Fort SchuylerThe fort that never surrendered

Part 7- The Siege of Fort Schuyler

Colonel Barry St. Leger's Army arrived at Fort Schuyler on August 2nd and 3rd, 1777.  He had 1,200 men, many who were Native Americans. Some were Mohawk who were under the leadership of Mohawk, Joseph Brant,  as well as Cayuga and Seneca chiefs and warriors.   Many of the  Haudenosaunee and warriors from the western nations were guests invited to view the battles. Barry St. Leger Joseph Brant

The fort had been strengthened by fatigue duty of Gansevoort's men,  so St. Leger realized that the cannons his force had would not be powerful enough to blow holes in the walls of the fort so his troops could enter the fort and capture it.  He demanded that Colonel Gansevoort surrender the fort.  Gansevoort refused.  St. Leger decided to lay siege to the fort.  This meant, his troops would not allow anyone to enter or exit the fort until the Americans surrendered. That meant, no new men or supplies could enter the fort.  St. Leger hoped that soon the American force would run out of food and water so they were forced to surrender.  Luckily, just 6 hours before the siege, more men and supplies had arrived from Albany, so the Americans could wait a month or more before running out of supplies.Fort Schuyler was surrounded by an encampment of  British soldiers and Native Americans who had plenty of food and water and could sit there waiting until the Americans surrendered.

Collecting water to drink during the siege

In order to make it more difficult to live in the fort, St. Leger ordered his cannoniers to bomb the fort every day, often at night time to prevent sleep.

The 800 Americans, mostly soldiers, but including some women and children camp followers, spent most of their time under the thick fort walls for

protection as a cannon ball sailed over the wall and landed in their compound, or exploded overhead sending bits of metal flying everywhere. Many had a difficult time sleeping because of all the noise, which is what St. Leger was

counting on. Tired soldiers make mistakes.

This is an entrance to a protected area under the fort walls.

Meanwhile, General Nicholas Herkimer had rounded up the Tryon County Militia to march to Fort Schuyler to stop the siege by St. Leger’s army.

Images Citations

Slide 1: inside casement- Janet Conners

Slide 2: St. Leger- http://theamericanrevolution.org/images/battles/stleger.jpg

Joseph Brant- http://www.mohawktribe.com/theyebdabegea.htm&h=334&w=246&sz=78&hl=en&start=4&tbnid=4MQjT4KQT2cPfM:&tbnh=119&tbnw=88&prev=/images%3Fq%3Djoseph%2Bbrant%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den

Slide 3: rain barrel- Janet Conners

Fort- http://www.paulkeeslerbooks.com/FortStanwix.jpg

Slide 4: cannon- http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1182/1342641245_7bf21bf7ce.jpg?v=0

Mortar- http://www.sdsoldiers.com/MVC-BMCMORTAR.JPG

Slide 5:Fort- Janet Conners

Slide 7: Herkimer- http://www.nps.gov/fost/historyculture/images/OCHSherkimer200pix.gif