Oriskany Battlefield stands at the very heart of the American Revolution in the Mohawk River Valley. As in past conflicts, in 1777 the valley again became a critical military corridor for the movement of men and materials.
The story of the battlefield reflects the subtlety and depth of human experience as British Loyalists with their Seneca and Mohawk sympathizers ambushed colonists and their Oneida allies, each side determined to defend its values and way of life to the death. It was here, on August 6, that the British Campaign of 1777, a strategic effort to isolate New England from the rest of the colonies, began to fail.
The British Campaign of 1777
The British invasion of New York in 1777 attempted to separate the New England colonies from the southern colonies. General John Burgoyne would move south through the Champlain Valley from Canada, while General Barry St.Leger would move west up the St.Lawrence River to Fort Ontario at Oswego and then east along the Mohawk. Clinton's army would strike northward up the Hudson Valley from New York City, meeting the others at Albany.
This 1902 painting, The Army of General Burgoyne, by Edward Lamson Henry, depicts the British army marching south along the Hudson River. The early success Burgoyne enjoyed did not bode well for the American rebellion. After St.Leger's army, 1,200 strong and comprised of British regulars, German mercenaries, and Loyalist divisions working with Native American allies, stalled at Fort Stanwix, Burgoyne found himself increasingly isolated as he approached Albany. He finally surrendered his entire army at Saratoga on October 17, 1777.
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