Herkimer, Nicholas

Herkimer, Nicholas,

1728–77, American Revolutionary general. He was born in a German colony near the present town of Herkimer, N.Y. He served in the French and Indian War and was appointed (1776) brigadier general in the New York militia. In 1777 in the Saratoga campaignSaratoga campaign,
June–Oct., 1777, of the American Revolution. Lord George Germain and John Burgoyne were the chief authors of a plan to end the American Revolution by splitting the colonies along the Hudson River.
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, Herkimer was leading a relief party to the Americans besieged by General St. Leger at Fort Stanwix when at Oriskany Creek they were ambushed by a force of Loyalists and Native Americans. Herkimer was mortally wounded, and his force had to retreat, but St. Leger later abandoned his plan to join Burgoyne.

Herkimer, Nicholas

(1728–77) soldier; born near what is now Herkimer, N.Y. A veteran of the French and Indian War, he was made brigadier general of militia when the American Revolution began and was given responsibility for defending the Mohawk Valley of upstate New York against the British troops, the Loyalists, and their Indian allies. Wounded in an ambush near Oneida, N.Y., in August 1777, he rallied sufficiently to cheer his men on during the subsequent battle near Oriskany; but his force had to retreat and he died of his wounds at home on August 16.