Rome Free Academy - De O Wain Sta Yearbook (Rome, NY)

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1s THE SENIOR ANNUAL was in confusion by their eagerness to reach the enemy, but Herkimer soon had some degree of order with Colonel Vis- scher and the Caughnawaga Company in the the wagons. rear as guard of ammunition Colonel St. Leger had been apprised of General Herkimer’s approach on the evening of the 5th, and decided to mee t in the field rather than at hiscamp, and, accordingly, he dispatched Major Watts with eighty men of Sir John Johnson's Royal Greens, Sir John’s brother-in-law, the Brant, whose purpose was to seduce the mn lo carry and entire body of Indians under Americans into an ambuscade. out this scheme, a spot was selected two The the place was ideal for such miles west from Oriskany. topo- graphy of an enterprise. Here south, both opening to the north, were two ravines running north and and divided by a plateau of a few acres. About fifty feet above the ravine to the west the British troops were stationed, being sheltered by trees and bushes. The the eastern ravine. Indians were ambushed on east, north and south of the Meanwhile, General Herkimer had left Oriskany Creek, entirely ignorant of the ambuscade the enemy had prepared for him, only two miles distant. Herkimer’s troop entered the eastern end of the ravine, crossing the plank the the When they neared the western road which was used to transport heavy cannon and -wagons across swamp. slope a stray crack of a rifle was heard, fell This seemed to be a signal for action, and General Cox from his horse. for now rifle shot and war-whoop rang out from both sides. At the Herkimer drove his horse down the hill, and rally- first shot General ing his surprised men succeeded in draw- ing them up the slope. Colonel Visscher and a part of the Caughnawaga company had become sep- arated in the confusion and fled, followed by many of the Indians. General Herkimer had scarcely got his troops into a semblance of order when he was hit in the leg by a bullet, which at He did not retire from the field but seated him- self having lighted his pipe, continued to di- the same time killed his horse. upon his saddle under a tree, and, rect the manoceuvers of his army in his cool and collective manner. The The their bayonets. struggle lasted nearly an hour. discarded the fire and used But this action made no the enemy impression upon Americans who fought stubbornly. storm now burst upon the armies and them The rain lasted nearly an hour and the A severe forced to seek shelter. Americans took advantage of this occa- sion by binding up their wounds and carefully reloading their muskets. The storm finally passed over, and the battle sultry was resumed in the middle of a The the Americans, who were now formed on the the day. new position of south, being con- the Indians to plateau towards cealed by bushes caused become uneasy, to such an extent, that Major Watts advanced Royal Greens which had been As they with a detach- ment of sent out by Colonel S t. Leger. drew nearer, the Americans fired upon them, but they kept on advancing until the became a hand-to-hand en- counter. fight The signal guns were now heard from the voort’s advance. fort, announcing General Ganse- This signal was taken Butler, changed the dress of a company of Royal advantage of by General who Greens so they resembled the Americans, the hats coats of the dead for the occasion. ‘These the direction of using and met the patriots approached from

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Tue SENIOR ANNUAL 17 erected and named Fort Schuyler in honor of General Philip Schuyler. In 1777 General Peter put in command of Fort Schuyler, and when he found the work in an unfinished condition. But about a month later Colonel Marinus Willett and his regi- ment were assigned to the fort, and with Gansevoort was reached there he the assistance of General Gansevoort had the fort existing conditions would permit, being totally the strength of the besieging forces. in as defensible a state as the character and The garrison consisted of 950 men who had plenty of ammunition for their rifles but an insufficient amount for the cannon. In June, Thomas Spencer, a friendly Oneida half-breed, son that a body of troops comprising seven hundred Indians, under Joseph Brant, hundred and six hundred Tories, under Sir John Johnson ignorant of informed the garri- four regulars and Colonel St. Leger, were assembled at Oswego, and thence march to the Mo- hawk valley with Fort Schuyler as their objective point. This news did not arouse the slow Ger- mans of the upper valley, but seemed to paralyze them with fear. To counteract their timidity, Herkimer in- formed the inhabitants of the assembling of the asked all between the ages of 16 and 60 to be in readiness to go into battle at a moment’s notice, while preparations were made for the care of the women, children and invalids. His appeal had its intended effect and soon the militia and people who had be- of the nearness of the enemy moved with a degree of alacrity, which contrasted strongly with former fear. On the 3d of August Colonel St. Leger reached the fort with his forces of Tories and savages and demanded immediate surrender. No notice was taken of this General enemy’s forces at Oswego and come conscious their - command, and on the following morning St. rather confident, for he assured that Fort Schuyler would soon be in his possession and they hostilities commenced. Leger ap- peared General Burgoyne would meet as victors at Albany. St. Leger’s Fort Schuyler soon became known throughout the Mo- hawk valley and the inhabitants nobly with General August 4 Fort arrival at responded in accordance Herkimer’s appeal, eight hundred Dayton, now the town of Herkimer. When the Fort Schuyler and tried to scare the gar- their yells, General Herkimer and on had assembled at Indians gained access to rison by at Whitestown, the fort with was only eight miles from men. During the party’s stay at Whitestown General Herkimer sent Adam Hilmer and two scouts to inform General Gansevoort nearly a thousand of his approach and arrange matters for ry The ar- messengers was to be the co-operation of both armies. rival of the nounced by of cannon, but the couriers experienced an- three successive discharges considerable trouble in reaching the fort and did not arrive until 10 o’clock the following morning. The signal guns then fired, and General Herkimer made immediate plans for advancing, by which he hoped to divert the enemy’s at- tention. But on the morning of the 6th mutiny broke out in Herkimer’s camp. The junior officers and men became impetuous and denounced the slow movement of the General who would not march until he had some evidence that an advance would be made from the fort; but, finally, the taunts of his soldiers were incensed him so that he jumped upon a log and cried, “‘If you will have it so, the blood be upon your heads.” his sword he shouted in a voice all could hear, ‘“Vor- warts.” Waving For a few moments everything

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Tut fort, and were first thonght to be rein- forcements from Fort Schuyler, but Cap- tain and some of his Caugh- nawaga men path. He soon detected their strategy and ordered About thirty were slain and the remainder fled in con- Gardinier were in their his men to fire upon them. fusion. The Indians, seeing how bravely the Amerieans fought, and, being tired after six hours of hard fighting, raised the retreating cry of ““Oonah! Oonah !” and ran in every direction. The Tories, seeing every one had deserted them, also retreated, leaving the Americans victors of the field. Thus ended the battle of The one upon which the English placed Oriskany. so much confidence, but in which they were so thoroughly beaten that it broke up their future plans of the Revolution, and ultimately ended in the surrender of General Burgoyne to General Gates at Saratoga. Senior Hallowe'en Pariy. fix class of ulated upon the success of the Hal- 1908 is to be congrat- With our usual wise and lowe’en party. conservative foresight, we began to make Many secret meetings were held behind closed preparations weeks before time. and guarded doors. Excitement waxed within the whisper high council chamber, but not a concerning our plans reached the curious and mystified under- Not until the day before did we decide upon the place of rendezvous, classmen. for childish plans to kidnap our worthy The final decision of the class was that we were to meet at Kautman’s farm, on North James street, at 6:30, where two large hay wag- ons were to convey us to the Olney can- ning factory in Westernville. ther precaution President had been disclosed. As a fur- for the safety of our SENIOR ANNUAL 19 President, it was deemed best for him to start in a private rig immediately after the body-guard, which would act as a recep- afternoon session, with a suitable tion committee to welcome the rest- As the class represented quality instead of quantity, each member invited a guest We also took the junior orchestra along, but due to a seri- to enjoy the occasion. the way, they said they We should for anything ous mishap on lost nearly all of their music. have expected as much, pertaining to the Juniors always ends in a fizzle. When we reached Westernville, great Red lights and cheers greeted us as we drove into signs of festivity were seen. the village. and upon our arrival at the canning factory, we were immediately escorted to the store-room, which was to The : es ’ : about the size of Seegar’s dancing hall had had previously been waxed. The room was be the scene of action. room was and a very good floor, which decorated with pumpkins and ears of corn and lighted withelectricity. At 10 o'clock a sumptuous supper was served. The members of the class took the ‘‘good things’ along, and hot coffee and cream potatoes were made by one of the West- ernville ladies, whose daughter, we were fortunate enough to call one of the class. After supper everybody enjoyed danc- ing, that is, when the orchestra could be prevailed upon to render a few selec- tions. Many who were not fortunate enough to be inside, had the pleasure of hanging around on the outside to hear the fun. At 2 o’clock we started for home. It was a beautiful morning, there being a full moon, and every one enjoyed the ride. The first load was well provided for, having both chaperons and Stevens’ ‘ head of light,” but no one seems to be Frank Evans ably entertained Florence Waldo able to vouch for the second load.