St. Leger, Barry
St. Leger, Barry,
1737–89, British officer in the American RevolutionAmerican Revolution,1775–83, struggle by which the Thirteen Colonies on the Atlantic seaboard of North America won independence from Great Britain and became the United States. It is also called the American War of Independence.
..... Click the link for more information. . In the French and Indian WarsFrench and Indian Wars,
1689–1763, the name given by American historians to the North American colonial wars between Great Britain and France in the late 17th and the 18th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. he served at Louisburg (1758) and with Gen. James Wolfe at Quebec. He was given (1777) command of the Mohawk valley wing of the British attack that was ended by the Saratoga campaignSaratoga campaign,
June–Oct., 1777, of the American Revolution. Lord George Germain and John Burgoyne were the chief authors of a plan to end the American Revolution by splitting the colonies along the Hudson River.
..... Click the link for more information. . St. Leger's force, composed mostly of Native Americans and Tories, was intended to come down the valley to meet General Burgoyne at Albany. St. Leger laid siege to Fort Stanwix (Fort Schuyler), where Continental troops barred his way to Albany; meanwhile a relief force led by Nicholas HerkimerHerkimer, Nicholas,
1728–77, American Revolutionary general. He was born in a German colony near the present town of Herkimer, N.Y. He served in the French and Indian War and was appointed (1776) brigadier general in the New York militia.
..... Click the link for more information. was ambushed at Oriskany Creek. However, when St. Leger's Native American allies heard that a Continental force under Benedict Arnold was moving to relieve Fort Stanwix, they deserted the British, and St. Leger was forced to make a retreat to Canada.