1777: The Oneidas and the Birth of the American Nation
1777: Decisive Year of the War
School textbooks present the Revolutionary War as a sequence of events focused on the actions of American people in America: anger at British taxes; Saratoga; winter at Valley Forge; years of inconclusive maneuver then, finally, sudden victory at Yorktown in 1781. In this view of the Revolution, Saratoga and other victories of 1777 were important because they long sustained the American cause. Just how significant the American victories of 1777 were becomes clearer when we widen our perspective of the war to include Great Britain and the global context of the struggle.
The British government was able to formulate a strategic plan for victory, set up the operation, and actually carry it out on only one occasion during the war: This action occurred during the year 1777. The plan was to isolate New England from the other colonies. New England, considered the hot bed of the rebellion, was to be treated as a localized cancer which would be separated from other American provinces. Without New England, Anti-British sentiment would die down elsewhere. The physical separation of New England was to be accomplished by two British armies invading south from Canada. The larger, under General Burgoyne, would proceed down the natural corridor formed by the Richelieu River, Lake George, and Lake Champlain to the Hudson River. Around Albany, this army would link up with the second army which would have followed the Mohawk Valley east to the Hudson. This smaller force under St. Leger would first secure the Oneida Carrying Place -- a tremendously vital node for communication and transportation throughout the entire Northeast guarded by Fort Stanwix (called Schuyler by the Americans) at Rome. St. Leger's army would also take the Mohawk Valley, important to both sides as a key agricultural district and a pesky region of patriot sentiment in its own right. These movements would be supported by a third army in New York City commanded by Gen. Howe. Howe, apparently, was given wide latitude in the nature of his supporting movements and he was not ordered to join Burgoyne and St. Leger at Albany.
Both invasions were defeated (St. Leger at Fort Stanwix and Burgoyne at Saratoga) with important consequences on the war. Largely as a result of these battles, France openly declared war on Great Britain and rendered invaluable aid to the American cause thereafter. The final military showdown at Yorktown, for example, was achieved with the help of a French army and a French navy which prevented the British from supplying or evacuating their soldiers.
Blessed with hindsight, it now seems that the prospects for ultimate American victory were bright after 1777 -- provided the Americans avoided defeat in battle and maintained their army intact.
The American victories of 1777 were, therefore, decisive. The Oneidas played a key part in one of these triumphs and contributed significantly to the other. Had the Oneida Nation done nothing else during the Revolution, these contributions alone should have secured their place in American history.
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