Attack on German Flatts ( 1757 ) On November 12 , 1757 during the French and Indian War , a company of French and Indian warriors staged an attack on German Flatts , on the north side of the Mohawk River in the British Province of New York . The settlement of Palatine German refugees and their families was destroyed , and many of the women and children were taken prisoner . ( Since 1788 the village has been called Herkimer , New York and not German Flatts . ) Background . The campaign season for 1757 had been a successful one for authorities in New France . The British had failed in an expedition against Louisbourg , and defeated at Fort William Henry by the French and their Indian allies . New France ' s governor , the Marquis de Vaudreuil , had attempted to convince German settlers in the Mohawk River valley to support the French cause . When the Germans failed to support the French in the assault on Fort William Henry in August , Vaudreuil decided to send a punitive expedition against them . He attacked the settlement called German Flatts , on the north side of the Mohawk River west of Little Falls . ( This settlement is where present - day Herkimer , New York is located , and not the modern German Flatts on the south side of the Mohawk River . ) Vaudreuil assembled a force of about 300 at Lachine under the command of François - Marie Picoté de Belestre , an experienced commander in the " troupes de la marine " . On October 20 , this company left Lachine and traveled up the Saint Lawrence River and along the shore of Lake Ontario to the mouth of the Oswego River , site of another French victory in 1756 . From there they traveled up the river , crossed the Oneida Carry to the Mohawk River , and descended to German Flatts . They arrived near the settlement on November 11 . At the time , German Flatts consisted of about 30 homes and 300 settlers , with five fortified blockhouse s . Although friendly Oneida had warned of the attack , the settlers had made no defensive preparations . Attack . On November 12 , 1757 at around 3 am , Belestre ' s force launched an attack on German Flatts from the hills north of the village . The five blockhouses quickly surrendered before the superior force . Forty people were killed , all the buildings were destroyed , and more than 100 of the inhabitants , mostly women and children , were captured and taken back to Montreal . Some of the inhabitants fled across the Mohawk to Fort Herkimer for safety . The fort ' s commander sent out a detachment of fifty men , but they retreated after a brief exchange of gunfire with Belestre ' s force . The next day Belestre departed , his canoes loaded with prisoners and plunder ; he returned to Montreal on November 20 . Aftermath . News reached Schenectady the day after the attack . General George Howe immediately came up the river with the 42nd Regiment , but found nothing more than the smoking ruins of the settlement . Most of the prisoners were later exchanged for those held by the British . Gradually the German residents returned and rebuilt the settlement . During the American Revolutionary War , German Flatts was attacked in 1778 , with considerable loss of life and crops . Fighting on the frontier in the valley was fierce during those years .