Battle of Cobleskill
Battle of Cobleskill | |||||||
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Part of the American Revolutionary War | |||||||
Map detail showing the western frontier of New York. Cobleskill and Cherry Valley are marked in red, Unadilla and Onaquaga (spelled "Oghwaga" on the map) are marked in blue. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Great Britain Iroquois | United States | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Joseph Brant |
William Patrick † Christian Brown | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
200–300 Loyalists and Iroquois |
30–40 regulars 15–20 militia | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
22 killed 8 wounded 5 captured |
The Battle of Cobleskill (also known as the Cobleskill Massacre) was an
A small party of Iroquois entered Cobleskill and drew the local defenders into a trap set by a much larger party of Iroquois and Loyalists under the command of Joseph Brant. After killing a number of the regulars and militia, and driving off the remainder, Brant's forces destroyed much of the settlement. Months later, regulars and militia commanded by Lieutenant Colonel William Butler retaliated against Brant's actions against Cobleskill and other communities by destroying two Iroquois villages on the Susquehanna River. A year later, Continental Army forces razed 40 Iroquois villages during the Sullivan Expedition.
Background
Following the
In 1778, the settlement of Cobleskill consisted of twenty families living on farms spread out along Cobleskill Creek. It was part of the Schoharie area which was a significant source of food for the Patriot war effort.[8] Its principal defense was the small local militia under Captain Christian Brown. When attacks by the Iroquois were rumored to be coming in the spring of 1778, the militia appealed for additional support. Continental Army Colonel Ichabod Alden sent a company of thirty to forty men from his 7th Massachusetts Regiment under Captain William Patrick to reinforce the militia.[9][10]
Battle
On the morning of May 30, Brant laid a trap for Cobleskill's defenders. He sent forward a small number of his warriors as a lure. Captain Patrick's regulars and the local militia spotted them near the southern edge of the settlement. Despite Captain Brown's warning that the enemy might be setting a trap, Patrick pressed forward as the warriors withdrew, engaging them in a running battle. Patrick pressed the pursuit for roughly a mile. Brant sprung his trap and Patrick's company was engulfed by Brant's larger force. Both Patrick and his second-in-command were killed in the battle, as was about half of their men. Brown rallied the remaining forces and began a fighting withdrawal back to the settlement.[11] Five men took refuge in the house of George Warner which the attackers set on fire, killing all five. A total of 22 regulars and militia were killed, eight were wounded, and five were captured.[12] The bodies of Patrick and some of the others were later found horribly mutilated.[6] The postwar claim that Brant's force suffered 25 killed[13][14] has been called "highly dubious" by Canadian historian Gavin Watt.[15]
Aftermath
During the battle, the inhabitants of Cobleskill fled their homes and escaped. Brant and his men burned ten houses as well as their associated outbuildings before withdrawing. Any horses or cattle that they could not bring with them were killed.[14]
One of the prisoners from the 7th Massachusetts, Lieutenant Jonathan Maynard, later claimed that Brant spared his life. According to Maynard, Brant's warriors were preparing to torture and burn their captives when Brant noticed the Masonic symbols marked in ink on Maynard's arms. Brant stayed the executions and Maynard and the others were taken as prisoners first to Fort Niagara, and later to Montreal. He was exchanged in December 1780.[16] Maynard's account is related in William Denslow's 10,000 Famous Freemasons along with stories of five other masons who were likewise saved by Brant during the war.[17] Brant considered following up the attack on Cobleskill with one on Cherry Valley, but because the militia was on high alert, he withdrew to Onaquaga.
Brant continued recruiting Loyalist and Indigenous volunteers, and raiding frontier communities in the
The settlers of Cobleskill who were rendered destitute by the action received £200 in compensation for their troubles.[10] Settlers from many smaller communities in the area began withdrawing to larger, better fortified communities like Cherry Valley (which began construction of a fort after the raid) and Schenectady. This action and later ones by Brant and Butler contributed to the decision by the Continental Congress to authorize a major Continental Army expedition into Iroquois territory.[23] Commanded by Generals John Sullivan and James Clinton, the 1779 expedition systematically destroyed the villages of Iroquois tribes fighting for the British, but did little to stop the frontier war.[24]
Notes
- ^ This action was misreported in some early histories as occurring in 1779.
- ^ Graymont 1972, pp. 155–156.
- ^ Kelsay 1984, p. 212.
- ^ Graymont 1972, p. 160.
- ^ Barr 2006, p. 150.
- ^ a b Kelsay 1984, p. 216.
- ^ Halsey 1902, p. 207.
- ^ Abrams 1907, pp. 35–37.
- ^ Watt 2017, p. 137.
- ^ a b Abrams 1907, p. 37.
- ^ Graymont 1972, p. 165.
- ^ Barr 2006, p. 151.
- ^ Allen 2010, p. 255.
- ^ a b Graymont 1972, p. 166.
- ^ Watt 2017, pp. 140–141.
- ^ Parr 2009.
- ^ Denslow 1957, p. 156.
- ^ Graymont 1972, pp. 166–167.
- ^ Mintz 1999, p. 51.
- ^ Halsey, pp. 229–234.
- ^ Barr 2006, p. 152.
- ^ Halsey 1902, p. 240.
- ^ Graymont 1972, p. 167.
- ^ Graymont 1972, p. 240.
References
- Abrams, Alfred W. (1907). "Schoharie in the Border Warfare of the Revolution". Proceedings of the New York Historical Society. 7.
- Allen, Thomas B (2010). Tories: Fighting for the King in America's First Civil War. New York: HarperCollins. OCLC 535495473.
- Barr, Daniel (2006). Unconquered: the Iroquois League at War in Colonial America. Westport, CT: Praeger. OCLC 260132653.
- Denslow, William R. (1957). 10,000 Famous Freemasons. Vol. 3. Richmond, Virginia: Macoy Publishing.
- Graymont, Barbara (1972). The Iroquois in the American Revolution. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press. ISBN 978-0-8156-0116-6.
- Halsey, Francis Whiting (1902). The Old New York Frontier. New York: C. Scribner's Sons. OCLC 7136790.
- Kelsay, Isabel Thompson (1986). Joseph Brant, 1743–1807, Man of Two Worlds. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press. OCLC 13823422.
- Mintz, Max (1999). Seeds of Empire: The American Revolutionary Conquest of the Iroquois. New York: New York University Press. OCLC 40632646.
- Parr, James L.; Swope, Kevin A. (2009). Framingham Legends & Lore. Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press. ISBN 978-1596295650.
- Watt, Gavin K. (2017). Fire & Desolation: The Revolutionary War's 1778 Campaign: As Waged From Quebec and Niagara against the American Frontiers. Toronto, Ontario: Dundurn. ISBN 978-1-4597-3858-4.