The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-03-27
0RISKANY.
MOST sANGUINARY CONFLICT
OF TIE REVOLUTION.
The Desperate Valor of the Old Con-
tinentals Foils an Ambuscade
-Indomitable Herkimer-
The First Starry Banner.

About two miles west OF Crlskany, N.
Y, writes John Fiske in the atlantic
Monthly, the road was crossed by deep
semi-circular ravir e, concave toward the
east. The bottom of this ravine was
swamp, across which the road was car
ried by causeway of logs, and the steep
banks on either side were th:ckly covered
with trees and underbrush. The prac-
ticed eye of Thayendanegea at once per-
ceived the rare advantage of such o
position, 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 a
meeting of Greek with Greek, and the
wiles of the savage chief were foiled by
q desperate .valor which nothing could
overcome. By ten o'clock the main
body of Herkimer's army had descended
into the ravine, followed by the wagons,
while the rear guard was still on the ris-
ing ground behind. At this moment
they were greeted by q murderous volley
from either side, while Johnson's Greens
came charging 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 cir
Gle, which neither bayonet charges nor
musket fire could break nor penetrate.
The scene that ensued was one of the
most internal that the history of savage
warfare has ever witnessed. The dark,
ravine was filled with q mass of fifteen
hundred human beings: screaming and
cursing, slipping in the mire, pushing
and strugg ing, seizing each others
throats, stabbing, shooting and dashing
out brains. Bodies of neighbors were
sfterward found lying in the bog, where
they had gone down in death grapple,
their cold hands still grasping the knives
plunged in each others hearts.
Early in the fight a musket.ball slew
Herkimers horse. and shattered his own
leg lust below the knee; but the old
hero, nothing daunted, and batting moth
ing of his GOODNESS 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 con-
tinued shouting his orders in stento.ian
voice and directing the progress of the
battle. Nature presently enhanced the
lurid horror of the scene. The heat of
the August morning had been intoler-
able, and black thunder clouds, over
hanging the deep ravine at the begin.
ming of the action, had enveloped it in:
darkness like that of night Now the
rain came pouring 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 hundred 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.
At this moment, as the storm cleared
away, and long rays of sunshine began
ficker.ng through the wet leaves, the
sound of the three signal-guns came
booming through the air, and presently
sharp cracking of musketry was heard
from the direction of Fort Stanwix.
Startled by this omninous sound, the
Tories made all possible haste to join
their own army, while the patriots, bear
ing their wounded on litters of green
boughs, returned in sad procession to
Oriskany. With their commander help
less and more than one-third of their
mum or slain or disabled, they were in
no condition to engage in fresh con.
tlict, and unwillingly confessed that the
garrison of Fort Stanwix must be left to
do its part of the work alone. Upon the
arrival Of the messengers, Colonel Ganse.
voort had at once taken in the whole sit.
uation. He understood the mysterious
firing in the forest, s:w that Herkimer
must have been prematurely attacked,
and ordered his sortie instantly, to serve
rs a diversion. The sortie was a brill
ant sue. ess. Sir John johnson, with
his Tories and Indians, 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 unloaded IN the
fort. Among all this spoil, together
with abundance of food and drink,
blankets and clothes, tools and ammuni-
tion, the vi tors captured five British
standards, and all Johnson's papers,
mans, and memoranda, obtaining full
instructions for the proje ted campaign.
After this useful exploit Colonel vii.
lett returned to the fort and hoisted the
captured British standards, while over
them he raised an un outh flag, intended
to represent the Ameri; an stars and
stripes, which Congress had adopted in
June as the national banner. THIS rude
flag. hastily xtemporized out of white
shirt, an cd blue jacket, and some strips
of red tloth from the petit oat of SOL
d;er's wife, was the first Ameri an flag
with stars and stripes that was ever
hoisted, and it was first flung to the
breeze on the memorable day Of Oris-
kany, August 6, III.
Of all the battles of the Revolution,
this was perhaps the most obstinate and
murderous. Zach 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 quarter was giver on either
side. The numb Der of surviving wounded,
who were carried back to Oriskany,
does not seem to have exceeded forty.
Among these was the indomitable Herki-
mer, whose shattered leg was so unskill-
fully treated that he died o few days