Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1889-04-26
BATTLE or ORISKANY.
The Most Obstinate of All the Sanguine
Fights of the Revolution.

The Most Obstinate of All the Sanguine
Fights of the Revolution.
About two miles west of Oriskany, the
road was crossed by deep semi-circular
ravine, concave toward the east. The bot
tom of this ravine, writes Prof. John Fiske
in the Atlantic, was swamp, across which
the road was carried by causeway of logs,
and the steep banks on either side were
thickly covered with trees and underbrush.
The practiced eye of Thayendanegea at once
perceived the rare advantage of such a no.
sition, and an ambuscade was soon prepared
with skill as deadly as that which once
had wrecked the proud army of Braddock.
But this time it was meeting of Greek
with Greek, and the wiles of the savage
chief were foiled by desperate valor which
nothing could overcome. By ten o'clock the
main body of Herklmer's army had descend
ed into the ravine, followed by the wagons,
while the rear-guard was still on the rising
ground behind. At this moment they were
greeted by a murderous volley from either
side, while Johnsons Greens came charg-
ing down upon them in front, and the
Indians, with frightful yells, swarmed
in behind and cut off the rear guard,
which was thus obliged to retreat to
save itself. For moment the main
body was thrown into confusion, but it
soon rallied and formed itself in a circle,
which neither bayonet charges nor musket
fire could break or penetrate The scene
which ensued was one of the most Internal
that the history of savage warfare has ever
witnessed. The dark ravine was filled with
mass of fifteen hundred human beings,
screaming and cursing, slipping in the mire,
pushing and struggling, seizing each others
throats, stabbing, shooting and dashing out
p~1s 80 @.r
wards found lying in the bog where they
had gone down in photographic. their
cold hands still grasping the knives
plunged in each others hearts.
Early in the fight musket ball slew Her.
kimers horse and shattered his own leg
just below the knee; but the old hero, moth
ing daunted, and batting nothing of mis-
coolness in the midst of the horrid
struggle, had the saddle taken from his
dead horse and placed at the foot of great
beech-tree, where, taking his seat and
lighting his pipe. he continued shouting his
orders in stentorian voice and directing
the progress of the battle. Nature present
ly enhanced the lurid horror of the scene.
The heat of the August morning had been
intolerable, and black. .thunder-clouds, over
hanging the deep ravine at the beginning of
the action, had enveloped it in darkness
like that of night. Now the rain came pour
ing in torrents, while gusts of wind howled
through the tree-tops, and sheets of
lightning flashed in quick succession,
with a continuous roar of thunder that
drowned the noise of the fray. The wet
rifles could no longer be fired, but hatchet,
knife and bayonet carried on the work of
butchery, until, after more than five hun
dred men had been killed or wounded, the
Indians gave way and fed in all directions,
and the Tory soldiers, disconnected, began
to retreat up the western road, while the
patriot army, remaining in possession of
the hard-won field, felt itself too weak to
pursue them.
AZ this moment, as the storm cleared
away and long rays of sunshine began
through the wet leaves, the
sound of the three signal-guns came boom
ing through the air, and presently sharp
of musketry was heard from the
direction of Fort Stanwix. Startled by this
ominous sound, the Tories made all possible
haste to JOIN their own army, while the
patriots bearing their wounded on litters
Of green boughs, returned in sad pro-
cession to Oriskany. With their COM
helpless and more than one-third
Of their number slain or disabled, they
were in no condition to engage in a fresh
conflict, and unwllingly confessed that the
at Fort Stanwix must be left to do
its part of the work alone. Upon the ar
rival of the messengers Colonel Ganse- |
WORT had at once taken in the whole sit |
uation He understood the mysterious fir
ing in the forest, saw that Herkimer must
have been prematurely attacked, and
ordered his sortie instantly, to serve as
diversion. The sortie was brilliant sue
cess. Sir John johnson, with his Tories
and Inc ians, was completely routed and |
driven across the river. Colonel Marinus |
Willett took possession of his camp, and |
held it while seven wagons were three |
times loaded with spoil and sent to be un-
loaded in the fort. Among all this spoil, to-
gether with abundance of food and drink,
blankets and clothes, tools and ammunition,
the victors captured five British standards,
and all Johnson's papers, maps and mem
oranda, containing full instructions for the
projected campaign. After this useful ex-
plot. Colonel Willett returned to the fort |
and hoisted the captured British standards,
while over them he raised an uncouth flag, |
intended to represent the American stars
and stripes, which Congress had adopted
in June as the National banner. This rude |
flag, hastily extemporiZed out OF white |
shirt, an old blue jacket, and some stripes |
Of red cloth from the petticoat OF soldiers |
wife, was the first American flag with stars |
and stripes that was ever hoisted, and it
was first flung to the breeze on the mern-
orable day of Oriskany, Augusta, 1771
OF all the battles of the revolution, this |
was perhaps the most obstinate and MUIR
derous. Each side seems to have lost not
less than one-third of its whole number;
and Of those lost, nearly all were killed, as
it was largely hand-to-hand struggle, like
the battles of ancient times, and no quar-
ter was given on either side. The number
Of surviving wounded, who were carried
back to Oriskany, does not seem to have ex- |
ceeded forty. Among these was the in
domitable Herkimer, whose shattered leg
was so unskilfuly treated that he died
few days later, sitting in bed propped by
pillows, calmly smoking his Dutch pipe and
reading his Bible at the thirty-eighth fsaim'