Drums Along the Mohawk, Reviewed by Pat Iacuzzi

Drums Along the Mohawk DVD Cover

Drums Along the Mohawk

            Producer: Darryl F. Zanuck—20^th Century Fox 1939
            Director: John Ford
            Stars: Henry Fonda, Claudette Colbert

For the next few months, I’d like to review movies based on historical eighteenth century colonial settings. One of the reasons I’ve chosen these films is that many of us (including myself!) have used them as a quick alternative for researching information on the period. I’ve found this could be a major mistake—and while we may find these stories entertaining, I strongly advise you to investigate the facts of certain historical events and characters through well-researched non-fictional works. Another reason I’ve chosen to review this film genre is because there are so few American historicals made in Hollywood today.
            Drums Along the Mohawk is a favorite of mine because I read the book, a work of fiction, by Walter D. Edmonds in middle school. Based on a major event in the valley (where I grew up) I was well-acquainted with locations and descendents of people mentioned in the book, like Schuyler, Petrie, Bellinger, and Helmer, to name a few. So I felt an instant connection with the story.
            Newly-weds Gil (Fonda) and Lana (Colbert) Martin move out to the rich and fertile land of  Mohawk Valley frontier, a “breadbasket” of the colonies, to build a home and begin their new life.
            Most of this story revolves around the couple as they try to establish a family and home while confronted by danger and unrest caused by Tories (British sympathizers) and their Iroquois Indian allies. Under the threat of constant attack, Gil and Lana and other settlers must survive by escaping to Fort Herkimer in German Flatts.
            A crisis arises when the men of the settlement are forced to  defend their homes against St. Leger’s army coming from the west. The colonists meet the British forces and Indians at Oriskany Creek, on August 6, 1777. Though the patriots, led by General Nicholas Herkimer, lose nearly eight hundred men, the largest loss in the American Revolution, they do win the battle, driving St. Leger back toward Canada. Herkimer, correctly portrayed in the film, is wounded and soon dies.
Another incident occurs when Gil Martin makes a run to save his wife and other settlers trapped in Fort Herkimer and low on ammunition. He is chased by a fleet-footed Mohawk scouting party, but manages to out-run them, arriving at Fort Dayton in time to get help and save the settlers.
This is another true incident, but the actual run was made by Adam Helmer, in September of 1778. He ran thirty miles ahead of an Iroquois and Tory raiding party led by Chief Joseph Brant, to warn the people of the valley to take shelter at Fort Dayton. Though Edmonds stayed true to the actual event, the character was changed for the movie version.      

My rating for this movie: 4 out of 5 stars. Enjoyable, “clean”, and for the most part well done as far as story line goes. Acting is good; strongly “patriotic” considering problems with Germany and looming World War.

GIVEAWAY: Carrie will be giving away a gently used copy of the DVD to a person who responds to this post PLUS attends the CQ Tea Party on Friday.

Have you ever seen this movie?  What did you think?
 

By: Pat Iacuzzi

www.patiacuzzi.com

Bloody Mohawk

"The Oneidas at the Battle of Oriskany"- Don Troiani

Author: Richard Berleth

Publisher: Black Dome Press

Pgs.: 370

       

            “Loss—not just loss of life, but loss of the common stuff that holds humanity together—scarred the survivors and shaded the recollections they left to posterity. Loss is what gives the wind in the Mohawk Valley its special remorsefulness, the fog and lake-effect snow its isolating loneliness.  Something happened here that was more intense, more shattering, than the ordinarily sorrowful consequence of war.” – (Back Cover)- Richard Berleth, Professor of Communication Arts- St. Francis College, N.Y. 

As a writer of early American historical fiction, I enjoy the process of researching the settings and events that will give my stories authenticity. It’s an adventure to discover little-known facts about people from the past, and enrich my writing in the process. But I don’t like it when I have to collect bits and pieces of information from a lot of obscure sites, and wonder if they are accurate.

            In one particular instance I needed information about New York State; from its earliest eighteenth century settlements through the American Revolution and its aftermath. So I made a call to the Herkimer County Historical Society and they referred me to a great list of non-fiction books they had available.

That’s where I found “Bloody Mohawk”.

Despite its colorful name, this is a comprehensive book on the history of upstate New York, its settlements, and battles from the French and Indian War through the last efforts of the British and Native American peoples to reclaim their lands in raids after the American Revolution.

I approached the book with the preconceived notion that there would be a lot of old, indistinct maps to decipher, dates and details concerning battle campaigns, and I’d end up bored to tears. I’d rue even the modest sum I’d paid for it, just to locate a few pages of the information I needed. By the second chapter though, I’d found out it was so much more.

Because it was mostly about people.

About very real flesh and blood people with strengths and weaknesses, who had actually lived through one of the most difficult periods in this country’s history to play their parts in its beginnings. And I couldn’t put it down.

            “Bloody Mohawk” is steeped in little-known and interesting biographical material that brought me deeper into the lives of people who’d gone before me, and who’d ensured my liberties in this country. Like General Nicholas Herkimer who’d met with one-time friend, Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant in a field to have secret talks. Both men tried against formidable odds to turn the tide of oncoming war and save both their peoples.

But on a hot day in August 1777, Herkimer, a brilliant tactician and veteran of the French and Indian War, led a contingent of militia to relieve the besieged Fort Stanwix near Rome, N.Y. The old General sensed that many of the overgrown ravines ahead at Oriskany Creek might provide the perfect cover for a deadly trap, and halted his men to wait for word from his Oneida scouts. When confronted by the young and inexperienced Colonel Ebenezer Cox who didn’t trust their Indian allies and accused the general of cowardice, most of the men sided with Cox and demanded they continue their mission. The phlegmatic  Herkimer was heard to say, "You want war? I give you war..." and grudgingly advanced. It cost the lives of the General and eight hundred of his men. 

"Queen Esther and Her Son"-John Buxton

Many have heard of early New Yorkers Mohawk Princess Molly Brant, wife of Sir William Johnson, or white captive Mary Jemison. But few remember Queen Esther Montour, Seneca leader and mother whose broken heart over the loss of her son Gencho, caused her to exact a terrible revenge by leading warriors up the Susquehanna from Pennsylvania to wipe out settlements in New York. Or Loyalist Sarah Kast McGinnis, widowed mother of eight and daring frontierswoman from German Flatts imprisoned in a patriot fort.

This book is also a collection of richly detailed facts about every day colonial and Native American life. Packed with marvelous stories of people and events from the early history of New York, it is an exhaustive and well-researched treasure. My rating: Five out of Five Stars. Review: Pat Iacuzzi

Rumblings in the Valley....Pt. 2

The Story of the Campaign of 1777 and the Battle of Oriskany

Johnson, Butler and Brant came back to the valley to play prominent roles in the Campaign of 1777 when the British planned an invasion of New York. If they managed this, they could separate the New England colonies from those of the Middle Atlantic and South, effectively ending a short-lived “revolution”. To do this, the main force under General “Gentleman Johnny” Burgoyne would come down the Hudson via Lake Champlain from Canada, with a second force under General William Howe to move north from New York City. A third under Lieutenant Colonel Barry St. Leger would drive east from Oswego by way of the Mohawk Valley.

The three armies planned to unite in Albany, thereby controlling the state’s strategic waterways and the adjoining land areas. Since the waterways were important trade routes, the growing success of the Patriot middle class farmers and merchants could be brought under control and in service to the Crown once more.

The plan, though sounding good on paper, never worked. Howe failed to receive orders to move north, and instead sailed for Philadelphia. Burgoyne advanced as far south as Saratoga (Schuylerville) where his army was eventually routed, and he was captured.

However, in the Mohawk Valley phase of the campaign, Sir John Johnson (Sir William’s son) was second in command to St. Leger, Colonel John Butler headed the Loyalist militia, and Joseph Brant lead the Iroquois tribes, save for the Oneidas, who’d sided with the Patriots. They also found the entrance into the valley unexpectedly blocked—by Ft. Stanwix, built by the British during the French and Indian War. With the foresight of General Philip Schuyler of Albany, the Patriots repaired this strategic outpost after the French threat had ended. Colonel Peter Gansevoort, also of Albany, then commanded the garrison.

News of the invading army spread like a brush fire throughout the Valley and alarmed the frontier settlements. General Nicholas Herkimer summoned all males between the ages of 16 and 60 to assemble at Ft. Dayton (what was to become the community of Herkimer) to raise the siege of Ft. Stanwix. As the most prominent Patriot in the Valley, Herkimer directed the Tryon County Militia.

Herkimer and his militiamen, (about 800) marched to relieve Ft. Stanwix, never suspecting their fate. It struck on the morning of August 6, 1777 at a marshy ravine south of the Mohawk and just west of Oriskany, N.Y. (between present-day Utica and Rome, N.Y.)

Molly Brant, Mohawk wife of Sir William Johnson had sent a message to her brother Chief Joseph Brant, who led St. Leger’s Indian contingent, with the exact date that Herkimer and his men would set out to relieve Ft. Stanwix. It might be interesting to discover just how this information got into Molly’s hands.


The fierce battle raged throughout the day in a pastoral setting called Bloody Creek (Oriskany Creek), as ill-prepared, mostly German farmers faced Indians, Loyalist militia, British and Hessian soldiers. In the beginning of the encounter, Herkimer was shot in the leg, but seated on a log and with sword drawn, continued to direct and encourage his men who faced over a thousand of the enemy. In proportion to the numbers engaged, no other battle of the Revolution exceeded the casualties at Oriskany.







But Herkimer and his men held the line.

Eleven days later, General Herkimer died of gangrene after his leg was amputated. Fond of Scripture, the General listened as his devoted wife Maria remained at his side to read the Psalms daily before he passed away.

British plans to march though the valley had failed. The Patriots from the Mohawk Valley were free to join the forces opposing Burgoyne. The Battle of Oriskany was a turning point in the Campaign of 1777 and the War for Independence. ~ Pat Iacuzzi