Battle of Oriskany
The Battle of Oriskany was an event on August 6, 1777 during the Saratoga campaign in the American War of Independence .
An American militia unit under General Nicholas Herkimer was ambushed and largely wiped out by pro-British loyalists under Barry St. Leger . On the British side, a large contingent of Indians under Joseph Brant and John Butler took part in the attack.
With their action, the Americans wanted to terrorize Fort Stanwix , which was besieged by the British , but were repulsed. Herkimer was critically wounded in the process, but still organized an orderly retreat. A severe thunderstorm gave surviving Americans a chance to escape, but half of the men were dead, wounded, or captured.
However, the battle allowed the besieged a sortie, in which the supplies of the besiegers were largely destroyed and thus contributed to the failure of the British Saratoga campaign.
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/07/Orisgany_Edenkoben_Lederstrumpfbrunnen.jpg/170px-Orisgany_Edenkoben_Lederstrumpfbrunnen.jpg)
In the battle, Johann Adam Hartmann took part, who is considered one of the models for the fictional character Leatherstocking by the American writer James Fenimore Cooper .
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Coordinates: 43 ° 10 ′ 38.1 ″ N , 75 ° 22 ′ 10.3 ″ W.