Nicholas Herkimer - Hero of the American Revolution

by Elaine Marie Cooper

The gorgeous Mohawk Valley in upstate New York hosts the home of Nicholas Herkimer, a war hero during the American Revolution. He was a Brigadier General of the Tryon County (New York) militia—a man virtually unknown to me until I saw the John Ford film classic, “Drums Along the Mohawk” a few years ago.

Herkimer was the third generation in New York of a group known as German Palatines. They descended from the 13,000 Germans who fled the attacks by the French in their homeland in the early 1700’s. England sent 3,000 of these refugees to the colonies as slaves who needed to work off their passage to the New World.

An opportunity arose for the Palatines to own land when the colony of New York offered acreage along the Mohawk River Valley. This was hardly altruistic on the part of the colony. This was unprotected territory on the fringe of New York where the Palatines were used as buffers for any attacks by the French or unfriendly Native Americans.

Herkimer’s grandfather settled on a tract near Little Falls where he set up a trading business that thrived. Although the family started out as indentured servants in America, the family home near Little Falls speaks to the prosperity that succeeding generations procured through trading, land speculation and farming.

The Herkimer family home was fortified during the French and Indian War. Nicholas, only in his 20’s, had his first military command at Fort Herkimer in 1757.

The oldest of 13 children, Herkimer was given a tract of land from his father in 1760. That is where he built a brick home for his own family.

When the Revolution broke out, Herkimer took up the Patriot cause and was named Colonel of a militia battalion for the Continentals. In 1776, he was promoted to Brigadier General. Besides the threat of British troops, the residents of the Mohawk Valley were under constant threat from unfriendly Indians who declared their loyalty to the King of England.

The situation became explosive when an Oneida blacksmith informed Herkimer of a British force under Brigadier General Barry St. Leger coming from the north. This massive army consisted of the British regulars, American Loyalists, and Indians. They intended to attack at Fort Stanwix, then occupied by Continental troops from New York and Massachusetts.

Herkimer mustered 800 men (including a group of Oneida Indians) to join the American militia to try to stop St. Leger. They arrived at the Oneida Village of Oriska on August 5, 1777. Communication with the fort was delayed and discontent among Herkimer’s officers, who accused the Brigadier General of being a Loyalist like his brother, infuriated Herkimer. He ordered his troops forward.

St. Leger learned of the approaching militia and sent a large force to attack. They waited in ambush.

The battle that followed on Oriskany (or-iss’-cunny) Creek became one of the bloodiest of the American Revolution with musket fire erupting from three sides and militiamen falling one on top of the other.

Herkimer himself was wounded when bullets felled his horse and one musket ball passed through his leg. Herkimer’s men dragged him under a tree, where the general (propped on his saddle) continued to direct his men. The battle continued but the militia suffered the loss of an estimated 500 soldiers. The losses might have been greater except for a sudden and severe thunderstorm that interrupted the fighting. The storm gave Herkimer time to tighten the resistance.

Although both sides claimed victory, the Battle of Oriskany is traditionally viewed as an American defeat. However, the battle marked a turning point in St. Leger’s command. As word of approaching reinforcements under Major General Benedict Arnold reached his ears, St. Leger began retreating to Lake Ontario. This retreat prevented his army from reinforcing British General John Burgoyne in Saratoga—the battle that was the turning point in favor of the American Continentals in October, 1777.

As for Brigadier General Nicholas Herkimer, he was carried by his surviving men to his home in Little Falls. When his wound became infected, it was decided that his leg needed amputation. Uncontrolled bleeding after the amputation signaled the end was near. It is reported that Herkimer called for his pipe and Bible, and read out loud until he passed into eternity.

Although most accounts state his date of death as August 16, 1777, his tombstone in the cemetery next to his home is engraved with the date he died: August 17, 1777.

Nicholas Herkimer’s legacy is memorialized in his lovely Colonial home in Little Falls, New York. It inspires a visitor to remember his remarkable achievement in the steps leading to the resolution of the Revolution. Huzzah, General Herkimer.

Elaine Marie Cooper is the author of Fields of the Fatherless, Winner of the 2014 Selah Award for YA Fiction and Best Religious Fiction for the 2014 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. She has also penned the award-winning Deer Run Saga. You can visit her website here.

Ahoy, the Boat!

The Battle of Trafalgar 1805

This week, on October 21, Britain observed Trafalgar Day, celebrating the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar, a monumental clash between the British Royal Navy and the combined French and Spanish fleets. The victorious British ended the threat of Napoleon's invasion of England. 

British naval hero Admiral Horatio Nelson was mortally wounded aboard his ship Victory, but went on to be their most celebrated naval hero. Much like our U.S.S Constitution, H.M.S. Victory is an amazing walk-through 'living' museum in Portsmouth, England.

H.M.S Victory- Horatio Nelson's Flagship during the Battle of Trafalgar

During the 18^th and 19^th centuries, it would be hard to imagine an American Navy that did not take its lead from the mighty British Navy, yet it was that same foreign navy that twice pushed the building up of ours.

In the years leading up to the Revolutionary War, states relied on their sea-going merchants to keep an eye on activity along our borders and across the seas.  When Independence was claimed, some states created their own navies with the help of privateers. The first U.S. Navy was established on October 13^th 1775. Benedict Arnold ordered twelve ships built to slow the British’s plan of invading from Canada but by the end of the war, nearly all Continental ships had been destroyed by the superior British Navy. The bulk of the work was done by Privateers who carried “Letters of Marque” allowing them to act on behalf of the American Navy. It is estimated that nearly $66 million dollars worth of property was seized from British merchant ships.

After the Treaty of Paris, the navy was demobilized until the Naval Act of 1794 which once again created an official U.S. Navy. This time, it was to deal with pirates in the Mediterranean.  With tensions in Europe, especially between Britain, France and Spain, the neutral United States still had her hands full trying to maintain free trade.

By 1805, Britain and France and Spain were years into two officially separate wars. On October 21^st, twenty-seven British ships fought thirty-three French and Spanish ships off Cape Trafalgar on the southwest coast of Spain. Despite their lower numbers, most of the British ships were ‘ships of the line’, the largest and most powerful.  Led by Commodore Nelson's  spectacular battle strategy, the British gained a decisive victory. War went on with Napoleon on land for years, but never again did France or Spain challenge the British Navy in any large contingent.

British Press Gangs

Struggling to keep their massive war ships going, on a global basis, the British Navy continued to press (detain and force into labor) American seaman. This was one of the reasons cited for the U.S' second declaration of war against Great Britain in 1812.

This time, the U.S. Navy was prepared with better ships, and better-manned and were often equally matched with the British Navy. Despite hostilities, the two navies were birds of a feather and again it came down to strategy of commanding officers.   

the U.S.S Constitution out for a celebratory two hundredth anniversary sail 2012

Three American naval officers still bear the highest respect for their War of 1812 defeats of the powerful "Nelson's Navy".

Captain Isaac Hull of the U.S.S. Constitution for multiple sea battle wins,
Captain Oliver Perry for his win on the U.S. Brig Niagara in the Battle of Lake Erie, and Captain Thomas MacDonough aboard the U.S. Saratoga for the war’s last major U.S. win, the battle of Lake Champlain. 

The Battle of Plattsburgh on Lake Champlain, near Chazy NY

Without glorifying war, we are still able to marvel at the beauty of tall ships and the skill of the men who sailed them in the golden age of  sail. I admit to being a bit obsessed with these ships and this period in U.S and British history. Thank you for stopping by!

(all images from Wikipedia)

For more on the Navy, see

Hammocks, a Sailor's Bed

The Tender Romance of Henry and Lucy Knox

It was a typical morning at breakfast that June 29, 1776. Lucy was relaxing with her husband, American General Henry Knox, in a beautiful mansion overlooking New York Harbor. The palatial building served as the Continental Army’s base of operations.

What should have been an ordinary morning meal shared between the couple, however, took a drastic turn.

Terror seized Lucy as she looked down through the second-story window and saw the British fleet filling up the harbor. The Colonial city was under attack and gunfire from the American forces to alert the residents erupted everywhere.

In David McCullough’s 1776, he quotes a letter written by Henry Knox to his brother William about that frightening morning:

“You can scarcely conceive of the distress and anxiety which (Lucy) then had. The city in an uproar, the alarm guns firing, the troops repairing to their posts, and everything in the height of bustle. I not at liberty to attend her, as my country cries loudest.”

According to McCullough, Henry Knox had been trying to get Lucy to leave the city with their infant daughter for several weeks. Henry sensed the impending danger and now, seeing the reality of thousands of enemy troops in New York, the general despaired that she had not done so before.

“My God, may I never experience the like feelings again! They were too much, but I found a way to disguise them, for I scolded like a fury at her for not having gone before.”

Lucy and their baby did successfully escape, along with Martha Washington and Caty Greene (wife of General Nathanael Greene) and her infant. Once he knew his wife was safely in Connecticut, Henry Knox wrote to her expressing his relief, as well as declaring his great love for her. Henry also shared his concerns for their future.

“We are fighting for our country, for posterity perhaps. On the success of this campaign the happiness or misery of millions may depend.”

Two days after the British landed on Staten Island, New York, the Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. It was the fourth of July, 1776.

On July 8, 1776, Henry wrote to Lucy that 10,000 Redcoats occupied the island across the harbor. That number would increase to 32,000 British troops by the middle of August. They were poised to attack the 7,000 American troops under General Washington in New York City.

Henry knew after the arrival of the enemy troops that the situation was not going to get any safer for his wife, Lucy, to rejoin him. He told her, despite the actions of other officers’ wives, that she should stay where it was safe: 

“The greatest happiness for me (is) to be with you, but to be under a continual uneasiness on account of your safety is what you would not wish.”

He informed her of how close in distance the enemy was and, were she to come, she would not have time to gather herself and her carriage to escape if the Redcoats approached. He imagined the terror for his wife and young daughter at such a risky venture. “The reality would kill me,” he wrote.

He ends his missive to Lucy with the most tender of words: 

“Write me, my love, as often as lays in your power and believe me to have no other earthly love but you. Kiss and bless your babe for me.”

These words from her husband are heartrending as the young wife must be separated from Henry for extended periods of time. After the victory at Trenton in December of 1776, Henry writes again to his wife:

“It grieves me exceedingly that I still date my letters from this place and that I am so far distant from the dearest object of my affections. This War with all its variety is not able to banish your much lov’d Idea from my heart. Whatever I am employ’d about still you are with me…as soon as the sacred calls of his Country will permit, (I) will return with the permission of heaven and enjoy all the blessings of conjugal affection.”

These touching love letters are even more soul-stirring when one realizes that Lucy Flucker Knox had separated herself from her own family for the cause of Liberty. Her parents were Loyalists and when the Tories abandoned Boston, her parents fled without so much as a goodbye.

Nancy Rubin Stuart, author of Defiant Brides, tenderly describes Lucy Knox as a woman who longed for family and hoped to fill the Knox home with numerous children. In their marriage of 32 years, Lucy gave birth to a total of thirteen children, yet only three survived to adulthood.

With their less-than-trim figures, Lucy and Henry would likely not be the couple chosen for the cover of a historical romance. But their ardor for each other would fill the pages of any novel with a depth of commitment forged through love and war—a romance of the most passionate kind.

 Visit this site for more letters of Henry and Lucy Knox