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Oriskany is a village in Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 1,315 at the 2020 census. The name is derived from the Iroquois word for "nettles".
Thayendanegea or Joseph Brant was a Mohawk military and political leader, based in present-day New York and, later, Brantford, in what is today Ontario, who was closely associated with Great Britain during and after the American Revolution. Perhaps the best known Native American of his generation, he met many of the most significant American and British people of the age, including both United States President George Washington and King George III of Great Britain.
The Battle of Oriskany 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.
Brigadier-General Nicholas Herkimer was an American military officer who fought during the French and Indian War and Revolutionary War. He died in 1777 from wounds suffered during the Battle of Oriskany.
Fort Stanwix was a colonial fort whose construction commenced on August 26, 1758, under the direction of British General John Stanwix, at the location of present-day Rome, New York, but was not completed until about 1762. The bastion fort was built to guard a portage known as the Oneida Carry during the French and Indian War. Fort Stanwix National Monument, a reconstructed structure built by the National Park Service, now occupies the site.
The Oneida people are a Native American tribe and First Nations band. They are one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois Confederacy in the area of upstate New York, particularly near the Great Lakes.
Drums Along the Mohawk is a 1939 American historical drama film based upon a 1936 novel of the same name by American author Walter D. Edmonds. The film stars Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert, was produced by Darryl F. Zanuck, and directed by John Ford.
Adam Frederick Helmer, also known as John Adam Frederick Helmer and Hans Adam Friedrich Helmer, was an American Revolutionary War soldier among those of the Mohawk Valley and surrounding regions of New York State. He was made nationally famous by Walter D. Edmonds' popular 1936 novel Drums Along the Mohawk with its depiction of "Adam Helmer's Run" of September 16, 1778, to warn the people of German Flatts of the approach of Joseph Brant and his company of Indians and Tories.
Molly Brant, also known as Mary Brant, Konwatsi'tsiaienni, and Degonwadonti, was a Mohawk leader in British New York and Upper Canada in the era of the American Revolution. Living in the Province of New York, she was the consort of Sir William Johnson, the British Superintendent of Indian Affairs, with whom she had eight children. Joseph Brant, who became a Mohawk leader and war chief, was her younger brother.
Johannes Justus Schuyler was a Tory with patriot roots, who was used by American General Benedict Arnold to repel the British and Indian forces of Colonel Barry St. Leger and Joseph Brant from their siege of Fort Stanwix following the Battle of Oriskany during the American Revolution.
Oriskany Battlefield State Historic Site is a historic site in Oneida County, New York, United States that marks the Battle of Oriskany, fought in 1777 during the American Revolution, one of the bloodiest engagements of the war.
The northern theater of the American Revolutionary War after Saratoga consisted of a series of battles between American revolutionaries and British forces, from 1778 to 1782 during the American Revolutionary War. It is characterized by two primary areas of activity. The first set of activities was based around the British base of operations in New York City, where each side made probes and counterprobes against the other's positions that sometimes resulted in notable actions. The second was essentially a frontier war in Upstate New York and rural northern Pennsylvania that was largely fought by state militia companies and some Indian allies on the American side, and Loyalist companies supported by Indians, British Indian agents, and occasionally British regulars. The notable exception to significant Continental Army participation on the frontier was the 1779 Sullivan Expedition, in which General John Sullivan led an army expedition that drove the Iroquois out of New York. The warfare amongst the splinters of the Iroquois Six Nations were particularly brutal, turning much of the Indian population into refugees.
Brant's Volunteers, also known as Joseph Brant's Volunteers, were an irregular unit of Loyalist and Indigenous volunteers raised during the American Revolutionary War by Mohawk war leader, Joseph Brant. Brant's Volunteers fought on the side of the British on the frontier of New York and in the Ohio Country. As associators they were not provided uniforms, weapons, provisions, or pay by the British government, and survived by foraging and plundering.
Polly Cooper was an Oneida woman from the New York colony who took part in a expedition to aid the starving Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. She was among 47 Oneida and Seneca people who carried bushels of corn 250 miles (400 km) to Valley Forge from late April into May 1778. She taught them how to make a soup with the corn, nuts, and fruits to increase its nutritional value. Not wanting to be paid for her service, she was presented with a black shawl, which has been esteemed by Cooper and the Oneida people. It has been loaned to the Oneida Nation Cultural Center. Cooper is depicted in a bronze statue, "Allies in War, Partners in Peace", made by Edward Hlavka. It is on display at the National Museum of the American Indian of the Smithsonian Institution.
The siege of Fort Stanwix began on August 2, 1777, and ended on August 22, 1777. Fort Stanwix, at the western end of the Mohawk River Valley, was a primary defense point for the Continental Army against the British and indigenous forces aligned against them during the American Revolutionary War. The fort was occupied by Continental Army forces from New York and Massachusetts under the command of Colonel Peter Gansevoort. The besieging force was composed of British regulars, Loyalist soldiers, Hessians, and indigenous warriors, under the command of Brigadier General Barry St. Leger. St. Leger's expedition was a diversion in support of Lieutenant General John Burgoyne's campaign to take control of the Hudson River Valley to the east.
Louis Cook, or Akiatonharónkwen (Mohawk), was an Iroquois leader and commissioned officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Born to an African father and an Abenaki mother in what is now Schuylerville, New York, he and his mother were taken captive in a French-Mohawk raid and taken to Kahnawake, a Mohawk village south of Montreal. They were adopted by a Mohawk family. His mother soon died and he served Catholic missionaries, learning French. He became an influential leader among the Mohawk and distinguished himself as a warrior for their allies the French during the French and Indian War.
James Kirby Martin is Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen University Professor of History at the University of Houston, Houston, Texas. He studies American military and social history, specifically the American Revolution, and alcohol-related issues in the United States. In addition to his scholarly work and publications, Martin has advised and appeared on television programs aired on the History Channel and also advises New York-based Talon Films on historical issues. He has also become involved in movie production.
Han Yerry is also known by Honyere Doxtator and his native name, Tewahangarahken. As a child, Han Yerry lived with a German-Dutch couple, who educated him and taught him the white people's culture. Over his life, he was a warrior, war chief, commissioned American Army officer, farmer, rancher, and caterer. He made a name for himself in the American Revolutionary War and is one of three great ancestors of Oneida people who served as commissioned officers in the war. Hon Yerry received 1,800 acres in land grants for his service. He was a gentle man, distinguished soldier, leader, man of his word, and heroic.
Paul Powless Tegahsweangalolis was a warrior and chief of the Oneida people and hereditary sachem of the Bear clan. Like many of his people, he joined the American side during the Revolutionary War and served as a spy and messenger.
Fish Carrier or "Ojageght," which translates to English as "he is carrying a fish by the forehead strap," was an Iroquois chief of the Cayuga people. He supported the British during the American Revolution, participating in the Battle of Wyoming in 1778 and the Battle of Newtown in 1779.
References
- Glatthaar, Joseph T.; Martin, James Kirby (2007). Forgotten Allies: The Oneida Indians and the American Revolution. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-8090-4600-3.
- Robinson, Gary; Lucas, Phil (2010). From Warriors to Soldiers: A History of American Indian Service in the United States Military. Universe. ISBN 978-1-936236-00-8.