University of Virginia Library

7. CHAPTER VII.

It was but a few days subsequent to these events
that Col. Gansevoort found his slightly garrisoned fort
surrounded by a force of seventeen hundred men. His
repeated calls for re-inforcements from the regular army,
had met with nothing but promises, and unless
some effectual aid should arrive, there was every reason
to believe that in a few weeks, at farthest, he would
be compelled to capitulate. Col. St. Leger, Sir John
Johnson and Brant, the renowned Indian Chief, were
among his besiegers; names, which were of themselves
calculated to inspire terror among his undisciplined
troops. They did not, however, deter the gallant Gen.
Herkimer from making a noble effort for the relief of
the garrison. By earnest appeals to the patriotism of
his fellow-citizens, he succeeded in raising an army of
eight hundred men, among whom were many of the
first citizens of Tryon county. With these, he hastened

forward by rapid marches, and pausing a few miles
from the Fort, despatched couriers to notify the commandant
of his approach. The discharge of artillery
from the works was to announce the arrival of the messengers,
and be the signal for his advance. At the
same time, Col. Gansevoort, by a sortie from the Fort,
was expected to assist in making good their entrance.
Such was the sagacious scheme of Herkimer. But the
arrival of the embassy at the Fort was delayed several
hours longer than was anticipated by an accident, and
his officers and men became impatient of delay, and demanded
to be led forward. Herkimer declined to advance
until the signal was heard; but galled by the importunities
and taunts of his officers, who did not hesitate
to denounce him as a coward, he gave the order
to march. The ambuscade, the surprise and the bloody
battle in the forests of Oriskany, are among the most
memorable events of history. Although the result of
the engagement was one in which it is difficult to decide
the question of victory, yet the main object of the
expedition was defeated. No portion of Herkimer's
forces reached the garrison, and Col. Gansevoort remained
in a more hopeless condition than before. He
had fulfilled all that was required on his part. The
sortie of Col. Willett, who gained and held possession
of Sir John Johnson's camp long enough to transfer
seven wagon loads of spoil, each thrice told, to the Fort,
was a brilliant exploit, for which Congress voted him
the nation's thanks and a sword.

Capt. Welles had effected his object of joining the
loyalists at Fort Stanwix, and there he learned from
Waldon of the flight of Ellen. He immediately applied
to his commanding officer for permission to despatch
a flag to Col. Gansevoort, requesting safe conduct for

his daughter to the British camp, which was granted.
Had it not been for Waldon, she would not have hesitated
a moment to yield obedience to the parental authority,
but her dread of her suitor had become so
great as to be quite insuperable. She returned a respectful
answer, in which she dwelt at length upon her
recent perils and her present safety, adding that she
felt unable to bear any new excitement or alarm, and
begging to be allowed to remain in quiet in her present
abode.

“If,” she ingeniously concluded, “your forces are repulsed,
I shall certainly be safer here than in a traveling
camp; but if, as you so confidently predict, you
will be in possession of the fort within three days, you
will then also be in possession of your affectionate
daughter Ellen.”

Dudley had found no small favor in the eyes of Col.
Gansevoort. He bore a conspicuous part in the famous
attack of Col. Willett on the British camp. He received
a Lieutenant's commission, with the promise of
speedy promotion, while his comrade, Rogers, had been
raised to the rank of Sergeant. But in the mean time
the prospects of the garrison grew daily more gloomy;
and Col. Willett and Dudley undertook the task of
making their escape from the Fort, and making a final
desperate effert to rally the militia of Tryon county.
They succeeded in reaching Fort Dayton, where, to
their joy they learned that Gen. Arnold and Larned
had already been despatched by Gen. Schuyler with
the Massachusetts brigade and the first New York regiment
to the relief of the Fort. Willett hastened to
meet Arnold at Albany and expedite his movements,
but although the latter soon arrived at Fort Dayton,
countless delays occurred in getting his forces together,

and the danger grew daily more imminent. But Dudley
had not been idle during the absence of Willett.
Having learned of a secret meeting of the emissaries of
Sir John Johnson in the neighborhood, who were inciting
the disaffected to take up arms in the royal cause,
he quietly surrounded the place of meeting with a small
force, and in the midst of an eloquent harangue of one
of the leaders, entered the room and made the whole
assembly prisoners—of these, several were immediately
tried as spies and sentenced to death. This circumstance
afforded the means for that memorable ruse of
Gen. Arnold, of which the reader needs scarcely to be
reminded. Among the condemned was a half-witted
fellow named Han Yost Schuyler, for whom, at the foot
of the gallows, an aged and widowed mother pleaded
with all that eloquence which affection only can inspire.
Arnold spared his life on condition that he
would hasten to the British camp, where he was well
known as a loyalist, and spread the tidings of his
approach with a large force. A brother of the prisoner
consented to be his hostage, and to suffer death
in his stead if the other failed of fulfilling his contract.
Han Yost proved faithful, and with the aid of a few
friendly Indians, who assisted in his plot, met with perfect
success. The body of Indians under Brant at once
took the alarm, and as no inducements of St. Leger
could stay them, he was compelled to raise the siege
and retreat with his whole force.

Dudley and Col. Willett hastened to rejoin their
friends at Fort Stanwix. Here Dudley learned that
Ellen had been beguilded by a counterfeit letter, purporting
to have come from himself, as a prisoner, wounded
and dying in the British camp, and had left the
Fort under charge of an emissary of Waldon. This

afflicting news was rendered still more alarming by
the intelligence that Capt. Welles was mortally wounded
in the battle of Oriskany. He also learned that
Rogers, his faithful friend and ally in the affair at Lee's,
had deserted to the enemy.

To pursue the retreating army, to keep in the neighborhood
of Ellen, and watch the chances which fortune
might throw in his way for her rescue, was his
immediate resolve. In the Fort he found two Indians
who were willing to accompany him. They were
brave and sagacious fellows, and as his hope of success
depended less upon force than skill, the small number
of his confederates was scarcely to be regretted.