What Happened to 7,000 People

The effect of the campaign was not completely shrugged off by the Iroquois. In November, almost 3,000 Indians were huddled around the gates of Fort Niagara seeking aid from the British.17 The winter of 1779/1780 was the worst possible time for the Indians to have lost their homes and crops. Five to six feet of snow covered the northeast for weeks. Many climatologists believe a “Little Ice Age” occurred in America from 1750 to 1850. One pointed out that the winter of 1779/80 was the extreme winter of the “cool hundred years”. Many contemporary people referred to it as the “The Hard Winter”. As a result, hundreds of Indians died of disease, exposure, or malnutrition.18

In 1780, the Iroquois resumed their raids on the New York frontier. Fueled by a desire for vengeance stemming from the Sullivan Campaign, the number of raids increased dramatically. In July, Joseph Brant destroyed the Oneida and Tuscarora villages around Oneida Castle. Some 150 Oneidas were forced to go to Fort Niagara, however, over 400 fled to Fort Stanwix. The refugees at Stanwix later migrated to Schenectady, where they were forced to live outside the walls. Like their brothers at Fort Niagara, they suffered greatly from exposure and malnutrition when winter arrived. Many moved north hoping to hunt and survive in the wilderness, but were forced to return when game proved scarce.

Thus, the Indians fared no better than other residents of the valley. Loss of homes and crops left the Indians suffering as much as their white neighbors. At the end of the war, they were to lose something of even greater value – their lands.

The devastation and suffering in the valley were shared by all who lived there. Loyalist, Patriot, Indian – all suffered. Of the estimated10,000 white population in 1777, approximately 1,000 were killed or taken prisoner. Some 2,500 to 3,000 Loyalists left the valley and about 3,000 Patriots abandoned their farms.

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What Happened to 7,000 People

In the following year, 1778, the Loyalists and Indians mounted a number of vengeance raids on the frontier. In July, the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania (present day Wilkes-Barre) was destroyed. In September, the German Flats area was burned, and in November, the settlement of Cherry Valley was devastated. The killing of women and children at Cherry Valley caused an outcry that reached Congress and General Washington. Congress pressured Washington to do something about these border raids and in 1779 he mounted a campaign to “punish” the Iroquois. The Rebels had had some success against the Cherokee in the south and forced that tribe to sue for peace. Washington hoped to achieve the same with the Iroquois.

In July 1779, Major General John Sullivan led an expedition into the Iroquois lands. Sullivan’s force numbered over 5,000 men and succeeded in destroying some 40 Indian villages along with all their crops and orchards. The force had only one small battle with the Indians at Newtown (near present-day Elmira, New York). At the end of the campaign, the expedition could account for only 16 warriors killed and a handful of prisoners.15 Major Jeremiah Fogg who participated in the campaign wrote a very prophetic line in his journal: “The nests have been destroyed, but the birds are still on the wing.”16 The Indian nations that sided with the British never sued for peace. Most modern historians consider the campaign to have been a waste of time and money.

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What Happened to 7,000 People (cont.)

The Iroquois (or Six Nations) Confederacy, was a crucial source of fighting men for the raiding parties. Most historians believe the confederacy was formed in 1500 A.D.; however, new research suggests that it may have been formed as early as 1100 or 1200 A.D. Whatever the year of its inception, the confederacy had a long history. At the outset of the Revolutionary War, the Iroquois remained neutral. The Sachems (or Chiefs) saw no value in getting embroiled in a “family quarrel”. In 1777, the British persuaded a number of warriors, particularly the Seneca, to come and watch as they set off to defeat the Rebels at Fort Stanwix and march down the Mohawk Valley to Albany. Instead, the Indians found themselves in the Battle of Oriskany. They discovered they were fighting not only the militia, but also a number of their own brothers – the Oneidas and Tuscaroras. While four nations joined the British ranks, a majority of Oneidas and Tuscaroras joined the Patriots.

The great confederation was broken. With the Oneidas and Tuscaroras fighting their brothers, the Iroquois Confederacy was extinguished. Only individual Indian nations remained. The Battle of Oriskany was particularly devastating to the Seneca. Five of their Sachems were killed — by Seneca standards, a terrible loss. Nothing like this had happened in the entire history of the Seneca Nation.

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Very in-depth history of the Mohawk Valley and nearby areas.

– CAA