The Battle of Klock's Field on October 19, 1780 was the decisive engagement of one of the last major British raids into the Mohawk Valley. Sir John Johnson — Loyalist son of Sir William Johnson, the great Indian superintendent — led about 1,500 men including British regulars, Loy…
The Battle of Klock's Field on October 19, 1780 was the decisive engagement of one of the last major British raids into the Mohawk Valley. Sir John Johnson — Loyalist son of Sir William Johnson, the great Indian superintendent — led about 1,500 men including British regulars, Loyalists, and Iroquois warriors on a devastating raid through the valley, burning settlements and destroying crops.
American General Robert Van Rensselaer assembled a force to intercept Johnson's return. At Klock's Field, the opposing forces clashed in open battle. Van Rensselaer's militia and Continental dragoons engaged Johnson's rear guard as the raiders tried to reach the safety of Canada. The fighting was sharp and the British were unable to continue their methodical destruction of the valley, retreating northward more quickly than planned.
The battle checked one of the last major British offensives in the Mohawk Valley, though the region had already suffered enormously from years of raids. The combination of Sullivan's 1779 expedition and the resistance at engagements like Klock's Field gradually reduced the Iroquois capacity to threaten the New York frontier.
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