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Captain Helmer was killed at the Battle of Oriskany on Aug. 6, 1777. Battle of Oriskany: The defense of farms and villages in the Mohawk Valley brought nearly 800 Tryon County Militia and 62 Oneida Indians in answer to General Herkimer’s call from Fort Dayton (Village of Herkimer). British forces under General Barry St. Leger had laid siege to Fort Stanwix (Rome, NY). St. Leger’s forces included 400 British Regular troops; 1,000 Mohawk and Seneca Indians, John Butler’s Indian Department force; Sir John Johnson’s Royal Regiment of New York, 400 men, plus a detachment of 100 Hessian mercenaries. Molly Brant, the sister of Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant, sent scouts to warn St. Leger of the Tryon county Militia’s march as they left Fort Dayton, August 4, 1777. An ambush site was picked by the British and Indians, four miles east of Fort Stanwix. Here an earlier severe windstorm had leveled a wide swath of virgin trees on either side of the military road leading to the Fort. The site gave excellent cover among the downed trees, and the road had to traverse a small creek that led northward to the Mohawk River. Fully a mile beyond the creek the Hessian detachment was positioned across the road on high ground to prevent passage beyond that point. All the Indians, Butler’s and Johnson’s forces took cover on both sides of the road for a distance of two to three miles. The battle occurred shortly after the foreguard group of the Canajoharie District Militia, under Colonel Cox, came under heavy attack, at the head of the militia column, from Indian forces. Hessian troops appeared and fired their short Yager rifles, point blank, at the surprised militia. General Herkimer, on horseback, went east on the Military Road to form other units of the militia into defensive positions. Colonel Cox and most of the forward militia are killed or wounded in this early action. The supply wagons in the middle of the column are now under full attack, on both sides, by Indians and Tories dressed as Indians. Colonel Klock’s German Flatts and Colonel Bellinger’s Kingsland Militias now came under attack from the north and the south. Colonel Fischer’s Mohawk Militia and the Cherry Valley Militia retreated to the north along the small creek. Shortly, General Herkimer is shot through the leg, killing his horse. Due to the length of the militia column, the fighting develops three battle areas where the militia attempt to form-up defenses, and fight in pairs. The battle lasted over five hours, in total, interrupted by a heavy downpour of rain. When fighting resumed no quarter was asked or given in dozens of individual combats. Men strived to kill each other with knives, spears, clubs, rifles and tomahawks. The end came as both sides, too weary to continue, disengaged. Over 450 of the ‘Tryon County Militia were killed, wounded or captured. Five Seneca Indian Chiefs were killed, and many of the hostile Indians left the area, fleeing north. The Hessian and Tory forces retreated to encampments around Fort Stanwix only to find that, while they were away, soldiers from the Fort had taken their supplies, ammunition, maps and records. A few days later, on news of General Benedict Arnold’s approach with a column of Colonial Regulars, General St. Leger gave up the siege and retreated in haste to Canada, leaving the western Mohawk valley secure. Thanks to: Oneida County Historical Society, Utica, New York
William B.
