 of the vast error the British Government was making 
 in its reliance upon the tory element among the colo- 
 nists for the subjugation of the revolted provinces. 
 
 Not before had it become thoroughl}^ clear that the 
 revolt was something more than a desultory struggle. 
 The force assigned to Barry St. Leger for the expedition 
 from Oswego was ridiculously disproportionate to its 
 hazard and importance, save upon the single theory 
 that it was to serve merely as a nucleus, to so attract 
 the loyalists that they would roll down the river like 
 an avalanche. His troops were detachments of the 8th 
 and 34th regiments, a body of Hanau Chasseurs, and a 
 company of "Greens," 133 strong, raised by Sir John 
 Johnson from the very country to be invaded, and his 
 witnesses to the tory sentiment of the valley. In all 
 there were 1,700 soldiers, sw^elled to nearly three times 
 that number of men by Indians and Canadian axemen. 
 
 But the error of judgment was not unnatural. Four 
 hundred tories were with Burgoyne, and each one re- 
 ported his neighbors only waiting a more favorable 
 opportunity to join the King's ranks. Regiments of 
 loyalists were i-aised without difficulty in the southern 
 
194: ORISKANT MEMORIAL. 
 
 part of the State. Sabine boldly asserts that the tories 
 were in an actual majority in the New York Colony at 
 the outbreak of hostilities. It is not surprising that 
 the ministry should have so believed, for the sympa- 
 thies of two-thirds of the men of wealth and the 
 landed proprietors were certainly with the Crown. It 
 was natural to suppose that the baronial lords of jSTew 
 York could control the political opinions of their ten- 
 antry. And so they often did. In the center of the 
 Mohawk Valley lay the vast estates of the Johnsons. 
 Around their fortified manor house clustered a large ten- 
 antry of English and Scotch, who were loyalists almost 
 to a man. It is one of the unwritten traditions of the 
 Mohawk Valley that Sir William Johnson died of a 
 broken heart; that the struggle in his own mind, where 
 generous instiucts were many, between loyalty to the 
 king who had made him all he was, and sympathy with 
 the colonists in a revolt against a tyranny he knew to 
 be odious, was so severe that life gave way under the 
 strain. Whether this tradition be true or not, it is 
 certain that no such scruples troubled the sons and 
 sons-in-law of the royal Superintendent of Indians. 
 ]No sooner had the estates descended than vigorous 
 measures went on to repress the disloyal element in the 
 valley. The local chronicles bear evidence that there 
 were five or six hundred tories in this Mohawk district 
 where the Johnsons resided, and more than a hundred 
 whigs never o-ot together against them. But above 
 this district, towards the head of the valley, England 
 had planted the colony of the Palatines — not unselfishly 
 as many historians write, but to serve as a human wall 
 of protection for the English settlers against the in- 
 cursions of the French and Indians. Already the 
 homes and crops of the Palatines had been once de- 
 stroyed. They had no special reason to be loyal to Eng- 
 
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF ORISKANY. 195 
 
 land. Unbiased by ties of blood or aifection for a 
 mother country, tbey judged the crisis upon its merits, 
 and almost to a man they east their lot with the colo- 
 nists. Thus it was the Palatines who saved the Mo- 
 hawk Valley. There were exceptions even among 
 them. As Gouverneur Morris had a brother, Staats, 
 and a brother-in-law, Dr. Isaac Wilkins, so General Her- 
 kimer had a brother, Han Yost, and a brother-in-law, 
 Eosecrants. One was a bitter tory, and the other, like 
 a great many of the reverend gentlemen of the Revo- 
 lution, was a neutral with royal sympathies. History 
 has taken a most unphilosophical view of a scene which 
 occurred while Herkimer's little army was marching to 
 the relief of Fort Stanwix. The General was for delay. 
 He seems to have had a premonition of the ambuscade 
 that was already prepared for him. But his officers at 
 once suspected his good faith, and bluntly said so. 
 They were thinking of Han Yost and the reverend 
 brother-in-law. The charge of disloyalty was wiped 
 out by Herkimer's blood not many hours after it was 
 made. As a matter of historical fact there was hardly 
 a man in that little baud of militia who did not sus- 
 pect that he was marching between two traitors. At 
 that early stage of the valley- war universal suspicion 
 was a military necessity. There had been no test of 
 an individual sentiment as yet. Oriskany supplied one 
 which lasted. After that the Council of Safety wrote 
 no more letters complaining of the disloyalty of Tiyon 
 €Ountv, and the Johnsons wrote no more letters to the 
 home government predicting an "uprising" in the Mo- 
 hawk Valley ; and I think I am justified, in view of all 
 the attendant circumstances, in the oj^inion that if the 
 Battle of Oriskany had not been fought, or had ter- 
 minated dilfereutl}^, the expected tory " uprising " in 
 the valley would have occurred, and the whole situation 
 of 1777 have been reversed. 
 
196 ORISKANT :\[EMORIAL, 
 
 In the third place, the Battle of Oriskaiiy was the 
 first intimation to the British that their Indian alliance 
 was not to Ije effective in a regular war. They enter- 
 tained, not unnaturally, an extravagant estimate of 
 the prowess of the Six Nations. They reckoned them 
 as even more effective than regular British troops in a 
 campaign in a new country, with whose topography 
 and pei'plexities they were familiar. The ^v^hole force 
 of Indians who accompanied St. Leger from Oswego,, 
 upwards of one thousand in number, was at Oriskany,. 
 and the burden of the battle was upon them. They 
 were led by Thayendanegea — Joseph Brant — chief of 
 the Mohawks, the ideal Indian, with the cpiickest wit, 
 the strongest arm, the bravest heart of any chief in the 
 traditions of the Six Nations. They entered the battle 
 with the understandino; that no limitations were to be 
 set to their peculiar methods of warfare. For every 
 scalp of a Mohawk Valley farmer l>rought from the 
 field, the savage at whose belt it hung was to claim 
 and receive a reward. 
 
 The English could make no complaint of the valor 
 displayed by their Indian allies during the earlier 
 stages of the battle. The English themselves were to> 
 blame, because at the crisis the red men suddenly fell 
 into a panic, sounded the "Oonah" of retreat, and 
 scampered off into the woods. They had been told 
 that these "Dutch Yankees" from the valley were 
 "pudding faces," who would permit themselves to be 
 scalped and rol)bed with impunity. I am compelled 
 to the conviction that the doughty warriors of the Six 
 Nations much preferred this sort of an antagonist. A 
 dozen of their chiefs were slain at Oriskany, and some- 
 thing less than a hundred of their warriors. It was 
 too much of a loss for Indian equanimity. To the end 
 of the war the Indians were never again persuaded to 
 
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF ORISKANY. 197 
 
 attack an organized force, or to make a stand against 
 an armj^ 
 
 But Orlskany taught the English that the Indians 
 were not only unreliable, but actually dangerous as 
 allies. St, Leger endeavored to terrorize the garrison 
 of Fort Stanwix into suri'ender by threats that a longer 
 resistance would exasperate his Indian allies into a 
 general massacre of the defenseless peoj^le of the valley. 
 He professed his inability to hold them in check when 
 once their natural })assions were fully aroused. He 
 was nearer right than he thought. They were already 
 in a panic, and their fear was as far beyond control as 
 their barbarity or their cupidity. His demand for sur- 
 render had hardly been rejected before they compelled 
 him to break cam}) and retreat, as he himself con Cesses, 
 " with all the precipitation of a rout." Once beyond the 
 danger, the fear of the Indians again gave way to cupid- 
 ity. Deprived of the promised plunder of the garrison 
 and the valley, they turned to and plundered their 
 friends. The evidence is conclusive that the regular 
 troops suffered severely in that retreat from the unre- 
 straiuable avarice and ferocity of the Indians. A scaljD 
 vfsis a scalp in Indian ethics, no matter what were the 
 political opinions of the brain beneath it. Johnson 
 had over-estimated his personal influence with the red 
 men. It was strong enough to induce them to violate 
 their treaties of neutrality, but it was powerless to put 
 into them that capacity for regular war which they 
 never possessed. In due time King and Parliament 
 were officially informed that the Indians "treacherously 
 committed ravages upon their friends;" that "they 
 could not be controlled;" that "they killed their cap- 
 tives after the fashion of their tribes;" and that "they 
 grew more and more unreasonable and importunate." 
 Indeed, the influence of the Indians over their allies 
 
198 OEISKANT MEMOEIAL. 
 
 was much stronger than any the latter exerted. From 
 the disastrous expedition against Fort Stanwix Sir- 
 John Johnson emerged a full fledged Indian in his 
 instincts, the leader of a band of assassins, attacking 
 the defenseless homes of his old neighbors at midnight, 
 and murdering their dwellers in their beds. He made 
 two incursions upon the Mohawk Valley during the 
 remainder of the war, and the Indians who accompanied 
 him were not more expert than he in devising ambus- 
 cades or more relentless in their inhuman reveno;e. 
 
 If I have not placed too much importance upon these 
 three facts which the Battle of Oriskauy established^ 
 the historians of the Revolution have failed to give to 
 the engagement that 230sition to which it is entitled. 
 Many of them barely allude to it in passing hurriedly 
 over the preliminaries of the Bui-goyne campaign.. 
 Most of our own historians concede the claim of a British 
 victory there, without undertaking the examination of 
 the slender grounds upon which that claim has rested 
 in security, Irving intimates that "it does not appear 
 that either party was entitled to the victory;" Lossing 
 passes it by as "the defeat of Herkimer," and Dr. 
 Thacher as "the victory of St. Leger." There was no 
 official report of the Battle of Oriskany in behalf of 
 the Americans there engaged, and in the absence of 
 such a report the whole matter has been permitted to 
 go by default. The impudent letter in which St. Leger 
 boasted of his victory to Burgoyne has been permitted 
 to harden into history. Fortunately it is not too late 
 to estimate Oriskany by its results. The technical 
 evidence of their victorv resides in the fact that the 
 Tryon county militia held the field, from which their 
 enemies fled, and carried off" their wounded at leisure. 
 The substantial evidence is that they were marching to 
 the relief of Fort Stanwix, and the raising of the siege 
 
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF ORISKANT. 199 
 
 of tbat fort was the direct result of the battle. It was 
 the demoralization of his Indian allies which compelled 
 St. Leber's precipitate retreat a week later, and it was 
 Oriskany which created the demoralization. It was 
 Oriskany which protected the rear of Gates' army. It 
 was Oriskany which prevented a tory uprising that 
 might not have been confined to the Mohawk Valley. 
 It was Oriskany which convinced the patriots that their 
 raw troops were not a hopeless defense against the 
 trained soldiers of England. It was Oriskany which, 
 in the words of Washington, "first reversed the gloomy 
 scene " of the opening years of the Kevolution. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Page. 
 
 iNTBODtJCTION, 3 
 
 The Celebkation, 7 
 
 The Grand Procession, 8 
 
 The Battle-Field, 13 
 
 Peayer. By Re^'. Dr. Van Deusex, 15 
 
 Address of Welcojie. By Governor Horatio Seymour, 18 
 
 Unfurling Fort Stanwix Flag, 23 
 
 Letters from Invited Guests, 27 
 
 Address of Lieutenant Governor Dorsheimer, 45 
 
 Address of Judge William J. Bacon,. 50 
 
 Historical Address. By Hon. Ellis H. Roberts, 58 
 
 Appendix to Historical Address, 99 
 
 Roster of Oriskany, 125 
 
 Address of Major Douglas Campbell 131 
 
 Remarks of Hon. Philo White, 137 
 
 Poem. By Rev. Dr. C. D. Helmer, 140 
 
 Exercises at the East Stand, 142 
 
 Address of Hon. C'larkson X. Potter, 143 
 
 Address op Chancellor E. 0. Haven, 147 
 
 Address of Samuel Earl, 157 
 
 Remarks of Morten M. Jones 180 
 
 Commission of General Herkimer, 183 
 
 Poem. By General J. Watts De Peyster, 185 
 
 APPENDIX ; 
 
 General Herkimer Monument Association, 187 
 
 Officers op Oneida Historical Society, 1878, 188 
 
 Historical Significance of Oriskany. By S. N. Dexter North, . . 189 
 

 
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