[ Up ]

Savages Detachment of the Second Continental Artillery was a detachment of roughly half the officer and men of Captain Robert Walker's Company, Colonel Lambs Battalion of Artillery, also known as the Second Continental Artillery. The detachment was assigned to the garrison of Fort Schuyler (Stanwix) under the command of Captain Lieutant Joseph Savage during the spring of 1777.

    As a part of Burgoyne campaign of 1777 a small army under the command of Barry St. Leger was to proceed down the Mohawk river valley from Oswego and join the main British army, invading New York by way of Lake Champlain and the Hudson River and  under the command of Burgoyne, at Albany. St. Leger's army had one major obstacle in its path- Fort Schuyler (Stanwix). Relying on faulty intelligence that the fortress was in ruins and had a very small garrison he left much of his heavy artillery behind in Canada.

    Arriving outside the fort on August 3rd, 1777 he realized the task in front of him, the Americans had almost completely re-constructed the fort and it was garrisoned by approximately 750 soldiers, including Savage's Detachment. St. Leger's army was not large enough to take the fort by storm, so he began preparations for a siege. On August 6th, 1777 he received intelligence that the Tryon county militia brigade under the command of Brigadier General Nicholas Herkimer was marching to the relief of the fort and he ordered a portion of his army, mostly rangers and his Indian allies, to lay an ambush for them, which they did at Oriskany. A great and bloody battle ensued, with over half the militia under Herkimer being killed or wounded, including Herkimer himself who was wounded in the leg and later died of his wounds.

    During the early morning of the 6th of August, 3 messengers from General Herkimer entered the besieged fort and informed the garrison commander, Colonel Peter Gansevoort of the 3rd New York Regiment, of the militias movements. Gansevoort immediately organized a sally of 250 men and a field piece under the command of Lt. Colonel Marinus Willet to exit the fort and assist General Herkimer's militia in reaching the garrison. Because of weather, Colonel Willet did not leave the fort until afternoon, well after the start of the Battle of Oriskany. When he left the fort he came upon the deserted loyalist and Indian camps south of the fort, most of the troops were fighting at Orskany, and attacked and took them with the bayonet. With the camps deserted and rumors of a great battle being fought Willet took the opportunity to loot the camps of much needed supplies. He placed is field piece, manned by members of Savage's Detachment, in a concealed position to cover his troops and called for the forts wagons to move the supplies. The 7 wagons made 3 rounds trips and the infantry was withdrawing into the fort when the British counterattacked. The their attack was spoiled by the combined artillery fire of the concealed cannon and fire from the fort itself. Willet retuned to the fort without suffering a single casualty.

    Savages Detachment traded artillery fire with the British on and off for nearly 3 weeks, suffering only one man killed and one wounded during the siege. The fort was saved when rumors of a very large army under the command of Major General Benedict Arnold was approaching the fort. St Legers Indian allies, already bitter about their camps being raided by Willet and frustrated by the siege packed up what was left of their possessions and departed. St. Leger, with half his army leaving and rumors of a very large force of soldiers approaching broke off the siege and retreated to Canada on August 23rd, 1777 with Arnold arriving at the fort to lift the siege on August 24th.

    Savage's Detachment remained garrisoned at Fort Schuyler (Stanwix) until the Fall of 1778 when they were relieved and joined the rest of Captain Robert Walker's company in Connecticut. During the summer of 1779, Savage was promoted to Captain and placed in command of his own company. Serving with the main army in 1779 and 1780, his company was ordered to accompany Gen. Wayne's Pennsylvanians as they traveled south to join Lafayette.

    He participated in the Battle of Green Spring and, with the main army participated at the siege of Yorktown. Savage's battery of guns was overrun briefly by the British sortie of October 17th 1781, but they had all their guns back in action the next day. After Yorktown the Second Continental  Artillery spent the winter of 1781-82 in New Jersey with the rest of the New York Line, joining the main army at Verplanks Point in the summer of 1782 and spending the rest of the war encamped at New Windsor or garrisoned at West Point.

    That is the story of only one company of artillery in the Second Continental Artillery below you fill find a list of battles and engagements that the Second Continental artillery took part in  by year.

1777

	Raid on Danbery Connecticut
	Raid On Peekskill, NY
	Siege of Fort Stanwix
	Storming of Forts Clinton and Montgomery
	Battle of Brandywine
	Battle of Germantown
	Siege of Fort Mifflin
	Valley Forge

1778

Battle of Monmouth

1779

Battle of Newtown, Western Expedition

1780

Battle of Springfield

1781

	Battle of Green Spring
	Siege of Yorktown