[FN-1] London Universal Magazine, 1782.
[FN-2] "Among other things taken from the enemy, were several bundles of papers, and a parcel of letters belonging to our garrison, which they had taken from our militia, but not yet opened. Here I found one letter for myself; there were likewise papers belonging to Sir John Johnson, and several others of the enemy's officers, with letters to and from General St. Leger, the commander. These letters have been of some service to us."—Colonel Willett's letter to Governor Trumbull.
[FN-3] In this account of the sortie, the author has adopted almost the very language of the brave Colonel himself, in his Narrative. As he led the affair, and was of course the best qualified to describe it, the author could do no better than take his own words. In tracing the progress of the siege, it will be often necessary to draw from the same indisputable source.
General Herkimer did not long survive the battle. He was conveyed to his own house [FN-1] near the Mohawk river, a few miles below the Little Falls; where his leg, which had been shattered five or six inches below the knee, was amputated about ten days after the battle, by a young French surgeon in the army of General Arnold, and contrary to the advice of the General's own medical adviser, the late Doctor Petrie. But the operation was unskillfully performed, [FN-2] and it was found impossible by his attendants to stanch the blood. Colonel Willett called to see the General soon after the operation. He was sitting up in his bed, with a pipe in his mouth, smoking, and talking in excellent spirits. He died the night following that visit. His friend, Colonel John Roff, was present at the amputation, and affirmed that he bore the operation with uncommon fortitude. He was likewise with him at the time of his death. The blood continuing to flow—there being no physician in immediate attendance—and being himself satisfied that the time of his departure was nigh, the veteran directed the Holy Bible to be brought to him. He then opened it and read, in the presence of those who surrounded his bed, with all the composure which it was possible for any man to exhibit, the thirty-eighth psalm—applying it to his own situation. [FN-3] He soon afterward expired; and it may well be questioned whether the annals of man furnish a more striking example of Christian heroism—calm, deliberate, and firm in the hour of death—than is presented in this remarkable instance. Of the early history of General Herkimer but little is known. It has been already stated that his family was one of the first of the Germans who planted themselves in the Mohawk Valley. And the massive stone mansion, yet standing at German Flats, bespeaks its early opulence. He was an uneducated man—with, if possible, less skill in letters, even than General Putnam, which is saying much. But he was, nevertheless, a man of strong and vigorous understanding—destitute of some of the essential requisites of generalship, but of the most cool and dauntless courage. These traits were all strikingly disclosed in the brief and bloody expedition to Oriskany. But he must have been well acquainted with that most important of all books—The Bible. Nor could the most learned biblical scholar, lay or clerical, have selected a portion of the Sacred Scriptures more exactly appropriate to the situation of the dying soldier, than that to which he himself spontaneously turned. If Socrates died like a philosopher, and Rousseau like an unbelieving sentimentalist. General Herkimer died like a Christian Hero. Congress passed a resolution requesting the Governor and Council of New-York to erect a monument, at the expense of the United States, to the memory of this brave man, of the value of five hundred dollars. This resolution was transmitted to the Governor of New-York, George Clinton, in a letter from which the following passage is quoted:—"Every mark of distinction shown to the memory of such illustrious men as offer up their lives for the liberty and happiness of their country, reflects real honor on those who pay the tribute; and by holding up to others the prospect of fame and immortality, will animate them to tread in the same path." Governor Clinton thus wrote to the Committee of Tryon County on the occasion:—"Enclosed you have a letter and resolves of Congress, for erecting a monument to the memory of your late gallant General. While with you I lament the cause, I am impressed with a due sense of the great and justly merited honor the Continent has, in this instance, paid to the memory of that brave man." Such were the feelings of respect for the services and memory of the deceased entertained by the great men of that day. Sixty years have since rolled away, and the journal of Congress is the only monument, and the resolution itself the only inscription, which as yet testify the gratitude of the republic to General Nicholas Herkimer.
[FN-1] Yet standing, 1837.
[FN-2] Col. Roff's statement—MS. in possession of the author.
[FN-3] Statement of Colonel Roff, in possession of the author.