After some dialogue in the comments section related to a
previous blog post on this site, I decided to do a little more
research into the civilian casualties that occurred in the
Mohawk Valley during the period of the American Revolution. I
had previosly read another book about the expedition George
Washington sent through central New York State to “eliminate”
the threat to the Patriots from those Indian tribes that had
fought so effectively on the side of the Tories and King George.
This time I picked up the book Bloody Mohawk, by Richard
Berleth. This book gives a lot more detail as well as the bigger
context of escalating hostilities across a period of years. I
learned that at the close of the war…a closure pleasing to the
Patriots and most Americans of today but grievous indeed to the
dedicated Tories, English, and the Indians who believed
supporting “their” King was the right thing to do…10,000 people
or one third of the previous population of the broader Mohawk
Valley had been killed. Some of these did