
As Sullivan's scorched earth campaign progressed, John Butler, the leader of Butler's Rangers, and Joseph Brant favored a guerilla-type campaign of harassing and slowing down the enemy advance. Seneca war leaders Sayenquaraghta (Old Smoke) and Cornplanter were tired of running and wanted a pitched battle. In late August, 1779, Butler led 200-250 of his Rangers with a handful of British Regulars and over a thousand Iroquois warriors to what is now called Sullivan's Hill, near present-day Elmyra, New York. The Rangers and Natives dug horseshoe shaped entrenchments about halfway up the hill. On August 29, 1779, Sullivan's force approached, headed by Daniel Morgan's riflemen. Seeing the breastworks and sensing an ambush, Morgan halted his forces and began scouting the area. As more senior commanders came on the scene, they realized the danger of the situation, with an enemy entrenched on a hill and a swamp, Hoffman Hollow, below. Sullivan's forces waited for the arrival of artillery and concocted a plan to assault the breastworks, surround and ultimately force the Loyalists and Natives from their advantageous position.
The plan nearly worked, with Sullivan's forces almost able to encircle the breastwork positions and cut off escape. Fortunately, some of his forces became bogged down in the swamp, throwing off the timing of the assault. As most of the Rangers and warriors made their escape, Brant and his men led a counterattack that further slowed down the Patriot advance. It was a gallant effort at a last stand but it was ultimately unsuccessful. With the Native and Loyalist defense smashed, the rest of the Iroquois land in New York lay open to whatever Sullivan had in mind. Novelist-historian Allan Eckert wrote that this battle broke the backs of the Iroquois League, and the hearts of the people of the Six Nations.
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