The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-08-12
PRICE, FIVE CENTS.

INDIANS and Tories who fought at Oriskany,
3l7 are reported "killed," and the humane
historian adds that "the enemy evidently
carried off his wounded" Now, the proper
tion OF wounded TO killed Is always four to
one, and from that to greater never To less,
disparity At this ratio ''the enemy" accord
ing to our humane historian. must have fear-
ried off E" something lke 1850 of t'his wound.
edP' But here is O conflict of figures, which
nothing but the facts can settls. and tfe fnets
are that
THE VICTORIOUS PATRIOTS fsuTCHEHED At,E
THE WOUNDED.
Indians and Tories whom they could find ON
The field; and for my part / raise my hand
'itis day an hundred years and say, God bless;
them for doing It'll What / can't understand
Is why ell our historians 50 delight In paint
ing the atrocities of tho British and Indiane
and so carefully hide from posterity the ratsl-
iation that always came when the settlers got
the upper hand. Everybody Is not like the
historian. He may b0 dyspeptie, nervous and
afraid of bad dreams II he writes facts Of this
sort But tbs great majority of everyday
| folks find satisfaction In reading TINT their
| ferefathers were not the patient and long s,lf-
faing animals tho conventional historian
would have us believe they tvere; but that, ON
occasion, their hands were as terrible, their
knives as sharp, and, yen, their hehrts as
| fiinty rs the sa7agest Of the foe. such, in
truth, they were. II they had not been 50.
and II they had been the meek and lowiv
lambs Of
| THE CONVENTIONAL HISTORIAN,
we should not now be celebrating any centen~
malls. When shall we have historian who,
like Tacitus shall rise to the majesty Of a
proper admiration for the atrocities Of his
eonqnering eountrymen One such would.
be worth all the pddling Banerofts ri i'll oBsas
genus, who write innocent tales for babas and
old women, making feai humanity sick with
maudlin hnmanitarianlsm.
| The courage with which the settlers fought
at Oriskany may be estimated from These
| facts 5J0 Of them whipped 1000 Of the enemy,
inflicted loss upon him OF at least 459, and
sustained loss of 274 themselves. Of whom
over 100 were killed Or died Of their wounds
Immediately.
| THE RESULT or THE BATTLE
was to check St. Jegcr's funk movement and
drive it back to Oswego, leaying Bnreoync
unsupported TO confront tho t,nbroken forces
Of New York and Western New England, led
by Arnold at Bemis Heights month later.
When Burgoyne stuck his head out of the
woods at8tilwater he fully expected To sec tho
| Mohawk Valley twenty-five miles below iii b
blaze Of devastation, with St Leger marching
upon the flank and rear OF Gates amy. "The
| brave generals heart sank within him." says
an English historian, "wheri Indian runners
told him at the head'of Lake George that st.
Leger had been Totally defeated at Oriskapy,
and his shattered column thrown back upon
Flake Ontario
There can be no doubt that the repuIse OF
st. Leger's 1anking column at Oriskany do.
cided
THE FATE OF THE CAMPAIGN or t777,
and with 1T, to all human appearances, tho
destiny OF the colonies. Cen Herkifner well
knew the strategical importance Of his little
battle in the woods, for Arnold had wildly
impressed it upon him at their last interview.
. You must stop st. Leger,'' said Arnold to
Herkimer, calling him Uncle Nick, as every
body did in the Mohawk Valley at that day.
You must stop him ut oil hazards. We can
whip Burgoyne single handed. But II st.
Leger gets down into the Lower Mohawk and
Schoharie settlements, killing and burning
just as Burgoyne gets out OF the woods. our
Cd d-n! / tell you, Uncle Nick. IL oil de-
pends on your stopping st. Leger ON the
Upper Mohawk"
| WELL" replied 'fUncie Nick, /" in his broad
Dutch way, "den shtops 'ird You pc siure Of
dotr'
Noble old soul! He did "shtop 'im.' But he
had to do it with his own corpse. Gen. Her
kimer, as as you know, had his leg shattered
at the knee in the early part Of the fight, so
badly that amputatioD alone could have saved
him. But there was no surgeon with hiscorn-
mand who could perform an amputation. n
was not until twenty-four hours after his
wound that the General could get attention and
then, as per the unwrjtten traditions OF the Mo-
hawk Valley, his limb was "ctit off, by "a
horse doctor" who took up the arteries with
a red hot wire" And yet OF such iron and oak
was the old hero made, that he survived this
borr BILE treatment ten days and then died Of
hemorrhage caused by the constant breaking
out Of the arteries as the stump Of his leg
suppurated. He was
PLAIN OLD MOHAWK DUTCH FARMER,
and il you ever happen to be WhirIing along
the Central yon can find passengers between
way-statioDs who will point out to you his old
farm near the present village Of Fort Plain,
| New York has cherished his name in n
county; the county in which he lived, died
and is buried. And now, I am told, New York
intends to further glorify him with
A NOBLE MONUMENT
on this spot, where he fought and fell Sa
much for Oriskany. Ten days from now New
England viii celebrate the Battle Of Benniug-
ton, and from one end of the country to the
other there viii be a shout and cheer loud
enough to drown for another hundred
years all memory Of modest Oriskany.
And yet military men agree that with respect
to strategical importance Oriskany was q
much more significant event than Bennfng-
ton, for as much as that while Oriskany
checked comprehensive flank movement
and deranged a whole system Of strategy.
Bennington simply repulsed foraging ex-