Three Rivers
Hudson~Mohawk~Schoharie
History From America's Most Famous Valleys

The Mohawk Valley and the American Revolution
Published by the State of New York
Nelson A. Rockefeller, Governor
Parks and Recreation
Alexander Aldrich, Commissioner
Historic Trust, Louis C. Jones, Chairman
Albany, NY 1972

The Border Raids

Tories and Indians terrorized communities along the Tryon County frontier in the year following the 1777 campaign. At the fortresses on the Oswego and Niagara Rivers and from a Tory stronghold at Unadilla, on the Susquehanna, they planned their onslaughts. In June, they raided the settlement at Cobleskill; in the following month, a raiding party burned and plundered Springfield, at the head of Otsego Lake; and then Joseph Brant led an assault against the hamlet of Andrustown, located southeast of German Flatts. These successes inspired them to return in September. A Mohawk Valley legend was born that day when Adam Helmer raced, with Indian scouts in pursuit, to warn his neighbors of an impending attack.

<- Grider drew this view of the FORT HERKIMER CHURCH (top left) as it appeared when completed in 1767. It replaced a log building and was later enlarged to its present appearance by the addition of a second story and steeple.

Settlers found refuge in the German Flatts forts and in the stone Fort Herkimer Reformed Church that Johan Jost Herkimer, the father of Nicholas and a dozen other children, had built. The church had been the center of Fort Herkimer since the time of the French and Indian War. From within the stockade, horrified Valley residents watched smoke rising into the sky from their burning barns, homes and mills. The fire left ten miles of the Valley in smoking ruins. But the havoc was not yet over. In November, Tories and Indians under Brant and Walter Butler raided Cherry Valley, a settlement beyond the southern ridge of the Valley. They massacred 32 inhabitants, took 60 to 70 captives and set fire to most of the buildings.

In the next year, 1779, the Americans determined to strike back against the invaders. Generals John Sullivan and James Clinton headed an expedition to "chastise and intimidate the hostile" Indians and to assault the British and Tory base at Fort Niagara. Clinton mustered 1500 troops at Canajoharie whence he transported men, boats and supplies over the 1000 foot elevation of the Valley rim to Springfield. After completing this arduous trek, the troops advanced down Otsego Lake and the Susquehanna River to join forces with Sullivan's men. The Sullivan-Clinton Expedition plundered the rich Indian lands of the Finger Lakes region but did not reach Fort Niagara or totally eliminate future forays in the Mohawk Valley. It did, however, lay the basis for claims to western New York.

-> Grider made this view in 1888 at St. Johnsville, east of the battlefield, showing the Nellis Fort and Blockhouse. The landscape was "true to nature," but all that remained of the fort and blockhouse were a cellar and large stone heap.

Seeking revenge for the Sullivan-Clinton Expedition, Tories and Indians struck panic in Valley settlements by frequent raids in 1780. Sir John Johnson returned in May to Johnson Hall and moved into the Valley to cause more destruction. In June, raiders destroyed the small mills at Little Falls. Later, Joseph Brant and his followers came down Canajoharie Creek, burning dwellings and barns along the way and along the south bank of the Mohawk between Canajoharie and Fort Plain. The Fort Plain Stockade and barracks, on the brow of a hill west of the village, provided only a feeble defense, but, eventually, a unique three-story blockhouse was constructed at the spot. Other raiders ravaged the Schoharie Valley where inhabitants took refuge in local fortifications. Unsuccessful in storming the "Old Stone Fort" (the Dutch Reformed Church erected in Schoharie in 1772), the assailants swept on to devastate the area around Fort Hunter. Sir John's fiery assaults came to a climax in October when he defeated Patriot forces at Stone Arabia and escaped from an attack at Klock's Field, east of St. Johnsville.

<-Rufus Grider sketched FORT PLAIN (top right) in 1886 to show its appearance during the American Revolution when it had palisades, blockhouse, barracks and bastions.

Palisades were erected around sturdy stone houses in the Valley, and two dozen blockhouses or forts became the centers for life in the area. Scouts and spies continued to terrorize the Valley. Marauders struck at Currytown but were driven off following an engagement at Sharon Springs. In October 1781, Walter Butler with Tories, Indians, and regulars numbering about 1000 advanced on the Mohawk. Troops from Fort Hunter and Canajoharie along with Tryon County militia caught up with the foe and fell on them in the woods one-half mile west of Johnson Hall. The Battle of Johnstown fought on October 25, 1781, was the final, full-scale engagement of the war on New York soil.

Butler's men retreated from Johnstown with the militia in pursuit. The Patriots under Colonel Marinus Willett caught up with the Tories five days later on West Canada Creek where, in a running fight along the stream, they killed Butler and routed the Indians. The militia returned in triumph to proclaim the end of bloody events in the Mohawk Valley.

The Johnsons' operations were over. By the "Acts of Attainder," passed by the New York State Legislature, Sir John, his brother-in-law, Guy, the Butlers and others had their property, both real and personal, forfeited to, and vested in, the people of the State of New York. The name of Johnson once held in reverence and awe came to be equated with treason and disloyalty.

Mohawk Valley in The Revolution