Battle of Oriskany

Battle of Oriskany
Part of the American Revolutionary War
Herkimer at the Battle of Oriskany Painting by Frederick Coffay Yohn, c. 1901[1]
Date Wednesday, August 6, 1777 Location near Oriskany, New York 43°10′38″N 75°22′10″W / 43.17722°N 75.36944°W / 43.17722; -75.36944 Result British victory
Belligerents
United States Oneida	Great Britain Hesse-Hanau Mohawk Seneca Cayuga Onondaga Mississaugas
Commanders and leaders
Nicholas Herkimer † Peter Gansevoort	Sir John Johnson John Butler Joseph Brant Cornplanter Sayenqueraghta
Strength
640–720 militia 60–100 Oneida[2]	400 Indigenous 100 Loyalists
Casualties and losses
American – 385 killed; 50 wounded; 30 captured[3] Oneida – unknown	Loyalists – 7 killed; 21 wounded, missing or captured Indigenous – 65 killed or wounded[4]

The Battle of Oriskany (/ɔːrˈɪskəniː/ or /əˈrɪskəniː/) was a major engagement of the Saratoga campaign during the American Revolutionary War. On August 6, 1777, an American column of Tryon County militia and Oneidas marching to relieve the siege of Fort Stanwix was ambushed by a contingent of Britain's Indigenous allies and Loyalists. It was one of the few battles of the war in which most non-Indigenous participants were settlers born in the Thirteen Colonies. The Americans suffered heavy casualties during the battle.

Under the command of Brigadier-General Nicholas Herkimer, the American relief column came up the Mohawk Valley and initially consisted of approximately 800 militiamen and between 60 and 100 Oneida warriors. In response to news of the column's advance, Brigadier-General Barry St. Leger dispatched a force of roughly 500 men under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John Johnson to intercept them. Most of Johnson's force were Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga and Mississaugas warriors led by Sayenqueraghta, Cornplanter, and Joseph Brant.

Johnson's men successfully ambushed Herkimer's column in a small valley about 6 miles (9.7 km) east of Fort Stanwix, near the Oneida village of Oriska. The British victory cost the Americans approximately 465 dead, wounded, or captured, while Johnson's force suffered only 93 men killed, wounded or captured. Herkimer was also mortally wounded. The morale of Britain's Indigenous allies was damaged when they discovered that an American sortie from Fort Stanwix had looted their camp during the battle. This was a contributing factor in Leger's decision to abandon the siege two weeks later.

The battle also marked the beginning of a civil war among the Iroquois, as Oneida warriors under Louis Cook and Han Yerry aligned with the Patriot cause, as did the Tuscarora. As the Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga, and Onondaga were allied to the Loyalist cause, this resulted in incidents of armed conflict between the two factions. The battle's location is known in Iroquois oral histories as "A Place of Great Sadness", and has been designated as a National Historic Landmark along with being marked by a monument at the Oriskany Battlefield State Historic Site.