Shaded relief map of New York. The Mohawk Valley is demarked by the green lowlands running east-west across the middle of the state.Image of the Mohawk and Hudson valleys from Space Shuttle Challenger.The Mohawk Valley
The region is a suburban and rural area surrounding the industrialized cities of Schenectady, Utica and Rome, along with other smaller commercial centers. The 5,882 square miles (15,230km2) area is an important agricultural center and encompasses the heavily forested wilderness areas just to the north that are part of New York's Adirondack Park.
The Mohawk Valley is part of a natural passageway connecting the Atlantic Ocean, by way of the Hudson Valley, with the interior of North America. Native American Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy lived in the region. In the 17th century, Dutch, French and English immigrants —and in the 18th century German, Irish and Scottish—settled the area. Following the rapid industrialization of the mid-19th century, Italians and Welsh People settled in the valley.
In 1825, the Erie Canal was completed as the first commercial connection between the American East and West.
Strategic importance
During the French and Indian War, the Mohawk River Valley was of prime strategic importance; to the British, it provided a corridor to the Great Lakes from which to threaten New France directly, while to the French it provided a corridor to the Hudson Valley and on to the heart of British North America. In addition, many settlements of the Mohawk, Britain's crucial Indian ally at the time of the war, were located in or near the valley.
At the beginning of the war, the major British stronghold in the Mohawk corridor was Fort Oswego, located on Lake Ontario. The French captured and destroyed the fort after a short siege in 1756, and the Mohawk Valley lay open to French advance as a result. Although the French did not directly exploit this avenue of attack, its impact swayed some of the Iroquois tribes to the French side.
Mohawks of Mohawk Valley
The original inhabitants of the Mohawk Valley can be traced back 10,000 plus years and included Algonquian people that later relocated from the newly established Fort Orange Dutch trading post region as early as 1624, as the name implies, the inhabitants were and remained Mohawks. The name Mohawk Valley has its origins in the years 1614 and 1624-25 following the settlement by Dutch traders who established a trading post in the Valley, the Mohawk tribe became alliances and targets during the Indian Wars. The Mohawks of Mohawk Valley call themselves Kanien'keha'ka, and "People of the Flint" in part due to their creation story of a powerful flinted arrow. Among other things, the traditional use of Mohawk Valley flint as Toolmaking Flint is only one attribution to the Mohawk Valley People of the Flint name.
Schoharie County is sometimes considered to be part of the Mohawk Valley because the Schoharie Creek, primarily located in Schoharie County, is a major tributary that empties into the Mohawk River at Fort Hunter in Montgomery County. Furthermore, the northern border of Schoharie County with Montgomery County is very close to the Mohawk River.
Schenectady, Albany, and Saratoga counties are also sometimes considered to be part of the Mohawk Valley because the Mohawk River Flows through those 3 counties, the Mohawk River also ends at the Hudson River where Albany, Saratoga, and Rensselaer counties meet as a delta.
Schoharie, Montgomery, Fulton, Saratoga, Schenectady, and Albany counties are the only 6 counties within the Mohawk Valley to be part of the Capital District, Albany County is also considered part of the Hudson Valley.
Drums Along the Mohawk (1936), an historical novel written by Walter D. Edmonds, is set in the Mohawk Valley near Deerfield during the American Revolutionary War. It was very carefully researched and portrayed the complexity of the times. The 1939 film of the same name, directed by John Ford, has been criticized for “[abandoning] the historical complexity of the original for the mythic simplification of an all-American Western.” [1]
The Mohawk Valley is an important site in the video game Assassin's Creed III published by Ubisoft. The game takes place during the Revolutionary War era and features an assassin tasked with playing a role in the history of early America.
Dean R. Snow — archeologist who has conducted numerous excavations along the valley, providing valuable historical information about indigenous peoples and colonial America.
Sources
↑ Countryman, E. (1980-10-01). "John Ford's Drums Along the Mohawk: The Making of an American Myth". Radical History Review. 1980 (24): 93–112. doi:10.1215/01636545-1980-24-93. ISSN0163-6545.
Montgomery County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 49,532. The county seat is Fonda. The county was named in honor of Richard Montgomery, an American Revolutionary War general killed in 1775 at the Battle of Quebec. The county is part of the Mohawk Valley region of the state.
Herkimer County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 60,139. Its county seat is Herkimer. The county was created in 1791 north of the Mohawk River out of part of Montgomery County. It is named after General Nicholas Herkimer, who died from battle wounds in 1777 after taking part in the Battle of Oriskany during the Revolutionary War.
Oneida County is a county in the state of New York, United States. As of February 26, 2024, the population was 226,654. The county seat is Utica. The name is in honor of the Oneida, one of the Five Nations of the Iroquois League or Haudenosaunee, which had long occupied this territory at the time of European encounter and colonization. The federally recognized Oneida Indian Nation has had a reservation in the region since the late 18th century, after the American Revolutionary War.
Otsego County is a county in the U.S. state of New York located within the Mohawk Valley Region. As of the 2020 census, the population was 58,524. The county seat is Cooperstown. The county's population center is Oneonta. The name Otsego is from a Mohawk or Oneida word meaning "place of the rock." The county is part of the Mohawk Valley region of the state.
Schoharie County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 29,714, making it the state's fifth-least populous county. The county seat is Schoharie. "Schoharie" comes from a Mohawk word meaning "floating driftwood." Schoharie County is part of the Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area. The county is part of the Mohawk Valley region of the state.
Scouting in New York has a long history, from the 1910s to the present day, serving thousands of youth in programs that suit the environment in which they live. The first National Boy Scouts of America (BSA) Headquarters was in New York City, and the Girl Scouts of the USA National Headquarters is currently located at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City.
Herkimer is a village on the north side of the Mohawk River and the county seat of Herkimer County, New York, United States, about 15 miles (24 km) southeast of Utica. As of the 2020 Census, it had a population of 7,234, and a predicted population of 7,283 on July 1, 2022. It was part of the Burnetsfield Patent and the first colonial settlement this far west in the Mohawk Valley.
The Mohawk River is a 149-mile-long (240 km) river in the U.S. state of New York. It is the largest tributary of the Hudson River. The Mohawk flows into the Hudson in Cohoes, New York, a few miles north of the state capital of Albany. The river is named for the Mohawk Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy. A major waterway, in the early 19th century, the river's east-west valley provided the setting and water for development of the Erie Canal, as a key to developing New York. The largest tributary, the Schoharie Creek, accounts for over one quarter (26.83%) of the Mohawk River's watershed. Another main tributary is the West Canada Creek, which makes up for 16.33% of the Mohawk's watershed.
The Battle of Oriskany was a significant engagement of the Saratoga campaign of the American Revolutionary War, and one of the bloodiest battles in the conflict between Patriot forces and those loyal to Great Britain. On August 6, 1777, several hundred of Britain's Indigenous allies, accompanied by Loyalists of the King's Royal Regiment of New York and the British Indian Department, ambushed a Patriot militia column which was marching to relieve the siege of Fort Stanwix. This was one of the few battles in which the majority of the participants were American colonists. Patriots and allied Oneidas fought against Loyalists and allied Iroquois and Mississaugas. No British regulars were involved; however, a detachment of Hessians was present.
Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Island, and most definitions of the region also exclude all or part of Westchester and Rockland counties, which are typically included in downstate New York. Major cities across upstate New York from east to west include Albany, Utica, Binghamton, Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo.
The Capital District, also known as the Capital Region, is the metropolitan area surrounding Albany, the capital of the U.S. state of New York. The Capital District was first settled by the Dutch in the early 17th century and came under English control in 1664. Albany has been the permanent capital of the state of New York since 1797. The Capital District is notable for many historical events that predate the independence of the United States, including the Albany Plan of Union and the Battles of Saratoga.
Drums Along the Mohawk is a 1939 American historical drama western film based upon a 1936 novel of the same name by American author Walter D. Edmonds. The film was produced by Darryl F. Zanuck and directed by John Ford. Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert portray settlers on the New York frontier during the American Revolution. The couple experiences British, Tory, and Native American attacks on their farm before the Revolution ends and peace is restored.
Central New York is the central region of New York state, including:
Leatherstocking Council is the Boy Scouts of America council which serves Herkimer, Oneida, Schoharie, and Madison counties as well as part of Hamilton, Otsego, Delaware and Lewis counties in the state of New York.
The Observer-Dispatch is a newspaper serving the Utica-Rome metropolitan area in Central New York, circulating in Oneida County, Herkimer County, and parts of Madison County. Based in Utica, New York, the publication is owned by Gannett.
New York's 21st congressional district is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives that is represented by Republican Elise Stefanik.
The Battle of Klock's Field was an engagement during the American Revolutionary War in the Mohawk Valley region of New York between British and Loyalist forces led by Lieutenant Colonel Sir John Johnson, and New York militia and levies led by Brigadier General Robert Van Rensselaer. The battle occurred on the north side of the Mohawk River in what is now St. Johnsville in Montgomery County. The result was inconclusive with neither side able to claim a clear victory.
Fort Hunter is a hamlet in the Town of Florida in Montgomery County, New York, United States, west of the capital at Albany, on the south bank of the Mohawk River and on the northeast bank of Schoharie Creek.
The 62nd New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 1 to May 7, 1839, during the first year of William H. Seward's governorship, in Albany.
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