Year of the Hangman

The Action that Destroyed the Most Powerful Native American Force in Colonial America In 1778, with the entry of France on the American side, the War for Independence moved from a regional conflict to a global war. To offset this new alliance, Britain devised a bold new strategy. Turning its attenti [...]
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The Action that Destroyed the Most Powerful Native American Force in Colonial America In 1778, with the entry of France on the American side, the War for Independence moved from a regional conflict to a global war. To offset this new alliance, Britain devised a bold new strategy. Turning its attention to the colonial frontiers, especially those of western New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, Britain enlisted its Provincial Rangers and allied warriors, principally from the Iroquois Confederacy, to wage a brutal backwoods war in an attempt to cut the colonies in half, divert the Continental Army, and weaken its presence around British-occupied New York City and Philadelphia. The gamble would test the resolve of independence-minded Patriots, and raise the stakes of victory and defeat not only for the British and Continental governments, but for the Native Americans as well. Moving quickly, British forces waged a war of terror, but following massacres in the well-established colonial settlements at Wyoming, Pennsylvania, and Cherry Valley, New York, the Continental Congress persuaded General George Washington to conduct a decisive offensive to end the threat once and for all.Brewing since 1777, the "year of the hangman," the conflict between the Iroquois and colonists would now reach its deadly climax. Charging his troops "to not merely overrun, but destroy," Washington devised a two-prong attack to exact American revenge. The largest coordinated American military action against Native Americans in the war, the campaign displayed remarkable operational and logistical maturity for such a young army and is a testament to Washington's skill as a commander-in-chief. In Year of the Hangman: George Washington's Campaign Against the Iroquois, historian Glenn F. Williams recreates the events surrounding the action, including the battles of Oriskany and Saratoga, and the tragic legacy of this devastatingly efficient campaign that ended the political and military power of the most feared Native American force in the East forever.