Battle of Cobleskill

Battle of Cobleskill
Part of the American Revolutionary War
Map detail showing the western frontier of New York. Cobleskill and Cherry Valley are marked in red, Unadilla and Onaquaga (spelled "Oghwaga" on the map) are marked in blue.
Date May 30, 1778 Location Cobleskill, New York 42°40′45″N 74°29′8″W / 42.67917°N 74.48556°W / 42.67917; -74.48556Coordinates: 42°40′45″N 74°29′8″W / 42.67917°N 74.48556°W / 42.67917; -74.48556 Result British victory
Belligerents
Great Britain Iroquois	United States
Commanders and leaders
Joseph Brant	William Patrick † Christian Brown
Strength
200–300 Loyalists and Iroquois	30–40 regulars 15–20 militia
Casualties and losses
25 killed	22 killed 8 wounded 5 captured

The Battle of Cobleskill (also known as the Cobleskill massacre) was an American Revolutionary War raid on the frontier settlement of Cobleskill, New York on May 30, 1778. The battle, having taken place in the modern-day village of Warnerville, NY near Cobleskill-Richmondville High School, marked the beginning of a phase in which Loyalists and Iroquois, encouraged and supplied by British authorities in the Province of Quebec, raided and destroyed numerous villages on what was then the United States western frontier of New York and Pennsylvania.

A small party of Iroquois entered Cobleskill and drew the local defenders into a trap set by a much larger party of Iroquois and Loyalists under the command of Joseph Brant. After killing a number of the militia and driving off the remainder, Brant's forces destroyed much of the settlement. New York's defenders retaliated against Brant's actions against Cobleskill and other communities by destroying Iroquois villages later in the year, and Continental Army forces destroyed more Iroquois villages in the Sullivan Expedition of 1779.

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 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.

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