Harold Frederic

“ So strong became the impression that the little cluster of communities, which lay, totally defenseless, almost within the grasp of the hostile savages, had not seen the last of these vengeance-vowing Tories, that Congress directed General Schuyler to strengthen the defenses of the exposed valley with all possible speed. Accordingly, Colonel Dayton was sent up to Fort Stanwix, with orders to push forward the work of rebuilding that antiquated fortress with the utmost energy, as in case of an invasion it would be a most harassing obstacle to the enemy’s progress. ”

“ Before this council Herkimer gravely lays the situation, urges the impatient leaders to remain where they are until reenforcements can come up, or at least until the signal of a sortie shall be heard from the fort. In his opinion it was folly for a thousand illy equipped militia to attack an intrenched force of twice that number of well-armed troops and notoriously cunning Indians — the flower of the famous Six Nations. ”

“ Scarcely a farm-house was there along the valley that had not cause to mourn this bloody triumph, hardly a hamlet that left not the flower of its sinewy manhood to moulder in that dark, dank, blood-drenched morass. Of the thousand men that marched upon the enemy so confidently on that fatal 6th of August, only some third ever saw their homes again. ”

“ Many conditions conspired to make the cause of the crown popular and powerful there that were lacking to the more ancient settlements; prominent among them, the almost absolute power that Sir William Johnson had obtained over the hitherto hostile Iroquois and white settlers alike. He was the only white man who had any extended influence over the surrounding savages, who, without him, had been the cruel and relentless foe of the young communities, and his noble qualities and gracious deeds had completely won the hearts of the settlers. ”

“ Behind them, pacing up and down with steady tread, is an elderly man, also in buff and blue, of tall stature and commanding mien, with cocked hat pulled down tight over his eyes, with lips firmly pressed together, thinking and listening, deeply, stopping now and then to settle, with a quiet, decisive word, some vexed question, and again resuming his march, with a look of troubled responsibility upon his brave face that intensifies as the morning wears on, and which all his self-confidence and intrepid courage can not overcome or hide. ”

“ While this desperate struggle was going on, some of the militia-men called out to Gardenier, "For God’s sake, captain, you are killing your own men!" He yelled back, "They are not our men; they are Tories. Fire away!"
Then, as the heroic captain was dragged from the clutches of the infuriated loyalists, a volley of musketry from the Provincials struck down thirty of them and nearly as many Indians. ”

“ One or two of the more elderly do indeed yield a vacillating sort of support, but are speedily silenced by the young colonels, now clamorous for action. Fearing that he may lose all control over this turbulent genie that he has evoked by any further efforts at restraint, Herkimer gives a reluctant assent to the now almost universal demand. He and such other officers as are fortunate enough to possess horses spring into their saddles; the baggage wagon, covered by weak or lazy patriots, starts rumbling down the rough road ”

“ Colonels Visscher and Klock, and others in authority, we see dimly in the meagre chronicles, grouped about, also with a tendency toward insubordination, or at best with a wavering respect for their commander’s judgment. Here, too, is boisterous, burly Sampson Sammons, whose irrepressible love of liberty and brawls had long ago lifted him into notoriety and a quasi-leadership among the more adventurous of the settlers, and who is, we doubt not, heartily sick of all this talking and inaction. ”

“ A portion of Colonel Visscher’s regiment, which formed the rear-guard of the advancing force, was cut off from the main body by the precipitate action of the savages in closing the segment — left open at the road — of their circular ambuscade, and, as Herkimer had predicted, tied ingloriously from the field in headlong haste, led by their erstwhile courageous colonel. History takes a grim satisfaction in recording that they were pursued by Mohawks, and were punished much more severely than would have been the case had they stood by their comrades in distress. ”

“ The Indians and white men were mingled with one another just as they had been left when Death had first completed his work. Many bodies had also been torn to pieces by wild beasts."
During the heat of the combat in the ravine, Colonel Willett made a sally from the fort with a force of two hundred and fifty men. He drove in the enemy’s advanced guard, and attacked the residue of Sir John Johnson’s regiment with such headlong impetuosity that they fled for their lives, led by the baronet himself in his shirt sleeves. ”

“ This fort had been built early in the year 1758, during what is commonly known as the "old French war," by the English General Stanwix, and commanded the famous "great carrying place." The importance of its situation will be readily seen when it is remembered that the Mohawk was at that time the great western thoroughfare to the lake settlements and the Canadas. All the goods to be transported west from Albany were hauled in wagons as far as Schenectady; at this point loaded upon bateaux, and poled up the river to where Rome now stands — the site of Fort Stanwix. ”

“ Major John Frey, whilom sheriff of the county, and a man of great courage and strength withal, was also captured by the savages. To the shame of the race, be it added, his brother, a furious Tory, ran at him when he was brought into the British camp, and was with difficulty prevented from butchering him on the spot.
Although no authentic statement exists, the loss of the enemy is believed to have been even more severe; the Indians, in particular, were roughly handled, having lost over a hundred warriors, among them several eminent sachems. ”

“ On the morning of the 4th [August 1777] nearly a thousand men had assembled about Fort Dayton, a little stockade fort built the year before by Colonel Dayton upon a slight eminence some hundred and fifty yards from the site of the present court-house at Herkimer, and which had been selected by Herkimer as a place of rendezvous. Never had a more heterogeneous mass of men been gathered together in the valley of the Mohawk ”

“ The change of tactics rendered some change necessary on the part of the enemy, and accordingly a detachment of Royal Greens charged upon the little band of patriots; the firing ceased, and as the bayonets clashed, the contest became a fierce death-struggle, hand to hand, foot to foot.
The Greens were for the most part fugitive loyalists from Tryon County, and consequently former neighbors of the militiamen. As no quarrels are so bitter as those of families, so no wars are so cruel and vindictive as those called civil. ”

“ From which it may be inferred that the licensed barbarians who, by their importunate cries and clutchings, transform our otherwise peaceful journeyings into fierce struggles for liberty at every station, are not, after all, a product of this enlightened age, but are only following in the footsteps of those unlettered, unlicensed porters of the forest. ”

“ The pathetic eloquence with which, in a frenzy of grief, the old woman plead for the life of her wayward son, who had added the crimes of a guerrilla to that of being a spy, would have moved a heart less stony than that she addressed. ”

“ This is General Nicholas Herkimer, a brave man and true, who for many years has served the cause of humanity faithfully; has for many years been a man of might in the valley settlements; has held innumerable councils with the Indians, and led many expeditions through forest defiles and dismal swamps after them when, in the judgment of the colonies, they stood in need of correction or chastisement ”

“ He first presented himself among the Indians, who, moody and dissatisfied at their repeated losses, and angry at St. Leger for promising them an easy victory and abundant plunder, had convened a pow-wow for the purpose of considering the dubious enterprise in which they had been engaged, and who were in a suitable state of mind to catch eagerly at the news he brought them of Arnold’s rapid approach. ”

“ And on our Arrival at the great carrying place The Oneida Indians force our Goods from us at pleasure to carry over, and not content with making us pay a most exorbitant price for each Freight but rob us of our Rum, Stores and other Goods with a great deal of invective threatening language, and are generally so Numerous that we are Obliged to Submit to those impositions or run the risk of being Murdered and Robbed of everything we have ”

“ The doors were kicked in, but before the assailants could find White, the report of the cannon at the Hall was heard; and as it was a signal for the Highlanders to rally, the Whigs thought better of it, and retired. ”

“ His officers are young, inexperienced, and full of self-confidence; are apparently as eager as their men for instantaneous advance. Brave old Herkimer in his perplexity appeals to half-breed Thomas Spencer for support. ”

“ Wagons were hurried out from the fort, and twenty-one loads of camp equipage, clothing, cooking utensils, blankets, stores, etc., together with all the private property of the British officers — papers, plans, journals, five British flags, and Sir John’s coat — were conveyed to the fort, while the brave little band held the dismantled encampment. As Willett was returning, Colonel St. ”