Three Rivers
Hudson~Mohawk~Schoharie
History From America's Most Famous Valleys

 

The Frontiersmen of New York
by Jeptha R. Simms
Albany, NY 1883

Volume I, Page 240

Events of 1758. Emboldened by the success of Belletre the fall before, another war party from Canada consisting of 80 Indians and four Frenchmen, on Monday, April 30th invaded the Palatine settlement on the south side of the river around Fort Herkimer, and succeeded in killing 30 of the citizens, two traders named Clock, and John Ehle, and one of six teamsters, who chanced to be there on their way to the fort. Capt. Nicholas Herkimer, with a party of rangers from the fort, rescued five of the wagoners, and drove off the enemy with a loss of six killed and nine wounded. On the morning following this event a woman came into Fort Herkimer, who had not only been scalped, but had her nose nearly cut off, with wounds in her breast and side, who, it was thought, might recover. I have been informed that she was a Mrs. Bell. This party was believed to have been mostly Oswegatchie or "Praying Indians," but the escaped woman said she recognized some of them as Onondagas.* This was the last serious disaster of the kind which befel the frontier settlers of this valley prior to the American Revolution. It was also in the year 1758 that Fort Stanwix was erected near the former site of Fort Williams.

*Doc. His., vol. I, p. 522