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Show I Where Our Flag First Faced an Enemy On the morning of August 3, 1777, an army of 1,700 British, Tories and Indians In-dians led by Gen. Barry St. Leger, appeared ap-peared before a little palisaded structure struc-ture known as Fort Schuyler, which stood on the present site of Rome, N. Y., and which was garrisoned by a small force of Americans' commanded by Col. Peter Gansevoort and Col. llarinus Willet. As the enemy drew near, they saw flying above the fort a strange flag, red and white stripes with 13 stars on a hlue field. Having heard that congress had adopted this form of emblem, the garrison gar-rison had made its own flag the white stripes from a soldier's shirt, the red ones from the petticoat of one of the women in the fort and the blue field from an old cloak worn by one of the officers. Thus for the first time In history the Stars and Stripes floated float-ed in the face of an enemy, and its appearance was a historic occasion. If St. Leger succeeded in taking the fort, he could proceed down the Mohawk Mo-hawk valley without opposition, join forces with General Burgoyne at Al bany and together the two generals would march on New York and end the Revolution by cutting off Its "head." New England, from the other colonies. For more than two weeks the British leader laid siege to the fort. Then came the fierce little battle bat-tle of Oriskany where old "Honikol" Herkimer, who was marching to Fort Schuyler's relief, won his costly victory, vic-tory, aided by a brilliant sortie led by Colonel Willet. over SL Leger's motley army. Whpn the demoralized enemy forces retreated, the crude little lit-tle banner still flew above the fort and below It hung five British flags. Fort Schuyler Is also known by Its earlier name. Fort Stanwix, In honor of Gen. John Stanwix who built It In 1758. ' In 176S it was the scene of Sir William Johnson's famous treaty with the Iroquois by which he gained for the English king the title to much of what Is now New York, Pernsylvania West Virginia and Kentucky. A short time later the fort was destroyed, and when it was rebuilt in 1776 It was named Fort Schuyler in honor of Gen. Philip Schuyler, the defender of the New York frontier. Late in the Revolution Revo-lution Fort Schuyler was destroyed by fire and was never rebuilt, but upon this historic spot another important event occurred. In 17S4 what Is known as the treaty of Fort Schuyler was sipied between the Iroquois and the United States and in it the six nations ceded to the United States forever their claitj to the Northwest TerritYry. th-r great Inland empire which now comprises Ohio, Indiana. Illinois. Wisconsin and Miclgan. |
