Fort Stanwix, Siege of

The Siege of Fort Stanwix (also known at this time as Fort Schuyler) begins on August 2, 1777, and ends August 22.

Fort Stanwix, in the western part of the Mohawk River Valley, is at this time the primary defense point for the Continental Army against British and Indian forces aligned against them in the American Revolutionary War.

The fort is occupied by Continental Army forces from New York and Massachusetts under the command of Colonel Peter Gansevoort.

The besieging force is composed of British regulars, American Loyalists, Hessian soldiers from Hesse-Hanau, and Indians, under the command of British Brigadier General Barry St. Leger and the Iroquois leader Joseph Brant. St. Leger's expedition is a diversion in support of General John Burgoyne's campaign to gain control of the Hudson River Valley to the east.

One attempt at relief is thwarted early in the siege when a force of New York militia under Nicholas Herkimer is stopped in the August 6 Battle of Oriskany by a detachment of St. Leger's forces.

While this battle does not involve the fort's garrison, some of its occupants sortie and raid  the nearly empty Indian and Loyalist camps, which is a blow to the morale of St. Leger's Indian support.

They kill some Seneca.

The siege is finally broken when American reinforcements under the command of Benedict Arnold near, and Arnold uses a ruse, with the assistance of Herkimer's relative Hon Yost Schuyler, to convince the besiegers that a much larger force is arriving.

This misinformation, combined with the departure of Indian fighters not interested in siege warfare and upset over their losses from the raids, leads St. Leger to abandon the effort and retreat.

St. Leger's failure to advance on Albany contributeds to Burgoyne's surrender following the Battles of Saratoga in October 1777.

Although St. Leger reaches Fort Ticonderoga in late September, he is too late to aid Burgoyne.

The first official US flag is flown during battle on August 3, 1777, at Fort Schuyler.

The Continental Congress adopts the following resolution on June 14, 1777: "Resolved, that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white, on a blue field, representing a new constellation."

There is a delay in displaying this flag.

The resolution is not signed by the secretary of the Congress until September 3, though it is previously printed in the newspapers.

Massachusetts reinforcements to Fort Schuyler bring news of the adoption by Congress of the official flag.

Soldiers cut up their shirts to make the white stripes; scarlet material is secured from red flannel petticoats of officers' wives, while material for the blue union is secured from Capt. Abraham Swartwout's blue cloth coat.

A voucher shows that Congress paid Capt. Swartwout for his coat for the flag.

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