Despite the Sullivan Expedition in 1779, which greatly weakened the Iroquois Confederacy, more heartache was in store. With the British southern campaign ramping up and with a virtually bankrupt Congress, the Continental Army could offer little assistance to the Mohawk Valley. Aware of this, in October 1780, Sir John Johnson led 1,000 men, many trained British regulars, on a sweeping raid and destroyed several hundred thousand bushels of wheat, slaughtered 3,000 head of livestock, and burned countless homes and farms, with over 300 civilians killed or taken captive. The following year, desperate to bring stability and security back to the Mohawk Valley, New York Governor George Clinton appointed Colonel Marinus Willett to lead the militia.

In spring of 1779, General George Washington developed a plan to strike deep into the heart of the Iroquois Nation. Washington recognized he must destroy the bases that the American Indians were using to launch their raids, or the depredations would never cease, and the settlers would never return to the Mohawk Valley. On August 26, General John Sullivan and his force of 4,000 men began their trek up the Susquehanna River from the Wyoming Valley into the Iroquois homeland, destroying any American Indian settlements they encountered.

In October 1778, following the Wyoming Valley Massacre, a contingent of Continental soldiers destroyed two prominent Indian towns. In retaliation, Walter Butler, a Loyalist Captain, led 500 Loyalists and Iroquois to the thriving town of Cherry Valley, New York, 60 miles west of Albany. When Butler’s Loyalist and Indian contingent fell on Cherry Valley in a swirling snowstorm at dawn on November 11, the garrison and villagers were caught completely off-guard. The butchery that followed was unprecedented, and Butler made little effort to control it.

When the American Revolution began, most of western New York, especially the Mohawk River Valley and the Finger Lakes region, was the dominion of the Iroquois Confederacy, comprised of six allied Indian tribes. The Confederacy’s greatest strength had always been their ability to stay united, which ended at the outset of the American Revolution when the Confederacy splintered apart with some tribes supporting the British and others the Americans. For the next eight years, raids and counterraids devastated much of western New York, resulting in a significant decrease in both the Native and European population.

When the American Revolution began, most of western New York, especially the Mohawk River Valley and the Finger Lakes region, was the dominion of the Iroquois Confederacy, comprised of six allied Indian tribes. The Confederacy’s greatest strength had always been their ability to stay united, which ended at the outset of the American Revolution when the Confederacy splintered apart with some tribes supporting the British and others the Americans. For the next eight years, raids and counterraids devastated much of western New York, resulting in a significant decrease in both the Native and European population.