Siege 1777: The Garrison of Fort Schuyler

Like their British counterparts, the different units that made up the American garrison of Fort Stanwix and Herkimer’s militia at Oriskany came from a wide range of areas, experiences, and cultural backgrounds. Men from the middle states and men from New England held vastly different ideas as to the running of local governments and the perceived “superiority” of the upper classes. Men from New York and Massachusetts also held a great deal of animosity towards each other as Massachusetts had been trying for years to push their western boundary into the Hudson Valley area. The Massachusetts men serving in the Mohawk Valley had been detached from their regiments before being properly clothed and supplied and were initially only supposed to be there for a short time. Even their officers had no great desire to make a long march to reinforce Fort Stanwix. Herkimer’s German Palatine militiamen were largely concerned with protecting their homes and families from the British allied Indians and getting their summer crops harvested. Therefore, they were not overly enthusiastic about any duty that was going to take them away from their homes for any great length of time. Initially, Herkimer himself expressed great concern to his superiors over how many men might simply declare themselves for the crown as rumors over the size of St. Leger’s army grew. The Oneida Indians aiding both Herkimer and the garrison had pledged their support to a group of people who had an extremely poor opinion of Indians in general and would never fully trust them. Despite their differences however, and the fact that they were in overcrowded conditions and cut off from the rest of the world, overall morale and discipline stayed high. While some men would lose faith and desert throughout the siege, the majority of the garrison stayed strong, worked together and held the fort.

A 3rd NY Regiment Continental Soldier.

National Park Service Courtesy of M. Colangelo

The 3rd New York Regiment (450 Men)
The 3rd New York Regiment of the Continental Army served as the main garrison of the fort before, during and after the British siege. The regiment was raised starting in December of 1776 and recruiting continued into the winter and spring of 1777. While initial recruiting focused on Ulster and Dutchess county, eventually men from all over New York State filled the ranks. Colonel Peter Gansevoort was given command of the regiment. Gansevoort was a veteran of the American invasion of Canada although a camp illness prevented him from participating in the failed American attack on Quebec. Prior to being assigned to Fort Stanwix, the regiment was broken up into two detachments. One in Albany under Gansevoort and the other under the second in command, Lieutenant Colonel Marinus Willett on Constitution Island across from West Point. Willett was not only a veteran of the Canadian Invasion but had also served at the Oneida Carry during the French and Indian War. Willett’s detachment would also see action helping to drive off a British raid on Peekskill before joining the rest of the regiment at Fort Stanwix in May of 1777. The 3rd New York worked from sunup until sundown each day prior to the siege to repair and strengthen the fort. Willett noted at one point that “…Officers as well as men exerted themselves with the utmost assiduity (attention), and the work went on very rapidly.” By the time the British arrived, most of the fort was fully repaired. Men would continue to work on finishing the repairs as the siege got underway, exposing themselves to the fire of the German and Indian riflemen. The 3rd NY Regiment made up half of the 250 men that Willett took out to attack the Indian and Loyalist camps on August 6th. Calling attention to the eagerness of his men to engage the enemy, Willett later stated “So sudden and rapid was the attack, that the enemy had not time to form so as to make any opposition to the torrent that poured in upon them.” A severe shortage of cannon ammunition in the fort also meant that it would be musket fire from detachments of the 3rd New York that had the greatest effect in slowing down the British siege works.

Major Badlam’s and Lieutenant Colonel Mellon’s Detachments of Massachusetts Troops (250 Men)
In June of 1777, Maj. Ezra Badlam and a detachment of 150 Massachusetts troops was ordered into the Mohawk Valley to assist Herkimer’s militia with intimidating Joseph Brant’s growing numbers of Indian and White followers. Supply problems kept Badlam’s men from arriving in time, and Herkimer was forced to meet Brant without the support of continental troops. With reports of an imminent British invasion, Badlam’s force was ordered to remain in the Mohawk Valley, and in July they were ordered to reinforce Fort Stanwix. Badlam initially resisted the order, rightly claiming that his men lacked proper marching equipment, clothing, and shoes. Badlam finally relented and marched for the fort at the end of July from Fort Dayton (modern Herkimer, NY). His detachment joined a company of the 3rd NY regiment that had also been serving at Dayton. With all the continental troops now centered at Fort Stanwix, an additional detachment of Massachusetts troops from Col. James Wesson’s Regiment was sent to occupy Fort Dayton. 100 men from Wesson’s Regiment under their Lieutenant Colonel, James Mellon was then sent to guard the supply boats that arrived at Fort Stanwix just before the British arrived. Mellon’s guard detachment was now trapped and swelled the fort’s numbers to an overcrowded 750 men. The Massachusetts men made up half of the 250 men that Willett took out to attack the Indian and Loyalist camps on August 6th. Since he had experience in the artillery earlier in the war, Willett placed Maj. Badlam in charge of the 3 Pdr. Gun that he left behind to cover his retreat into the fort. Badlam’s detachment of the cannon and 50 men broke up the British lines trying to cut off Willett’s retreat and allowed him to return to the fort without the loss of a single man. The Massachusetts troops also provided musket fire from the walls of the fort to slow down the British siege operations. When General Arnold’s relief force left the fort, the Massachusetts detachments left with him, returned to their regiments, and helped defeat Burgoyne’s army at Saratoga.

National Park Service Courtesy of M. Hutchko

Savage’s Detachment, 2nd Continental Artillery Regiment (36 men)
Artillery regiments rarely served together as a unit, most often being broken up into companies or smaller detachments to support the infantry or to man cannons within forts. Savage’s detachment was officially a part of Capt. Robert Walker’s Company of the 2nd Continental Artillery Regiment. Captain Walker seems to have concentrated on recruiting for his company in the spring and summer of 1777 however, and never actually served at the fort. Many of the men who formed this detachment of his company had been members of a Connecticut regiment at Fort Stanwix that was waiting the arrival of the 3rd NY Regiment so that they could disband. These men would now continue into the siege as part of the artillery. In the end It would be a 21-year-old Artillery officer, Captain Lieutenant Joseph Savage of Massachusetts who commanded the detachment assigned to the fort. For some reason, Capt. Lt. Savage was not liked by his men, and both Col. Gansevoort and Lt. Col. Willet made comments indicating that they felt Savage lacked the experience necessary to have an independent command. Whatever short comings Savage may have had, the artillery detachment at the fort ably supported Lt. Col. Willett’s attack against the Indian and Loyalist camps and as ammunition allowed, they bombarded the British siege lines through out the siege period, severally hampering St. Leger’s attempts to get his men and cannon in closer to the fort. Ensign William Colbrath of the 3rd NY Regiment noted in his journal on August 8th that “…The Enemy threw some Shells at us to Day but did no damage - and in order to Retrn the compliment, they were salluted with a few Balls from our Cannon…” Speaking of the cannon fire from the fort, Lt. Hildebrandt of the German rifle detachment with the British noted “…The garrison’s guns greet us often with better effect than the damage we cause them. It has happened several times that the defenders loudly scold and laugh at us….”

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The Tryon County Militia (Approx. 800 men)
Tryon County was created on March 24th, 1772. Starting a little below modern Amsterdam in the east it extended west on both sides of the Mohawk River to Ft. Stanwix (modern Rome), and took in almost all the Mohawk Valley. Indian superintendent Sir William Johnson had been a key factor in the creation and development of the county, but his death in 1774 left a power vacuum that the rebel faction in the valley quickly took advantage of. By 1776, they had deposed Sir William’s pro-British family and friends from their positions of authority and In October of 1776, Nicholas Herkimer, the senior militia Colonel, and part of the second most prominent family in the Valley, was appointed Brigadier General of the Tryon County Militia Brigade. In June of 1777, Herkimer and a detachment of the militia met with Joseph Brant and a party of his followers at Unidilla, a mixed Indian-white town on the boundary between Indian and colonial land. Capitalizing on the long friendship they had had, Herkimer tried to convince Brant and his followers to remain neutral if the British invaded the Mohawk Valley. In the end, Herkimer’s attempts failed, and Brant made it clear that when the British arrived, he and his men would support them. A detachment of the militia was sent to Ft. Stanwix in July to fell trees along the entire length of Wood Creek, which greatly hampered St. Leger’s ability to move his cannons and heavy equipment forward. Some historians believe a very small party of the militia may have stayed at the fort to help defend it. In the end, however, the Tryon County Militia’s greatest contribution to American efforts came on August 6th. 800 of the militia under Gen. Herkimer had started to march to the aid of the fort on August 4th. On the morning of the 6th, several of Herkimer’s junior officers, eager to end the siege and get back to their families and crops, goaded him into advancing prematurely. Stinging under accusations of having Loyalist leanings, Herkimer ordered the militia forward. This mistake was compounded by the militia’s mistrust of the Oneida warriors that had joined them at Oriskany. Rather than adding the Oneidas to the advance guard of the army, they were kept amongst the main body. These factors led to the militia walking into an ambush laid by Indians and Loyalists six miles from the fort that became known as the Battle of Oriskany. In the bloody hand to hand battle that ensued, around 500 of the 8oo militia was killed, wounded, or captured. Herkimer was among the wounded, but he refused to relinquish command, calmly smoking his pipe and directing his men. This battle of neighbor vs. neighbor and family vs. family finally ended when the Indians and Loyalists received word that their camps around the fort were being raided, and they left to try to protect their camps and families. 10 days after the battle, Gen. Herkimer’s wounded leg was amputated, and he died of unknown complications due to the operation. While the militia was largely destroyed and stopped from coming to the aid of the fort, their stubbornness caused significant casualties among the British allied Indians. Combining this with the loss of their camps and the refusal of the fort to surrender, more and more Indians began to desert the British, finally forcing St. Leger to end the siege.

National Park Service Courtesy of M. Hutchko

The Oneida Indian Nation (Approx. 30-100 men between the fort and the Battle of Oriskany)
The Oneidas were part of the great Six Nations Indian Confederacy. By the end of the French and Indian War, the Oneida found themselves largely the new “Keepers of the eastern door” of the symbolic confederacy longhouse. Most all Mohawk Nation land to the east had been settled by the colonists. Due to this, the Oneida worked hard to maintain their Independence and sovereignty. In this they were often thwarted by Indian superintendent Sir William Johnson, who continually denied their requests for

things like blacksmiths and a church to be built in one of their villages. Johnson’s greatest misstep however was strong arming the Oneidas into allowing him to move the boundary line for colonial settlement up to Fort Stanwix, which cut deep into Oneida lands. This would leave a smoldering resentment against British authority amongst the Oneida. This growing resentment was further fueled by the Oneida’s missionary, the Reverend Samuel Kirkland. As war approached, Kirkland became an ardent rebel and passed his viewpoints on to the Oneida. Kirkland was also able to acquire the blacksmiths and build the church the Oneidas had requested. It would be the British invasion of their homeland in 1777 however, that finally led the Oneida into fully abandoning their neutral stance and siding with the Americans, against many of their other Six Nation brethren. All throughout the siege, the Oneida would perform scouting duties for the fort, including bringing Lt. Col. Willett the information that the Indian and Loyalist camps were largely deserted on August 6th. Prior to Willett setting out, another Oneida posed as a British allied Indian, and gave the British detachment that could have stopped Willett false information that sent them marching towards Oriskany. Oneida fought with Herkimer at Oriskany. The Oneida warrior Blatcop sped across the battlefield three times, striking left and right with his tomahawk. War Captain Honyerry is said to have killed nine of the enemy. His wife Two Kettles fought at his side with a brace of pistols and took over loading his rifle after Honyerry was wounded in the wrist. Two Kettles rode down into the Mohawk Valley after the battle to prepare people for the flood of wounded that would be returning. Oneida warriors also assisted the former Loyalist soldier Han Yost Schuyler in spreading his disinformation amongst the British camps concerning the size and nearness of Gen. Benedict Arnold’s relief column that led to the British ending the siege. The firm stand of the Oneidas with the Americans during the siege created a deep resentment in many of the British allied Six Nations Indians that led to a devastating campaign of revenge against the Oneida for the rest of the war.

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Women of the Army (at least two that can be verified)
Women and children were a common part of camp and fort life in 18th century armies. Most often the families of soldiers, they performed important support duties that the armies of the day did not yet have systems in place to handle. Contrary to what is often thought however, cooking for the soldiers was not one of their normal duties. The most common and important duties of women and older children included washing the soldier’s clothing and helping to keep the hospitals clean. Soldiers were not often given much time to wash their clothes and even when they had the time, many did not understand the need to keep their clothing clean. In the days before hospital orderlies, women took on this role, cleaning chamber pots, changing and cleaning bedding and keeping the hospital as clean as possible. In his journal of the siege, Ensign William Colbrath of the 3rd NY Regiment notes that on July 28th “The Colonel sent off those Women which belonged to the garrison which have Children…” Because he emphasized the part about having children, it is believed that some women without children stayed behind to assist during the siege. One popular story of the creation of the “American Flag” that was constructed at the fort says that it was women still at the fort who stitched it together, but there is no factual information at present to support this. Ensign Colbrath himself confirms later in his journal the presence of women in the fort during the siege, noting on August 15th that “In the evening they [The British] threw their shells at us as usual and Slightly wounded a woman…” On August 21st, Colbrath again notes that …A heavy and continual firing was kept up…during which their Cannon & Mortars were playing on us very briskly, in which interim we had a man of the Artillery wounded & a Woman big with Child wounded in the Thigh…”

While Colbrath gives us no indication of their duties during the siege, no doubt the women continued to be employed in their important functions of keeping the fort and soldiers as clean and healthy as possible in the over crowed siege conditions.