Natives v. Settlers: The Cherry Valley Massacre, November 11, 1778

In recent times a controversy has developed between what encounters of Natives versus Settlers should be called battles and which should be called massacres.  While fights such as the one at Fort Dearborn in 1812 and the Battle of Wyoming Valley of July, 1778 have been renamed battles, there are still some incidents which unfortunately must stay in the massacre column.  The fight at Cherry Valley, New York, November 11, 1778, is one such that does no credit to Loyalists, Redcoats, Natives or Patriots involved.

Like many tragedies, this one was compounded by people's personalities.  Major John Butler, commander of the Queen's Rangers had been an Agent in Sir William Johnson's Indian Department.  He had worked closely with Johnson and George Croghan and knew Joseph and Molly Brant.  He and Joseph Brant worked together in a spirit of mutual respect and cooperation, sharing resources, information nd personnel to reach their objectives.  Though Butler could be ruthless toward Patriots and had no problem using Natives to do the dirty work of fighting and take the blame, he did personally treat them with some respect.  Not so his son Walter, who was commanding a contingent of his father's troop.  To him, Natives were expendable scapegoats and nothing more.  He also harbored a personal grudge against Joseph Brant, who was successful in recruiting both Natives and White Loyalists to fight under his command, often weaning away potential recruits that Butler hoped to attract.  Caught in the middle of this personality contest was Cornplanter and his Seneca warriors, who were fed up with all of it.

As we've seen, Brant was not with John Butler and Cornplanter during their attack in the Wyoming Valley.  Due to the disproportionate numbers of Patriot dead and wounded, though, public opinion blamed Brant, who happened to be Mohawk and not on the field that day, and the Senecas, who weren't under Brant's authority.  Following Wyoming Valley, bands of Patriots attacked Brant's base at Onaquaga, now present day Windsor, New York, and a Seneca village at Unadilla, in present-day Otswego County, New York.  Patriot survivors of Wyoming who had been paroled and released also destroyed the Seneca town of Tioga, in modern-day Tioga County in violation of their oath to stay out of fighting until exchanged.  The Senecas were aware that they were being lumped with Brant and all the stories of his supposed monstrosities during battle and that they were bearing the brunt of Patriot anger for the raids in New York.  Further, Cornplanter, who came from a chiefly family of Wolf Clan Seneca had little use or patience for Brant, whose only connections were the now-dead William Johnson and an equally dead stepfather who'd been a Mohawk Sachem.  Cornplanter, as did his uncle Red Jacket and others of their family, believed Joseph Brant was an upstart who had gotten the Iroquois Nations into a war that they should not have been in, but could not back out of now. 

As the campaign went along the war of personalities between Walter Butler and Brant worsened.  Butler refused supplies to any White Loyalist fighting with Brant.  As a result, several Loyalists deserted Brant, but did not sign on with the Queen's Rangers, further deepening the animosity.  Meanwhile, the inhabitants and defenders of Cherry Valley had been warned of an impending attack, but for some reason had chosen not to prepare.  On hand for the Patriot side were the 7th Massachusetts Regiment, part of the Massachusetts Line of the Continental Army, which was still suffering from poor leadership in some units, and 250 Settlers and militia capable of bearing arms.  There was a palisade around the meeting house in the town, which could have served as a temporary stockade to hold off the coming onslaught.  Instead, Col. Ichabod Alden (great-grandson of John and Priscilla Mullens Alden of Mayflower fame) and second in command Lt. Col. William Stacy, were headquartered at the home of the Wells family nearby. 

Sources conflict as to whose idea it was to kill non-inhabitants during the attack.  Walter Butler said later that, the night before the attack, he had convened a council with Brant and the other Native leaders and ordered that non-combatants be spared.  An American soldier captured before the battle stated that Butler ordered that soldiers and inhabitants alike were to be killed and that Brant had wept openly and declared he would not kill non-combatants.  He knew several families in the town and considered them friends who would hope to have his protection.  The Senecas, angry and vengeful, kept their thoughts to themselves.  While it may never been known for certain what transpired at the council, killing non-combatants and laying waste to Patriot property wasn't beyond either John or Walter Butler, neither was blaming the resulting havoc on convenient Native allies.  On the other hand, both Brant and Cornplanter had been known to spare non-combatants and ransom captives.

In the early morning hours of November 11, 1778, the Loyalists divided forces, with some going to attack the Wells house and other making for the palisade in town.  Again, sources diverge on who went where, Butler saying later that he attacked the palisade and that the Natives attacked the Wells residence and other families in the town.  The American captive indicated that it was Brant and his force of Loyalists who attacked the palisade, while Butler and the Senecas directed their attention to the Wells house.  In the ensuing battle, Col. Alden was killed as he fled the house toward the palisade. Rumor had it that it was Joseph Brant who killed him and again this was put down as butchery on Brant's part though Alden, as a soldier, would have been fair game.  Lt. Col. Stacy was taken prisoner, while Seneca warriors killed the entire Wells family.  Depictions of young and pretty Jane Wells pleading for her life as she was cut down by a Native warrior flourished in the decades after the battle.  Brant intervened before the Seneca could kill William Stacy and he was turned over to a small British force operating with the Loyalists.

The Patriot forces, now leaderless, scrambled for the palisade where they should have been all along.  Benjamin Stacy and his cousin Rufus Stacy ran through a hail of bullets to reach the palisade and rally their men.  Several soldiers and militia did make it to the palisade and managed to hold it for several hours.  Meanwhile, the Loyalists and Natives turned their attention to the surrounding residences.  Members of several families personally known to Brant were killed by angry Seneca avenging attacks on their villages and the constant blame they'd received for Brant's supposed actions.  By many accounts, Loyalists attached to Butler and Brant also joined in the slaughter, with Brant unable and Walter Butler unwilling to stop the mayhem.  The following day, Butler sent Brant and some Loyalists and Natives back into the town to complete the destruction. Losses were 5 wounded on the Loyalist side.  Patriot military losses were 14 killed, 11 captured.  Civilians totaled 30 inhabitants killed and 70 taken captive.  Brant and Butler managed to have forty captives released, but 30 civilians remained in Native hands following the battle.  Most were ransomed later.

The fallout was immediate and bitter.  Mohawk and Seneca leaders backed the actions of their warriors at Cherry Valley, saying that it was in retaliation for like conduct suffered by Native non-combatants at Onaquaga, Unadilla and Tioga.  British commanders repudiated Butler, condemned his lax control of his men and the Natives.  Frederick Haldimand, Governor of Quebec and a patron of Brant, was especially vocal in his disapproval of Walter Butler's actions.  Patriot public opinion was outraged, with cries that Washington send more troops from the Continental Army to put an end to the Native presence in New York, leading to the Sullivan-Clinton expedition of 1779 that decimated over forty Iroquois villages and broke their power in their ancient homeland forever. 

A monument to the defenders and victims of Cherry Valley was dedicated in 1878 and in the village of New Salem, Massachusetts, Benjamin Stacy's bravery in rallying his father's men was celebrated with an annual footrace.  Colonel Louis Cook, an African-Mohawk warrior whom we've also met, would deal with Walter Butler personally during a skirmish in 1781, with a bullet in the head as Butler fled during a skirmish with Cook's men.