The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1877-06-22
Fine Job Work a Specially.
THE FIGHT Af FORT SCHUYLER,
AUGUST 9TH 1777.

Herklmer urges the impatient leaders
to remain where they are until re ZEN
forcements can come up, or at least until
the signal of a sortie shall be heard from
the fort. In his opinion it was folly for
4 thousand lily equipped militia to at
tack an intrenched force of twice that
number of well-armed troops and noto-
riOusly cunning Indians-the flower of
the famous Six Nations.
His temperate words only added fuel
to the fame Colonels Cox and Paris
lngrily retOrted that they had come to
fight, not to watch others fight, and
wound up by denouncing Herkmer to
his face rs Tory and q coward. Sup
pressing his rising Indignation, the old
patriot replied, with forced calmness.
that he considered himself placed over
them as father, and that he did not
want to get them into any difficulty from
which he would be powerless to extract
them. You" said he, "who want to
fight so badly now. will be the first To
run when you smell burnt powder"
Swelling with virtuous wrath at this
insinuation, the young officers hotly re-
newed their reproaches of senile COW
ardice and want of fidelity TO ~the cause,
which this time met with an echo of ap-
plause from those around.
Thoroughly enraged at last, the stout
old general, with flushed face and gleam-
ing eye. cried, March on, then" In an
instant, with great shout, the troops
grasped their arms, the camp was struck,
and the little army rushed forward in
the utmost confusion.
In the mean time, Colonel st. Leger,
appTised by his scouts of the advance of
the militia, had, very early ON the morn
ing of the 9th, dispatched Brant, with
nearly all his Indians and a detachment
Of JOhnson's Greens, with instructions
to, if possible, prevent their further pro-
gress, leaving to Brant's discretion the
means to be employed.
The van of Herkimers motley host
was descending the steep slope of a
ravine, some two miles westvI 0riskany,
in hot haste and disorder, when sudden
ly the guards, both front and flanks were
shot down, the forest rang with the sharp
crack of musketry and the blood-curd
ling yells of concealed savages, and in
twinkling the greater part of the divis-
ion found itself hemmed in, as it were,
by a circle of fire that moved down the
outer ranks ike grass before a scythe.
Thrown into almost irretrieyable confu-
sion by the suddenness of the attack and
the flash and whirl of leaden lightning
about their heads, dropping like leaves
in the forest before the deadly precision
of the enemys aim, houndering for the
most part, knee-deep in the morass that,
with the exception ofa narrow log cause
way in the centre, constituted the bot
tom of the rayine, and utterly unable to
defend themselves from hidden foe, it
seems miraculous that the detachment
escaped total annihilation. But all the
devilish ingenuity of Joseph Brant-and
surely he has left upon record no
achievement more worthy of himself
was not match for the dauntless cour-
age and endurance of the brawny 'front.'
iersmen.
\ portion of Colonel Visscher's regi-
ment, which formed the rear-guard of
the advancing force, was cut off from the
main body by the precipitate action of
the savages in closing the segment-left
open at the road-of their circular am
buscade and, as Herkimer had predicted.
fed ingloriousiy from the field in head
long haste, led by their erstwhile coura-
geous colonel. History takes grim
satisfaction in recording that they were
pursued by Mohawks, and were punish
ed more severely than would have been
the case had they stood by their com
rades in distress.
But the environed militia, after the
terrible shock of the surprise had passed
away, exhibited an amount of bravery
and intrepid selfpOssession that has sell
dom been equaled in our eventful histo
ry of forest fights, and that must go far
toward atOning for their previous rash
and reprehensible conduct. In this they
we're furnished a magnificent example
by their general The veteran was
wounded in the early part of the action,
while endeayoring to rally the scattered
wits Of his men, by n musket ball which,
passing through and killing his horse,
shattered his leg just below the knee
He was lifted at once from his fallen
horse, and placed, at his own request,
upon his saddle, propped against beech
tree half way up the western slope for
support. In this situation he lighted his
pipe coolly, and though the bullets were
whistling about him, and men falling
thick and fast within a few yards Of his
post, continued to direct the battle, Civ
ing his orders as calmly and collectedIy
AS if on parade ground.
After this butchery had gone on for
some three quarters Of an hour, a bril-
liant idea occurred to Captain Jacob
Seeber, which, upon his OWE response
bility, he instantly put into execution.
He formed the remnant Of his company
into circle, the better to repel the at
tacks Of the enemy, now closing in upon
their victims His example was imme-
dia;ely followed BY the rest, and from
that moment the resistance Of the Prov
incials, hitherto confined to a desultOry
firing, became more effective. The
change of tactics rendered some change
necessary OH the part of the enemy, and
accordingly detachmet of Royal Greens
charged upon the little band ofpatriots;
the firing ceased, and as the bayonets
cl;lshed, the contest became a severe
death struggle, hand to hand, foot 10
foot. z*k
Though victory crowned the desper-
ate valor of the Provincial, it was to
them perfectly useless, and was bought
at terrible price. Scarcely a farm
house was there along the valley that
had not cause to mourn this bloody
triumph, hardly hamlet that lett net
the flower of its sinewy manhood to
moulder in that dark, dank, blood
drenehed morass. OF the thousand
men that marched upon the enemy so
confidently on that fatal 9Th Of August,
only some third ever saw their homes
again. Between three and four hund-
red lay dead upon the field when the
sun went down; nearly as many more