Battle+of+Oriskany

__//**The Battle of Oriskany**//__



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The Battle of Oriskany was one of the bloodiest battles in the [|American revolution]and was fought on August 6, 1777. The battle was between the American forces and the [|British force],with the help of the native American's for the British. This war begun during the British three pronged attack, the three-pronged attack was when the British had split there army into three different groups. Two came down from Canada, one came up from the south, they did this so they can try to break up the strongestpartof the Colonies, the [|New England Region].

[|The Battle at Oriskany] was very different from any other battle because it did not have any British regulars on the British side. The Bristish force was made up of Tory loyalists, and Iroquois warriors. While the American was made up of a County Militia, and some people from the Oneida tribe.

Generals:

[|Lieutenant Colonel Barry Saint Leger:] Barry was born May 1st, 173 and died in 1787. He was the son of Sir John St. Leger and Lavina Pennefather, and was educated at [|Eton College.]He joined the British Army in 1756, and fought in the [|French and Indian War]. By the time the Revolutionary war began Leger worked his way up the ranks to [|Lieutenant-Colonel]. He was chosen to lead one of the armies involved in the three-pronged attack to take over New Engalnd. He was chosen to lead the western group of the [|Saratoga Campaign].

[|General Nicolas Herkimer]: Nicolas Herkimer was born in 1728 and dies August 16, 1777. He was born to German immigrants who lived in the [|New York Colony], and was brothers with [|Johan Host Herkimer]. Nicolas was slender, with black hair, almost 6 feet tall, and had a dark complexion. He most well known for being the General of the [|Tryon County Militia], and for gathering them and leading them into battle in the Battle of Oriskany, while defending [|Fort Stanwix].

Before the Battle: Lt. Colonel Barry Saint leger started his decent from [|Canada] to the Colonies with around 350 British troops, mostly American tories, and around 1,000 Indians. Colonel Saint Leger started to make his way down the [|St. Lawrence River],in order to capture [|Fort Oswego], when at his destination Saint Leger's men joined up with around 1,000 Indians from the Six Nation Confederacy. They then proceeded to [|Fort Stanwix] in [|New York State]. And then on August 3rd, upon arrival at Fort Stanwix Saint Leger notifies [|Peter Gansevoort], an American General, that they will invade the Fort. The next day General Nicholas Herkimer, Patriot, gathers the Tryon County Militia of 800 and leads them to the Fort to help fight the British. And then upon arrival st the fort sends three scouts to Gansevoort proposing a plan on how to fight the battle.

The Day of the Battle, August 6, 1777:

First thing in the morning Herkimer sends Gansevoort the instructions on how they will fights the battle, in this note describes that when the cannons are fired three times Gansevoort is to go with a pack of troops from the fort attacking, while Herkimer will take the militia westward. As the members of the Tryon County militia are waiting they start to grow impatient, and accuse Herkimer of being a coward, and in reaction to this Herkimer then gives the orders to proceed forward. This would be a fatal mistake for the Patriots, because the road was embedded in the forest, and in the bushes were around 700 enemies waiting to jump out and ambush. The British forces were strategic with their placement, they lined up in a fish hook pattern so when the Patriots walked down the road they would be trapped. At around noon the British forces had had the Americans trapped and attacked. This was an onslaught of the Americans, even General Herkimer was shot, his leg was shattered, he was carried up onto a hill on which he could direct the battle.

The Americans were not ready to give up yet, they show what courage really is. The Americans then decide to counter attack and use their [|bayonets] to stab the Indians. This brought the Americans some time to think of a strategy. Then began the heaviest hand-to-hand combat in the entire Revolutionary war, he Americans then started shooting the Indians(British), but as an American shot his gun the Indians would rush up and kill the soldier as he was reloading their [|muskets], so General Herkimer came up with a strategy. He wanted all men to fight in pairs, one reloads while the other shoots, this brought great results for the Americans. Then Colonel Saint Leger sent his men to help the men fighting in the battle. Some of the Indians then began to withdraw from the Battle, thus causing the rest of the British force to retreat after over six hours of brutal combat.

Who won the Battle?

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">This is a widely controversial topic, now it can go either way, the British casualties range from 75 to 100 and the American casualties range from 100 to 350. Now just by looking at these numbers some may say that the British won, but the Americans succeeded in defending their fort. I believe the Americans won because they defended their fort and stopped the British invasion of the [|Mohawk Valley]. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;"><span style="background-color: #0500c2; color: #ff1ae0; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 500%;">media type="file" key="Sniper_Rifle-sound clip.mp3" width="240" height="20" <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Above is a sound of what a musket being fired sounds like