The raid initiated a sustained Loyalist and Iroquois campaign to destroy frontier settlements in New York and Pennsylvania during the Revolutionary War.
Key Facts
- Date
- May 30, 1778
- Location
- Cobleskill, New York (now Warnerville)
- Loyalist commander
- Joseph Brant
- Retaliatory expedition
- Sullivan Expedition razed 40 Iroquois villages
- Conflict phase
- Opening raid of Loyalist-Iroquois frontier campaign
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
British authorities in the Province of Quebec encouraged and supplied Loyalists and Iroquois to attack frontier settlements in New York and Pennsylvania, aiming to destabilize the western edges of American-held territory during the Revolutionary War.
A small Iroquois decoy party lured Cobleskill's defenders into an ambush set by a much larger force of Iroquois and Loyalists under Joseph Brant. After killing a number of regulars and militia and driving off the rest, Brant's forces destroyed much of the settlement.
Months after the raid, Lieutenant Colonel William Butler's forces retaliated by destroying two Iroquois villages on the Susquehanna River. A year later, the Sullivan Expedition razed 40 Iroquois villages, escalating the conflict across the frontier.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
William Butler (retaliatory action).
Side B
1 belligerent
Joseph Brant.