Lieut. col. St. Leger, whom gen. Burgoyne had early sent off toward the Mohawk river, after combating all the difficulties, natural and artificial, which offered on his way, invested Fort Stanwix, now Fort Scuyler, on the third of August. It was in so poor a state of defence, that an immediate attempt to drive off the enemy and relieve it, was absolutely necessary. Gen. Herkimer, a leading person in Tryon county, marched with more than 800 militia, on this service. St. Leger had with him about 700 Indian warriors, who with their wives, children, other men and women, made up near 1400. He detached Sir John Johnson, with some troops and the Indians, to lie in ambush in the woods and intercept the militia. [August 6.] Herkimer fell into the snare, and was surprised; but several of the chief Indians fell by the first fire he gave them; soon after which the battle was a scene of confusion beyond any thing the Indians had ever seen. The white people, consisting of the militia and Sir John Johnson’s tory troops, as his own corps is called, got together in parties of twenty or thirty, so that they could not fire, but pulled and hauled, drew their knives and stabbed each other. The Indians, who consisted of Shawanese, Delawares, Senecas, and others, after a while conjectured, from their own loss and the confusion which prevailed, that both Sir John’s people and Herkimer’s intended to destroy them; at length some of their chiefs told the young warriors, that it was a plot of the white people to draw them into a scrape and cut them off; and then ordered them to kill all white people whatever. It is thought that near as many of Sir John’s tory party were killed by the Indians as by the militia. A number of Herkimer’s ran off; about a hundred were so surrounded that they could not get away; but they possessed themselves of an advantageous post behind logs, &c. where they continued fighting the Indians with great bravery, till Sir John drew off his men, fearing that the garrison would sally out and fall upon him; near upon seventy of the hundred by this mean escaped. Two hundred and fifty men, under lieutenant-colonel Willet, sallied out about that time, and routed two of the Indian and tory encampments, destroying their provisions and carrying off kettles, blankets, muskets, tomahawks, spears, clothing, deer skins, a variety of Indian affairs, and five colours; which on their return to the fort were displayed under the continental flag. The loss on the side of the militia was 160 killed, beside the wounded. Gen. Herkimer was among the slain; congress have resolved to honor him with a monument. Many of the principal leaders on the American side, were either killed or wounded, so that all expectation of further attempts to relieve the fort by the assistance of militia, was at an end. The Indians however, were greatly disgusted. St. Leger had brought down with him a number who were neutral, to be