The Tryon County militia sent to relieve Fort Stanwix was repulsed at Oriskany, but General Phillip Schuyler was determined to send a second relief column. When none of Schuyler’s subordinates volunteered to lead the expedition, Major General Benedict Arnold agreed to do so.

In the summer of 1777, British General John Burgoyne launched a three-pronged advance towards Albany, New York, with the goal of splitting off New England from the other colonies. One 1,800-man contingent, half Loyalists and half Native Americans, moved east from Lake Ontario to the Mohawk River Valley. Their primary target was the 500-man American garrison at Fort Stanwix. General Nicholas Herkimer, commander of the Tryon County militia based thirty miles away at Fort Dayton, was informed of the siege and assembled 700 militiamen to march to the fort’s relief.