The Expedition Against Fort Schuyler: Brant and Burgoyne

IN the spring of 1777, Colonel Peter Gansevoort was appointed to the command of Fort Schuyler, and held that post in the summer of that year, when Burgoyne was making his victorious march towards Albany by way of Lake Champlain.. As early as June, a man from Canada, arrested as a spy, had disclosed the fact that a detachment of British troops, Canadians, and Indians was to penetrate the country by way of Oswego and the Mohawk, to join Burgoyne when he should reach Albany.. Fort Schuyler was still unfinished, and feebly garrisoned, and certain discomfiture seemed to await the patriots in that region. Colonel Gansevoort, however, was vigilant, active, and hopeful. He wrote spirited letters to General Schuyler, imploring aid, and that officer as urgently laid the condition of Tryon County before the Provincial Congress of New York, and also the General Congress. But it was then too late to expect succor from a distance, and the people of the Mohawk Valley were thrown upon their own feeble resources for defence. St. Leger and his Rangers, with the forces of Johnson, Claus, Butler, and Brant, were already in motion, and on the 1st of August the enemy, one thousand seven hundred strong, came up Oneida Lake, and near the ruins of old Fort Newport prepared to invest Fort Schuyler. The Indians were led by Brant [the celebrated Indian chief], and the whole beleaguering force, at the beginning of the march at Oswego Falls, was disposed in admirable order for the journey through the forest. The main body was led by the Indians, under Brant, in five columns, four hundred and sixty paces in front of the advanced guard. The Indians marched in single file, at large distances apart. Between the five columns and the rear-guard a file of Indians, ten paces apart, formed a line of communication. The advanced guard was one hundred paces in front of the main column, which was disposed in Indian file, the right and left flanks covered by a file of savages. The rear-guard was composed of regular troops.. Each crops was furnished with practised marksmen at short intervals, who were ordered to concentrate their strength upon any point that might be attacked.

On the 2d of August the fort was reached, and its investment begun. On the 3d, St. Leger arrived with his whole force. The garrison consisted of seven hundred and fifty men, who were well provided with provisions, and ammunition for small-arms, though deficient in ammunition for cannon, their most important means of defence. They were also without a flag, and were forced to make one out of bits of scarlet and blue clothing and white shirts, on the pattern adopted by Congress.

The siege commenced on the 4th. A few bombs were thrown into the fort, and the Indians, concealed behind trees and bushes, wounded several men who were employed in raising the parapets. Similar annoyances occurred on the 5th, and towards evening the Indians spread out through the woods, encircled the fort, and, by hideous yells throughout the night, attempted to intimidate the garrison. St. Leger, confident of success, sent a despatch to Burgoyne at this juncture, expressing his assurance that Fort Schuyler would be in his possession directly, and the hope that they would speedily meet as victors at Albany.

In the mean time, General Herkimer was advancing to the aid of the garrison, with a force of more than eight hundred militia. He sent a messenger in advance, requesting Gansevoort to signify his arrival by the discharge of three guns. But the messenger was delayed, and the militia officers, full of ungoverned valor, so pressed their experienced leader to advance that he finally yielded to their importunity and taunts of cowardice, against his better judgment. He gave the word to "March on," but told those who had boasted of their courage that they would be the first to run at sight of the enemy.