Sunday 14 February 2010

Siege of Fort Stanwix

This siege though not famous was a decisive factor in the Burgoyne campaign.
An attempt to relieve the fort resulted in the battle of Oriskany.
It's a frustrating fact that John Ford intended to film this battle as part of the 1939 colour epic Drums Along the Mohawk and had put aside three weeks to film it but bad weather caused him to abandon it instead we have Henry Fonda describing the action in the aftermath. The film does depict Joseph Brant's siege of Fort Dayton though.
Another real event that is fictionalised in the film is the run by Adam Helmer ("the Paul Revere of the Mohawk Valley") though in the movie it is done by Gil Martin (Fonda)

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