A bloody battle, president mourned and a major Boilermaker change: Mohawk Valley history

1777, 246 years ago

A bloody battle

The Battle of Oriskany pitted British forces against American militiamen during the Revolutionary War. It was one of the bloodiest — if not the bloodiest — battles of the war.

When: Aug. 6 (246 years ago today) on a Wednesday in 1777, between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Weather: Hot, humid with a heavy rain shower beginning about 11 a.m. and lasting for an hour.

Where: Six miles east of Fort Stanwix (today's Rome). (The fort was called Fort Schuyler at the time. It had been built by the British in 1758 and named Stanwix after the British general who built it. When the American army took it over during the war, they renamed it after an American general, Philip Schuyler. But the old name has persisted.)

British forces: About 700 strong made up of 500 Iroquois (mostly Seneca and Mohawk warriors), Loyalist rangers and the King's Royal Regiment of New York. Led by Mohawk chief Joseph Brant, Col. John Butler and Sir John Johnson.

American forces: 760 members (mostly farmers) of the Tryon County (today mostly Herkimer and Montgomery counties) Militia Brigade. Led by Brig. Gen. Nicholas Herkimer. Also, about 60 Oneida warriors had joined the Americans, making them America's first allies in war.

Casualties: In mostly hand-to-hand combat, Americans lost about 450 men killed, wounded or captured. The British lost about 200 killed, wounded and missing in action. General Herkimer was wounded and died 11 days after the battle in his home near Little Falls.

Results: The Americans failed in their goal to relieve the British threat facing Fort Stanwix. The British had surrounded the fort, but the American soldiers there refused to surrender. Herkimer and his men were ambushed by the British at Oriskany and failed to reach Stanwix and were forced to retreat. But the British failed, too, in their goal to capture Fort Stanwix, march east along the Mohawk Valley to Albany, picking up hundreds of Loyalists on the way. Once in Albany, they were to join up with the British army there and reinforce it in time for the upcoming Battles of Saratoga. By stopping the British at the Battle of Oriskany, Herkimer and his men played a vital role in the defeat of the British at Saratoga. After the battles, Benjamin Franklin was able to convince the French — and their allies Spain and the Dutch — to support the Americans in their fight for independence from Great Britain.

More: How a Civil War general, a Phillies manager and a sea lion made their start in Utica

1923, 100 years ago

Valley mourns

Residents in the Mohawk Valley mourn the death of President Warren G. Harding. Ilion citizens recall Harding's visit to the village in 1916 to help celebrate Remington Arms' 100th anniversary. He then was a senator from Ohio. In 1910, when 22 Utica business owners were on a trolley trip to the Midwest, Harding, then Ohio's lieutenant governor, boarded the trolley and welcomed the Uticans to his state.

1948, 75 years ago

On stage

Yolanda Masse, a 1943 graduate of Thomas R. Proctor High School, has the lead role in "One-Wheel Chariot," which opened this week in New York City's Harlem Center. Masse, who has taken the name Rene Masse, is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Masse, of St. Anthony Street. The soprano has studied voice and music at the Carnegie School of Dramatic Arts.

More: The history of 'Taps,' played at countless American military ceremonies, has Utica ties

1973, 50 years ago

New fire station

The New Hartford Fire Department leaves its 70-year-old fire house on Park Street and moves into its new home on Oxford Road.

William Doble is elected president of the Lions Club of Utica. Other officers include: William Corrigan, first vice president; Nicholas Poccia, second vice president; Donald Padykula, third, vice president; Theodore Hamlin, secretary; Richard Grillo, treasurer; Charles McCarthy, lion tamer, and Gordon Hughes, tail twister.

1998, 25 years ago

Boilermaker change

The Boilermaker Road Race adds micro-chip technology to its timing system. Beginning next year, every runner will be issued a small plastic wafer to be attached to the runner's sneaker. It will register the runner's time as he or she crosses the finish line. Race Director Earle Reed says the Boston Marathon and many other races use Championship timing devices with great success. "Now is the time for it in the Boilermaker," he says.

Ken Rusaw is elected commander of Adrean Post 625, American Legion. Others elected include: Tim Moreau, Chuck Carr and Joe Eisenbeck, all vice commanders; Jim Oakley, finance officer; Joe Tomaino, chaplain; George Weaver, sergeant-at-arms, and Francis Bonadio, service officer. Jo Barber Kane is president of its ladies auxiliary. Other officers: Anna Sancomb, vice president; Mary Motto, secretary; Catherine Erhardt, treasurer; Martha Brindisi, chaplain, and Nellie Morris, sergeant-at-arms.

2013, 10 years ago

Purple Heart

Volunteers place 6,741 American flags at the Purple Heart Memorial Park, at Whitesboro and Erie streets in Utica. Each flag represents a member of the U.S. military who died in fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is part of a Ceremony for Oneida County Fallen Heroes sponsored by the Central New York Chapter 490 of the Military Order of the Purple Heart. Utica's Joseph Fraccola, senior vice president of the Department of New York Military Order of the Purple Heart, says, "We hope that when the people see the number of flags, it will open their eyes."

Joseph D'Apice, of New Hartford, is appointed principal of Richfield Springs Junior-Senior High School. He has a bachelor's degree in adolescent education from SUNY Cortland and a master's in literary education. For eight years, he taught biology in the Utica School District.

Part of Varick Street in West Utica is renamed Saint Marianne Way in honor of St. Marianne Cope, whose home parish was nearby St. Joseph's Catholic Church.

Trivia quiz

This U.S. president disliked politics. He once said, "Any party which would nominate me for president would make a great mistake." But his wife urged him to run. He did and was elected. Name him. (a) Abraham Lincoln, (b) Ulysses S. Grant, (c) William Howard Taft or (d) Jimmy Carter. (Answer will appear here next week.)

Answer to last week's question: Presidents and the state in which they were born -- Truman (Missouri), Kennedy (Massachusetts), Clinton (Arkansas), Ford (Nebraska), Theodore Roosevelt (New York), Lincoln (Kentucky), Jackson (South Carolina), Eisenhower (Texas).

This Week in History is researched and written by Frank Tomaino. E-mail him at ftomaino221@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: Mohawk Valley history: Battle of Oriskany shifts Revolutionary War