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Effects of the Battle of Oriskany

The retreat of General St. Leger returned the Mohawk Valley to an uneasy peace which would not last for long. In late August, General Benedict Arnold offered to pardon any Tories who turned themselves in and joined the Rebels saying:

Whereas a certain Barry St. Leger a Brigadiergeneral in the services of the -------- George of Great Britain, at the head of a banditti of robbers, murderers, and traitors, composed of savages of America, and more savage Britons (among whom is noted Sir John Johnson, John Butler, and Daniel Claus) have lately appeared in the frontiers of this State, and have threatened ruin and destruction to all the inhabitants of the United States. They have also, by artifice and misrepresentation, induced many ignorant and unwary subjects of these states, to forfeit their allegiance to the same, and join them in their crimes, and parties of treachery and parricide.

Sir John Johnson, 1770s. Artist Unknown.

Pierre Van Cortland, writing to New York Governor George Clinton on August 25, 1777, was confident that the British strategy to capture New York was failing:

I have great reason to believe that Genl: Burgoyne will soon follow the example of St. Leger, and my greatest fear is that he will be equally fortunate in getting off without a second drubbing, as the militia do not turn out with that alacrity which might be expected. A proper spirit on this occasion would enable us totally to destroy the enemy in the quarter, and secure peace and safety to this part of the country. The enemy are in our power, could the militia only be prevailed on to believe it

A newspaper of September 3, 1777 describes Oneidas fighting at Oriskany

Van Cortland was correct that the British force led by General Burgoyne would not succeed; on October 17, 1777, after failing to break through the Rebel lines protecting Albany, and suffering from lack of supplies, General Burgoyne surrendered his entire army at Saratoga. General Howe never committed his full army to the third thrust up the Hudson Valley, but instead attacked Philadelphia.

New York was no longer threatened by three British armies, but it continued to suffer the trauma of civil war. Sir John Johnson and Joseph Brant returned to the Mohawk Valley with their Tory forces repeatedly, raiding and destroying villages, crops, and livestock, and massacring enemies and innocents alike. The Rebels retaliated on Tory strongholds, most notably when General Sullivan led his troops through western New York destroying everything in his wake. When the Oneidas requested that neutral Onondaga villages be spared, their pleas were ignored and they were destroyed along with villages aligned with the Tories.

Joseph Brandt
(Catlin)

In 1783, the Treaty of Paris ended the war between the United States and Great Britain. It was followed in 1784 by the Treaty of Fort Stanwix which ended the war between the United States and the Iroquois Confederacy. The ancestral lands of the Oneida and Tuscarora Nations were preserved and protected by the federal government under the terms of this treaty, in recognition of their support during the American Revolution. However, the Mohawks, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas were confined to a small reservation, punished for supporting the Tory cause.

Oriskany Monument

Although New York was enjoying true peace again, Tories of European and American Indian heritage were faced with a difficult decision, either to remain in the new United States and accept its government or to leave the country. While some Tories chose to stay in the United States, many moved. Some went to the British and Caribbean Islands, but the vast majority moved to Canada and settled there on lands granted by Great Britain. Today there are still large numbers of Canadians of European and Native American extraction who can trace their ancestry to the United States and the Revolutionary War. Descendants from the tribes that made up the Iroquois Confederacy have worked for years to restore their lost unity and relight the Central Council Fire.

Additional Sources:

www.cybervillage.com
www.wcpope.com
www.fortklock.com
www.fortklock.com
www.oneida-nation.net
www.niagara.com

The Battle of Oriskany:
"Blood Shed a Stream Running Down"

That the late Incursions of the Enemy & their Savages into the said county [Tryon], & upon a part of the County of Albany have reduced the Inhabitants to the utmost distress. The Harvests not yet gathered in are rotting upon the ground. The Grass uncut. The fallow Grounds not yet ploughed. The Cattle in a great measure destroyed."

For hundreds of years, central and western New York had been inhabited by the six member nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. During the colonial period the French, the Dutch, and the British coveted its strategic location along an important fur trade route. The Mohawk Valley's rich farmland also yielded great quantities of food, and the land attracted European settlers. By the time of the Revolutionary War, Dutch, German, Irish, Scotch, and British settlers prospered from lucrative trade and productive farms.

Yet the whole area suffered from long-established prejudices and hatred between groups and individuals. When war broke out, European Americans and American Indians fought each other for control of New York's political power, land, and commerce. The sentiments quoted above would be repeated time and time again as personal vendettas and reprisals escalated to bloody massacres and battles. No episode better captures the brutal civil war in the Mohawk Valley than the Battle of Oriskany on August 6, 1777, where neighbor fighting neighbor transformed a quiet ravine into a bloody slaughterhouse.

William Harper and Fredrick Fisher to Gov. George Clinton, August 28, 1777 from Public Papers of George Clinton, Vol. 2 (Albany: State of New York, 1900)