Battle of Oriskany - Battle

Battle

On the morning of August 6, Herkimer held a war council. Since they had not yet heard the expected signal from the fort, he wanted to wait. However, his captains pressed him to continue, even accusing Herkimer of being a Tory because his brother was serving under St. Leger. Stung by these accusations, Herkimer ordered the column to march on toward Stanwix.

About six miles (9.6 km) from the fort the road dipped more than fifty feet (15 m) into a marshy ravine where a stream about three feet (1 m) wide meandered along the bottom. Sayenqueraghta and Cornplanter, two Seneca war chiefs, chose this place to set up an ambush. While the King's Royal Yorkers waited behind a nearby rise, the Indians concealed themselves on both sides of the ravine. The plan was for the Yorkers to stop the head of the column, after which the Indians would begin their assault on the extended column. At about 10 am, Herkimer's column, with Herkimer on horseback near the front, descended into the ravine, crossed the stream, and began ascending the other side.

Contrary to the plan, the Indians lying in wait near the rear of the column, apparently unable to contain themselves any longer, opened fire, taking the column completely by surprise. Leading the 1st Regiment (Canajoharie district), Colonel Ebenezer Cox was shot off his horse and killed in the first volley. Herkimer turned his horse to see the action, and was very shortly thereafter struck by a ball, which shattered his leg and killed the horse. He was carried by several of his officers to a beech tree, where his men urged him to retire from further danger. He defiantly replied, "I will face the enemy", and calmly sat leaning against the tree, smoking a pipe and giving directions and words of encouragement to the men nearby.

As the trap had been sprung too early, portions of the column had not yet entered the ravine. Most of these men panicked and fled; some of the attacking Indians pursued them, resulting in a string of dead and wounded that extended for several miles. Between the loss of the column rear and those killed or wounded in the initial volleys, only about one half of Herkimer's men were probably still fighting 30 minutes into the battle. Some of the attackers, notably those not armed with muskets, waited for the flash of an opponent's musket fire before rushing to attack with the tomahawk before he had time to reload, a highly effective tactic against men not also armed with bayonets. Louis Atayataronghta, a Mohawk warrior fighting with Herkimer's men, shot one of the enemy whose fire had been devastating in its accuracy, noting that "every time he rises up he kills one of our men".

Herkimer's men eventually rallied, fighting their way out of the ravine to the crest just to its west. John Johnson, concerned about the militia's tenacity, returned to the British camp and requested some reinforcements from St. Leger shortly before a thunderstorm broke out. Another 70 men headed back with him toward the battle. The thunderstorm caused a one hour break in the fighting, during which Herkimer regrouped his militia on the higher ground. He instructed his men to fight in pairs: while one man fired and reloaded the other waited and then only fired if attacked. Firing in relays, both were to attempt to keep at least one weapon loaded at all times, to reduce the effectiveness of the tomahawk attacks.

John Butler, the leader of the rangers, took time during the thunderstorm to question some of the captives, and learned of the meaning of the three cannon signal. When Johnson and his reinforcements arrived, he convinced them to turn their coats inside out to disguise themselves as a relief party coming from the fort. When the fighting restarted after the rain, Johnson and the rest of his Royal Yorkers joined the battle, but one of the Patriot militiaman, Captain Jacob Gardinier, recognized the face of a Loyalist neighbor. Close combat, at times hand-to-hand fighting between neighbors, continued for some time.