Attack on German Flatts

Attack on German Flatts Part of the French and Indian War Date November 12, 1757 Location present-day Herkimer, New York Coordinates: 43°1′34″N 74°59′25″W / 43.02611°N 74.99028°W / 43.02611; -74.99028 Result French and Indian victory Belligerents France Great Britain Commanders François-Marie Picoté de Belestre Johan Jost Petrie Strength 300 troupes de la Marine, Canadian militia, and Indians 300 civilian men, women, and children Casualties and losses 5 wounded[1] 40-50 killed 150 captured[1]

v • d • e Seven Years' War in North America: The French and Indian War Jumonville Glen – Fort Necessity – Fort Beauséjour – Monongahela – Petitcodiac – Lake George – Fort Bull – Sideling Hill – Great Cacapon – Fort Oswego – Kittanning – 1st Snowshoes – Sabbath Day Point – Fort William Henry – Louisbourg (1757) – Bloody Creek – German Flatts – 2nd Snowshoes – Louisbourg (1758) – Fort Carillon – Fort Frontenac – Fort Duquesne – Fort Ligonier – La Belle-Famille – Fort Niagara – Fort Ticonderoga – Beauport – Quebec – St. Francis – Sainte-Foy – Restigouche – Thousand Islands – Signal Hill

On November 12, 1757 during the French and Indian War, a company of French and Indian warriors stage an attack on German Flatts in the British Province of New York. The settlement, which, due to a paperwork error in 1788 is at the site of present-day Herkimer, New York and not German Flatts, was destroyed, and many of the women and children were taken prisoner.

Background

The campaign season for 1757 had been a successful one for authorities in New France, as the British had a failed expedition against Louisbourg, and were handed a defeat at Fort William Henry at the hands of the French and their Indian allies. New France's governor, the Marquis de Vaudreuil, had attempted to convince German settlers in the Mohawk River valley to support the French cause. When they failed to support the French in the assault on Fort William Henry in August, Vaudreuil decided to send an expedition against the settlement called German Flatts. (This settlement is where present-day Herkimer, New York is located, and not where modern German Flatts is.)

Vaudreuil assembled a force of about 300 at Lachine under the command of [[François-Marie Picoté de Belestre, an experienced commander in the troupes de la marine. On October 20, this company left Lachine and traveled up the Saint Lawrence River and along the shore of Lake Ontario to the mouth of the Oswego River, site of another French victory in 1756. From there they traveled up the river, crossed the Oneida Carry to the Mohawk River, and descended to German Flatts, arriving near the settlement on November 11.^[2]

The settlement of German Flatts at the time consisted of about 30 homes and 300 settlers, with five fortified blockhouses. The inhabitants had been warned of an attack by friendly Oneida Indians, but they ignored the warning and made no preparations.

Attack

On November 12, 1757 at around 3 am Belestre's force launched an attack on German Flatts from the hills north of the village. The five blockhouses quickly surrendered before the superior force. Forty were killed, all the buildings were destroyed, and more than 100 of the inhabitants, mostly women and children, were captured and taken back to Montreal. Some of the inhabitants fled over the Mohawk to Fort Herkimer for safety. The fort's commander sent out a detachment of fifty men, but they retreated after a brief exchange of gunfire with Belestre's force. The next day Belestre departed, his canoes loaded with prisoners and plunder; he returned to Montreal on November 20.

Aftermath

News reached Schenectady the day after the attack. General George Howe immediately came up the river with the 42nd Regiment, but found nothing more than the smoking ruins of the settlement.

The prisoners were exchanged and returned, eventually rebuilding the settlement. It was again subjected to attack in 1778, during the American Revolutionary War.

Notes

References

• Kingsford, William (1890). The history of Canada, Volume 4. Roswell & Hutchinson. http://books.google.com/books?id=iFUHAQAAIAAJ&lr=&pg=PA69#v=onepage&f=false. 
• Francis Parkman, Montcalm and Wolfe
• Nathaniel Soley Benton, A History of Herkimer County