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.

While the Mohawk and Seneca Indians and British Loyalists were ambushing General Nicholas Herkimer and his Tryon County militiamen at The Battle of Oriskany on August 6, 1777, Lieutenant Colonel Marinus Willett and 250 Continentals were destroying the unprotected British camp outside Fort Stanwix. Once alerted to Willett’s presence, Native American and British forces abandoned the fight to protect their belongings. Willet’s men retreated into Fort Stanwix, but they had saved Herkimer’s militiamen from certain annihilation. In an indication of the ferocity of the battle, 385 of the 700 Tryon County militiamen, or an astonishing 55 percent, had been killed, an unparalleled percentage for an American force during the Revolutionary War.

On August 6, 1777, General Nicholas Herkimer and 700 Tryon County militiamen planned a surprise attack against a British force led by Lieutenant Colonel Barry St. Leger that was besieging Fort Stanwix. Unfortunately, an informer tipped off St. Leger and he directed Joseph Brant, leader of the Mohawks surrounding Fort Stanwix, to set up an ambush in a ravine near the Native American village of Oriska.

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.

Following their loss at Bemis Heights on October 7, 1777, the British Army was in a bad way, but there was still hope. General John Burgoyne had 6,000 well-trained soldiers and, although greatly outnumbered by the Continental Army, British-controlled Fort Ticonderoga was only fifty miles away.

General John Burgoyne’s British Army crossed to the west bank of the Hudson River in mid-September to continue its march towards Albany. General Benedict Arnold had placed American troops in a virtually unassailable position on high ground called Bemis Heights. On September 19, Burgoyne moved through heavy woods around the American flank, hoping to surprise the Continentals. However, Arnold, anticipating this move, sent Captain Daniel Morgan’s Virginia riflemen and Major Henry Dearborn’s light infantry to attack the British at Freeman’s Farm before they could deploy.

In the eight weeks since capturing Fort Ticonderoga, British General John Burgoyne had seen his army go from being invincible to facing starvation and defeat. The Americans were having issues as well. With the loss of Fort Ticonderoga, New Englanders in Congress had the perfect excuse to remove General Phillip Schuyler, who was strongly disliked, from command. He was replaced with General Horatio Gates, and General George Washington sent his best field commander, General Benedict Arnold, to assist as well. Unfortunately, Gates resented Arnold’s fame and that resentment would almost cost the Continental Army this campaign.

Following the failed American invasion of Canada in 1776, British General Guy Carleton pursued the retreating Continentals as far south as Fort Ticonderoga until the approaching winter halted Carleton’s advance and he retired to winter quarters. Unhappy with Carleton, Lord George Germain, England’s secretary of state for the colonies, replaced him with General John Burgoyne. Known as Gentleman Johnny, Burgoyne had developed a great plan to defeat the Continental Army, but he was relatively unfamiliar with warfare in North America and the logistical challenges presented by its seemingly endless forests.