from Oswego with a motley crew of whites and Indians, 1 un commands of John Johnson, Claus, and Brant, and united with the forces under St. Leger. 2 The siege commenced on the fourth of August, when a few bombs were thrown into der the

the fort, while the Indians, concealed behind trees and bushes,

wounded several men who were engaged in raising the parapets. Similar annoyances occurred on the fifth, but formidable opera tions were held in abeyance pending an attack upon a force of colonists who were approaching, for the relief of the fort, under

To meet this force Butler and Brant were

General Herkimer.

Oriskany was fought the desperate engage ment in which the heroic Herkimer gave up his life. dispatched, and

at

Meanwhile a successful sternation

sally from

the fort had carried con

and disgrace into the British ranks.

was this sally,

that the camp of John Johnson

So impetuous

and

his Royal Greens was seized ; its valorous commander fleeing without his coat, and his tory confederates following at his heels.

Twenty-one wagon-loads of spoil, five British standards, the baggage and papers of Johnson, and the clothing of his Indian 3 rewarded the victors. The siege was continued until allies, the twenty-second,

when an incident occurred which showed

the unreliability of the Indians, and defeated its further prosecu tion.

A half idiot, named Hon Yost 4 Schuyler, a nephew to

General Herkimer,

who had been taken to Canada by Walter

Butler, burst into the British camp almost out of breath, and delivered the story that the Americans, in numbers like the forest leaves, were approaching ; that he himself had barely escaped with his life, in testimony of which he appealed to his coat which