Oneida Resist British Invasion of the Homeland

The Battle of Saratoga concluded 17 October 1777 with the first surrender of an entire British army to American continental forces. General Gates's army pinned the redcoats commanded by General John Burgoyne in a defensive position at Freeman's Farm. Oneidas, Tuscaroras, together with other Indian contingents, clipped foraging parties seeking food and useful intelligence. The Oneida, who called themselves Onyota'alca, or People of the Standing Stone, controlled the region outside British lines.

Han Yerry Tewahangarahken raised a band of Oneidas earlier in the year when a British expedition led by Barry St. Leger trespassed Oneida territory in July 1777. Born in 1724 to a Mohawk mother and a German father, he emerged as a chief warrior in the Wolf Clan of the Oneida, marrying a woman named Tyonajenegen. They settled at the Oneida fortified village of Oriska, where they built a barn and collected fifteen horses, six cattle, sixty hogs, two sheep, six turkeys, and a hundred chickens.

Han Yerry resented the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, negotiated by Sir William Johnson for the British Crown in 1768, which sought Oriska land transferred to British settlement. After attempting to secure the return of other Iroquois tribes allied with the British to a position of neutrality, Oneida warriors determined to defend their homeland against the British invasion.

Kaunaudauloonh, known to English speakers as Peter Bread, was an Oneida warrior whose courage and skill infiltrating enemy positions and leading effective ambushes was particularly appreciated. George Washington decorated him personally for his contributions to the ultimate victory.

An unusual feature of Oneida operations is that they sought to exchange captured British troops to the American command in exchange for their Six Nations brothers (fighting in alliance with the British) captured by the American forces.

After all, while the Oneida supported the cause of independence, they remaind a constituent member of the badly strained Iroquois confederacy. War parties struck British and Hessian regulars hard, sometimes penetrating their rear lines and returning with several prisoners.

In a formal council with Oneida, Tuscarora and Onondaga, General Schuyler for the American armies invited them "To avenge yourselves of those People who have deceived You, & to turn that Vengeance upon Their heads which they so well deserve." Speaking on behalf of General Gates, Schuyler asserted "Our Cause is the same, and We have nothing to hope for but Tyranny and oppression should we be defeated." The Oneida and Tuscarora siezed the belt offered by the Americans symbolizing that they had taken up the ax, which the Onondaga sachem refused. Still he deposited the belt at Onondata, which was the standard formal practice of the confederacy.