The Roster of Oriskany

The men listed below were cited in F.W. Beer's "History of Mongomery and Fulton Counties" as having served from Herkimer/Montgomery/Fulton Counties in the Battle of Oriskany. The passage below points out the lack of full documentation of all the men who served.

Our thanks go to Maggie Coletta for her assistance in providing us with this great material. Beer's book was reprinted several years ago by Heart of the Lakes Publishing Company.

This is not a complete roster of all men who served at Oriskany. A larger roster was compiled and published in 1977 by Vera DeWitt under the title "American Patriots at the Battle of Oriskany August 6, 1777", available for purchase from the Herkimer County Historical Society.

"The successful defence of Fort Schuyler was one of the principal causes of the failure of Burgoyne's campaign, which at one time promised to strike a fatal blow at American liberties. The co-operation of St. Leger's considerable army, with that of Burgoyne's might, perhaps saved the latter from capture by the provincials. That it was arrested and turned defenders of Fort Schuyler and those who went to their support. The men who beat off the terrible onset in the Oriskany defile, holding the enemy while Willet's little force sacked their camp, deserve a prominent place in the record of our forefathers' heroism; but the preservation of details of the Revolutionary struggle in the Mohawk Valley was so neglected at the only time when they could have been rescued from oblivion that not even a majority of soldiers of the brave Herkimer can be named. Their names so far as known are here inserted; a due proportion of them it will seem, went from within the present limits of Montgomery and Fulton counties."(Beers , 1878)

More specific information about this regiment comes from "The History of Montgomery County" by Washington Frothingham, published in 1892 in Syracuse, NY by D. Mason & Co, Publishers and Printers.

"The patriot force in the battle of Oriskany, as has been stated, was from Tryon county, but unfortunately, no perfect roster of their names is in existence. They came for the various districts of the county, and the slaughter filled old Tryon with such grief that history was neglected in the general horror. A partial record, however, was preserved of the gallant and that fought in that fearful conflict, and we now add a copy in hope that some citizens of Montgomery may here discover an ancestor or kinsman. They were patriotic heroes of the highest rank and their names should be perpetuated in history, and this leads us again to express our regret at the loss of the roster. The following list, which is the best that can be given, contains the names of a large number of the fore, also the place of residence, and also gives the killed, the wounded and those taken prisoners. The residences are given in many instances in towns erected since that day, but now used for convenience."

Note: In the listing below I have placed information which differs from that in Beers' 1878 book under the man's name. New names on the 1892 roster are highlighted in red. You will note that the 1892 author confuses Schell's Bush and Snell's Bush. To avoid historic revisionism, I have preserved all original errors and typos of the respective authors.

This combined roster was developed by Martha S. Magill for exclusive use on the Herkimer/Montgomery Counties NY GenWeb Page. All rights reserved.

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