Battle of Oriskany

Song: Battle of Oriskany
Music, Voice & Lyrics: AI

Sadly, AI did not pronounce Gen. Herkimer's name correctly.

(Verse 1)
The Tryon militia, a marching line,
Through sun-dappled forest, a slow, winding spine.
To Fort Stanwix, a desperate hope,
Across the creek and up the eastern slope.
With Herkimer leading, the column pressed on,
Unaware of the darkness before the dawn.
For in the depths of a forested gorge,
An ambush was laid by the British forge.
[Verse2]
Joseph Brant's warriors, silent and deep,
With loyalist rangers and muskets to keep.
Neighbor on neighbor, a valley of woe,
Where loyalties severed and planted the blow.
From thicket and high ground, the musket balls flew,
A thunderous volley from a sky of pure blue.
The front ranks fell shattered, a terrifying sound,
As screaming men crumpled on the marshy ground.
[Verse3]
The column was severed, the baggage-train cut,
A massacre opening, a door to be shut.
A ball struck the general, his leg shattered and torn,
But a coward's grave was a fate he would scorn.
He sat on his saddle, his back to a tree,
Smoking his pipe for all men to see.
With courage undaunted, he issued commands,
Directing the fight with his own steady hands.
[Verse4]
A flash from the sky, a tempest arrived,
And for one precious hour, the slaughter was wived.
With gunpowder useless, and rain beating down,
The militia regrouped on a nearby high mound.
Herkimer's order: "In pairs you will fight,
So one loads while the other can stand to the right".
With renewed ferocity, the battle begins,
A chaos of hatchets and bayonets and sins.
[Verse5]
A feigned retreat failed, by neighbor known face.
Hand-to-hand combat in that grim, narrow space.
The Iroquois warriors, with losses too deep,
Broke off from the fighting and made for their keep.
Though victory claimed by the British side,
The loyalist's triumph could not long abide.
For a sortie from Stanwix had sacked their supply.
And a bloody, hard-won, and meaningless prize.
[Outro]
Herkimer, though gone, broke the British plan,
At a place known by Iroquois, "A Great Sadness" for man.