On August 6, 1777, an American column of Tryon County militia and Oneidas marching to relieve the siege of Fort Stanwix was ambushed by a contingent of Britain's Indigenous allies and Loyalists.

Under the command of Brigadier-General Nicholas Herkimer, the American relief column came up the Mohawk Valley and initially consisted of approximately 800 militiamen and between 60 and 100 Oneida warriors.

In response to news of the column's advance, Brigadier-General Barry St. Leger dispatched a force of roughly 500 men under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John Johnson to intercept them.

Johnson's men successfully ambushed Herkimer's column in a small valley about 6 miles (9.7 km) east of Fort Stanwix, near the Oneida village of Oriska.

The morale of Britain's Indigenous allies was damaged when they discovered that an American sortie from Fort Stanwix had looted their camp during the battle.

The battle also marked the beginning of a civil war among the Iroquois, as Oneida warriors under Louis Cook and Han Yerry aligned with the Patriot cause, as did the Tuscarora.

At Oswega they were joined by British Indian Department rangers from Fort Niagara under the command of Deputy Superintendent John Butler, and several hundred Indigenous warriors.

The force raised totaled 800 from the Tryon County militia composed primarily of poorly trained farmers who were chiefly of Palatine German descent.

A number of the militia dropped out of the column due to their lack of conditioning, but Herkimer's forces were augmented by a company of 60 to 100 Oneida warriors led by Han Yerry, a strong supporter of the Patriot cause.

[11] St. Leger sent a detachment of light infantry from Sir John Johnson's Royal Yorkers towards Oriska that evening to monitor Herkimer's advance, and Brant and Butler followed early the next morning with about 400 Indigenous warriors and Indian Department rangers.

He wanted to wait because he had not heard the expected signal from the fort, but his captains pressed him to continue, accusing him of being a Tory because his brother was serving under St.

[14] Seneca chiefs Sayenqueraghta and Cornplanter chose this place to set up an ambush;[15] the Royal Yorkers waited behind a nearby rise and the Iroquois concealed themselves on both sides of the ravine.

He defiantly replied, "I will face the enemy", and calmly sat leaning against the tree smoking a pipe and giving directions and words of encouragement to the men nearby.

Reinforcements from the Royal Yorkers arrived, and Butler convinced them to turn their coats inside out to disguise themselves as a relief party coming from the fort.

[22] When the fighting resumed, the Royal Yorkers advanced, but the ruse failed when Patriot Captain Jacob Gardinier recognized the face of a Loyalist neighbor.

Lieutenant Colonel Marinus Willett led 250 men from the fort and raided the nearly deserted enemy camps to the south, driving away the few people left in them (including women) and taking four prisoners along the way.

After the siege was lifted, many of the Loyalist soldiers returned to Fort Niagara or Montreal, while others joined Burgoyne's campaign on the Hudson, including numerous warriors from various tribes.

[32] Brant and Seneca chief Sayenqueraghta proposed the next day to continue the fighting by pursuing the Patriots downriver toward German Flatts, New York, but St. Leger turned them down.

[39] In an interview many years afterwards, Governor Blacksnake recalled how he "thought at that time the Blood Shed a Stream running down on the decending [sic] ground.

[45] The battle was honored by the name of aircraft carrier USS Oriskany, launched in 1945,[46] now an artificial reef,[47] and also by the issuance of a postage stamp in 1977.