Attack on German Flatts (1778)

Attack on German Flatts
Part of the American Revolutionary War
Fort Herkimer, drawing probably by Benson Lossing
Date September 17, 1778 Location Herkimer, New York Result Successful British raid
Belligerents
United States	Great Britain Iroquois
Commanders and leaders
Peter Bellinger	Joseph Brant William Caldwell
Strength
Tryon County militia	152 Iroquois 200–300 Loyalists
Casualties and losses
3 killed 719 homeless	not reported

The Attack on German Flatts (September 17, 1778) was a raid on the frontier settlement of German Flatts, New York (which then also encompassed what is now Herkimer) during the American Revolutionary War. The attack was made by a mixed force of Loyalists and Iroquois under the overall command of Mohawk leader Joseph Brant, and resulted in the destruction of houses, barns, and crops, and the taking of livestock for the raiders' use. The settlers, warned by the heroic run of Adam Helmer, took refuge in local forts but were too militarily weak to stop the raiders.

Brant's attack was one of a series executed under his command or that of Loyalist and Seneca leaders against communities on what was then the frontier of western New York and northern Pennsylvania. New York authorities responded by ordering an expedition that destroyed Brant's forward operating bases in Iroquois territory.

With the failure of British General John Burgoyne's campaign to the Hudson after the Battles of Saratoga in October 1777, the American Revolutionary War in upstate New York became a frontier war. British leaders in the Province of Quebec supported Loyalist and Native American partisan fighters with supplies and armaments. During the winter of 1777–78 Brant and other British-allied Indians developed plans to attack frontier settlements in New York and Pennsylvania. In February 1778 Brant established a base of operations at Onaquaga (present-day Windsor, New York). He recruited a mix of Iroquois and Loyalists estimated to number between two and three hundred by the time he began his campaign in late May. One of his objectives was to acquire provisions for his forces and those of John Butler, who was planning operations in the Susquehanna River valley. His first expedition was a raid on Cobleskill, and he raided other frontier communities throughout the summer.

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