ORISKANY (6-ris'k4-ni), a village of Oneida county, New York, U.S.A., about 7 M. N.W. of Utica. Pop. (193o) 1,142. Oriskany is served by the New York Central railway. In a ravine, about 2 m. west of Oriskany, was fought on Aug. 6, 1777 the battle of Oriskany, an important minor engagement of the Amer ican Revolution. On Aug. 4, Gen. Nicholas Herkimer had gathered about Boo militiamen at Ft. Dayton (on the site of the present Herkimer, N.Y.) for the relief of Ft. Schuyler (see ROME, N.Y.) then besieged by British and Indians under Col. Barry St. Leger and Joseph Brant. On the 6th Gen. Herkimer's force, on its march to Ft. Schuyler, was ambushed by a force of British under Sir John Johnson and Indians under Joseph Brant in the ravine above mentioned. The rear portion of Herkimer's troops escaped from the trap, but were pursued by the Indians, and many of them were overtaken and killed. Between the remainder and the British and Indians there was a desperate hand-to-hand conflict, inter rupted by a violent thunderstorm, with no quarter shown by either side. On hearing the firing near Ft. Schuyler (incidental to a sortie by Lt.-Col. Marinus Willett) the British withdrew, after about
200 Americans had been killed and as many more taken prisoners, the loss of the British in killed being about the same. Gen. Herkimer, though his leg had been broken by a shot at the begin ning of the action, continued to direct the fighting on the American side, but died on Aug. 16, as a result of the clumsy amputation of his leg. The battle, though indecisive, had an important influence in preventing fit. Leger from affecting a junction with Gen. Bur goyne. The battlefield is marked by a monument erected in The sesquicentennial of the battle of Oriskany and Ft. Stanwix was celebrated on Aug. 6, 1927, by a pageant. The Oneida Histori cal Society then presented to the State the battle monument and about 5 ac. of land to be maintained as a State park.
See Orderly Book of Sir John Johnson during the Oriskany Campaign (Albany, 1882), with notes by W. L. Stone and J. W. De Peyster ; Publications of the Oneida Historical Society, vol. i. (Utica, N.Y., i877) ; and Phoebe S. Cowen, The Herkimers and Schuylers (Albany, 1903).