Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1886-02-04
oRiskANy Mun,jAaEN1.


An HhDsie Dste3eAs1A AAoue vUein6 1AeA
tie Has Been Said.
Gliding swiftly eastward on ths New
York Central Railroad and nearing the
little village Of Ormkany. in Oneida Coun-
ty. tall shaft on ns,ghhoring hilltop
to the right flashed by. The monument
is 70 General Herkimer and the bravsI
patriots of 1777, and it marks tie
Orbkany battlefield as well Tho whole
region is storied ground. We got ont
of the train at the little station OF
Orikany, and walked back along the
tow-path of the canal for the first mile,
thence across the latter by bridge and
along rural lane to the highway which
skirts the brow of the hill on which the
monument stands In his cottage over
looking the battlefield, we found Mr..
Rolin NJ. Lewis, the custodian of the
grounds who added much to the inter-
est of our visit by personally guiding us
to the scenes of greatest interest, and,
which being unmarked, we would have
found by ourselves difficult to deter
mine.
The monument stands where the bat
tie was fought, on the edge of sharp
bluff rearing itself above the Mohawk
Valley, on plot of five acres of meadow
purchased by the association for the
purpose. 1t is of Maine granite, eighty
five feet high above the base, which is
of the valley limestone. On each side
of the die of the pedestal is tablet of
bronze six feet wide and four and half
high. Two of the bronzes are pictorial,
directing the fight after receiving his
mortal wound, the other pioneer and
Indian engaged in deadly struggle. On
one of the remaining tablets is the dedi-
cation, and on the other roster con-
tanning the names of those patriots en-
gagged in the fight, as far as they could
be learned-but two hundred and fifty
out of eight hundred. The dedication
was written by Prof. Edward North, OF
Hamilton College, and is in excellent
taste. 1t is as follows:
Here was fought the battle of Oriskany on
the 9Th day Of August. 1577. Here British in.
eral Nicholas Herkimer, intrepid leader OF
the American forces, though mOrtal!y wound
ed, kept command of the fight till the enemy
had fed. The lifc-blood of more than 800
patriot heroes made this ttle-ground sacred
forever.
This Monument was built A. ID. 1883 in the
year of Independence 1O7, BY grateful dwell
ers in the Mohawk Valley, under the direction
of the Oneida Historical Society," aided by the
National Government and the State of New
York.
The first mover in the matter Of
erecting this monument was the Conti-
mental Congress Of l777, which passed
the following resolution:
'.That the Governor and Council of New
York be desired to erect y monument - Con-
memory of the late Brigadier- General Herkt
mer, who commanded the militia Of TryOn
County, in the State of New York, and Wae
killed fighting gallantly in defence Of the lib
critics of these States
But the people were too poor to give
effect to this praiseworthy resolution,
| and it slumbered until in 1876 the
Oneida Historical Society was formed
at UticA when it actively began the
work so long delayed. Public meet
| ings were held, the press enlisted, Con-
gress was appealed to and at length
induced to vote the original sum of
$500, with interest amounting to "a, 100,
to which the Legislature of New York
added $1,000 conditional to q like sum
being raised by private subscription.
The monument was erected in 1883,
and dedicated with appropriate oere-
monies, in the presence of large au-
dience, on the 9th of August, 1884. the
one hundred and seventh anniversary
of the hattle.-Utica en- W Cor. N T.
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