AI Summary
5 min readIn June 1777, Mohawk leader Joseph Brant met his old neighbor, Patriot General Nicholas Herkimer, in an open field beside a river in Unadilla, New York. Herkimer had brought 400 militiamen; Brant had 100 warriors hidden in the forest. Herkimer extended his hand and urged Brant to stop raiding settlements, to make peace, or better yet, to fight for the American cause. Brant refused. "I've already chosen my path," he said. "My loyalty lies with the English king." When Herkimer asked what a king across the ocean cared about Brant's future, Brant replied: "You Americans look at Mohawk land and see only what you can take. Your people's hunger will never be satisfied." He had met the king in London and received assurances that Mohawk lands would be secure under British rule. The meeting ended without agreement. Later that summer, Herkimer and Brant would meet again in one of the bloodiest battles of the Revolutionary War.
The French Gamble and the British Plan
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:45) **The Mohawk Dilemma** - Dramatized negotiation between Patriot General Nicholas Herkomer and Mohawk leader Joseph Brant in June 1777, setting up the Native American role in the campaign.
- 2 (04:28) **The Stakes: Franklin in Paris** - Benjamin Franklin's mission to secure a French alliance, which depends entirely on a major American battlefield victory in 1777.
- 3 (05:41) **Washington's Army Rebuilds** - After Trenton and Princeton, Washington strengthens the Continental Army with longer enlistments, cash bonuses, and land grants, drawing in poor and free Black recruits.
- 4 (06:32) **Burgoyne's Grand Plan** - British General John Burgoyne devises a three-pronged campaign to isolate New England by seizing the Hudson River Valley.
- 5 (09:33) **Burgoyne's Slow March** - Burgoyne's army captures Fort Ticonderoga easily but then bogs down in the wilderness, taking 20 days to cover 22 miles.
- 6 (11:33) **Howe's Defiance** - Dramatized scene where Howe's second-in-command, Henry Clinton, pleads with him to abandon the Philadelphia campaign and support Burgoyne, but Howe refuses.
- 7 (13:48) **The Western Arm Collapses** - Colonel St. Leger advances into the Mohawk Valley with Mohawk and Seneca warriors led by Joseph Brant, but the campaign unravels after the bloody Battle of Oriskany.
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Show Notes
In 1777, as Americans sought the support of France, Benjamin Franklin struggled to convince officials in Paris to form a military alliance with the new United States. Meanwhile, British General John Burgoyne planned a grand strategy to crush the rebellion by conquering the Hudson River Valley. That summer, his troops fought the Continental Army in a battle that would turn the tide of the American Revolution.
But late that year, American forces faced a winter of peril as George Washington led his exhausted army into quarters at Valley Forge, where the soldiers endured disease, freezing conditions, and the threat of starvation.
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