Battle of Oriskany

The Battle of Oriskany was one of the bloodiest engagements of the Revolutionary War in proportion to the men involved, pitting neighbor against neighbor in one of the war's most bitter internecine conflicts. General Nicholas Herkimer led about 800 Tryon County militia toward Fort Stanwix to relieve the siege. The force included many men who had Loyalist neighbors, relatives, and former friends fighting on the other side.

St. Leger sent Loyalist commander John Johnson with about 400 Loyalists and 400 Iroquois warriors under Joseph Brant to ambush the relief column. They chose a ravine along the trail at Oriskany and prepared a classic ambush. Herkimer was shot in the leg in the opening moments, his horse also killed. Rather than retreat or panic, he ordered his men to take cover, propped himself against a tree, lit his pipe, and continued to direct the battle with remarkable calm.

The battle degenerated into a brutal six-hour melee at close range. Both sides fought with equal determination. A rainstorm gave both sides a brief respite, after which Herkimer ordered a tactical adjustment allowing his men to cover each other against flanking movements. The battle ended inconclusively when firing was heard from Fort Stanwix — Willett's sortie against the Loyalist camp — and the attackers withdrew to protect their supplies.

Herkimer's leg was later amputated and he died from the surgery. Of the 800 who marched, perhaps 450 returned. Oriskany effectively ended the Mohawk Valley as a source of Loyalist manpower, shattered the Iroquois Confederacy along factional lines, and denied Burgoyne the western reinforcement he had counted on.