Attack on German Flatts | |||||||
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Part of the American Revolutionary War | |||||||
![]() Fort Herkimer, drawing probably by Benson Lossing | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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![]() Iroquois | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Peter Bellinger |
Joseph Brant William Caldwell | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
Tryon County militia |
152 Iroquois 200–300 Loyalists | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
3 killed 719 homeless | not reported |
The attack on German Flatts (September 17, 1778) was a raid on the frontier settlement of German Flatts, New York (which then also encompassed what is now Herkimer) during the American Revolutionary War. The attack was made by a mixed force of Loyalists and Iroquois under the overall command of Mohawk leader Joseph Brant, and resulted in the destruction of houses, barns, and crops, and the taking of livestock for the raiders' use. The settlers, warned by the heroic run of Adam Helmer, took refuge in local forts but were too militarily weak to stop the raiders.
Brant's attack was one of a series executed under his command or that of Loyalist and Seneca leaders against communities on what was then the frontier of western New York and northern Pennsylvania. New York authorities responded by ordering an expedition that destroyed Brant's forward operating bases in Iroquois territory.
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