Revolutionary War Patriots fought in the Battle at Indian Castle

“The Great Upper Castle of the Mohawks, 1700-1779”
At Indian Castle was the Upper Castle of the Mohawks, the village of the Bear clan, at the outbreak of the Revolution (1775), the Lower Castle, the village of the Wolf clan, being at Fort Hunter. After the destructive French-Canadian Indian raid against the Mohawks in 1693, they built upper village here in 1700. In 1775 most of these local savages went to Canada and joined the British forces, and during the Revolution frequently raided, burned and murdered along the Mohawk. Some Mohawks here remained until 1779. Molly Brant, sister of Joseph Brant, and housekeeper for Sir William Johnson, came to the castle after the baronet’s death in 1774. From Indian Castle she sent a messenger to her brother at Fort Stanwix, warning him of General Herkimer’s impending march. Brant thereupon prepared the bloody ambush of Oriskany (August 6, 1777). In 1779 the few remaining Mohawks were removed to Albany and their houses given to the suffering and homeless white survivors of the many Indian valley raids, thus ending the Mohawk occupation of the valley since about 1580- 200 years. This was also called the Canajoharie castle, it being in the Canajoharie district, the Mohawk name for the river region from the Noses to Fall Hill. Do not confuse these names with the village of Canajoharie. This upper castle was on the site of the buildings of the (1924) Willis Greene farm. The Mohawks of the upper or Canajoharie castle were called the Canajoharies to distinguish them from the lower castle Indians at Fort Hunter, who were called Mohawks although both were Mohawk castles. It was the presence of the fierce Mohawk Iroquois Indian nation in the Valley, which prevented its earlier settlement. Fort Hendrick, 1756-1760.
During the years from 1700 to 1755, King Hendrick, or the Great Hendrick, was here resident and the Castle’s leading chieftain. In 1709 Col. Peter Schuyler, at the request of the British Government, took Hendrick and four other Mohawk chieftains to London where they were the guests of Queen Anne and the British court and where they excited great popular interest. The visit was intended to impress the Mohawks with the power of the British and cement the British-Mohawk alliance against the French which it did. Hendrick was a powerful friend of Sir William Johnson and the British cause. In 1755 King Hendrick led 300 Mohawk warriors, with Johnson, to the Battle of Lake George, where he was slain with many of his followers. In 1756 Sir William Johnson built Fort Hendrick, close to Canajoharie Castle and so named it in honor of the great Mohawk warrior.
Chief Joseph Brant and Molly BrantHow Sir William Fell in Love at First Sight of the Mohawk Beauty.
Both Joseph Brant, the Mohawk chieftain, and his equally famous sister, Molly Brant, were living here at the Canajoharie Castle, when Sir William Johnson met and became enamored of the beautiful Mohawk girl. Molly is said to have won the heart of the valley baronet when, at a dare, she jumped up behind a mounted, scarlet-coated British officer and rode at a mad pace around the field at a valley military review. Johnson installed Molly at Johnson Hall as his housekeeper and educated and befriended her brother, Joseph. Fiske, the historian, says Joseph Brant was “the most remarkable Indian in our history.” For a century after the Revolution Brant was hated because of the murderous guerilla raids of Indians and Tories which he led and which burned and killed up and down the Mohawk valley.
While the Mohawks were valiant and terrible warriors in the forest, they were so filled with a love of cruelty and human torture that it is hard for us to truly value these neolithic men suddenly confronted with civilized Europeans. The Mohawks’ ferocity and their hideous tortures of captives came from the double cause of their love of cruel spectacles and a desire to intimidate their enemies. The horrors of the Revolutionary warfare are a matter of history.
The word Mohawk comes from the Algonquin word Mohwaug, meaning “They eat living creatures,” referring to their cruel cannibal rites and sacrifices to Aireskoi, their war demon. All eastern Indians, however, were similarly cruel, varying only in degree. The Dutch settlers called the Mohawks Maquaas, meaning “Bears.” Father Bruyas wrote “Ganniagwari, a She Bear. This is the name of the Mohawks.” Their own name was Cannienga, “Flint People.” Dekanawida and Hiawatha.The white man knows of the Hiawatha legend but the real Iroquois legend has two heroes of whom the greater, Dekanawida, has semi-divine attributes, while Hayonwatha (Hiawatha) is his mortal emmisary and spokesman. According to the legend, Dekanawida was a Huron adopted as a chief of the Mohawk tribe, while Hayonwatha was an Onondaga, likewise adopted as a Mohawk chief by that nation. Dekanawida and Hayonwatha formulated the Great Binding Law (Gayanashagowa) of the Great Peace (Iroquois Confederacy) in the chief Mohawk town near Cohoes Falls. These Mohawk chiefs were real characters who originated in the Mohawk country, the League of Five Nations, which had an effect on world history.

Indian Castle Church, 1769
This church is seen from the Turnpike. Sir William Johnson, in 1769, built it as a mission church for the Mohawks of the Upper Castle here then located. The church was built on land then owned by Joseph Brant, the famous Mohawk chieftain, who was noted for his piety and who translated the gospel of St. Mark into the Mohawk language. Many missionaries to the Iroquois preached here, including Samuel Kirkland, founder of Hamilton college (see Utica). The Indian Castle church is the only Colonial Indian mission church standing along the New York-Buffalo highway, and it is also the sole remaining structure which was part of the last two valley Mohawk villages – that at Fort Hunter (1700-1779) and here at Indian Castle (1700-1779).
During the Revolution Mohawk Indian raiders, formerly resident here, attempted to steal the bell of their old church. They neglected, however, to secure its clapper and its ringing awakened the patriot settlers who armed themselves, sallied out and recovered the old church bell.
The Indian Castle church may be reached (1924) by running east over the south shore state road, crossing to it on Fink’s Bridge, three miles west; also by road west from Fort Plain and St. Johnsville. At Indian Castle, the Now-a-da-ga creek enters the Mohawk. Its Indian name means “mud turtle creek.” Westward of the outlet of Nowadaga creek, the Rocky Rift dam is seen in the old river channel, the land cut of the Barge canal lying just southward. Running westward, the motorist sees, in the distance, on the south shore, a tall gray stone monument close to a large red brick house over which the American flag is daily flying. This famous landmark is the Gen. Herkimer Home on a State park of 160 acres, reached by a detour over Fink’s Bridge, 3
m. w. of Nowadaga creek” (Fulton.NYGenWeb.net 2015).
http://fulton.nygenweb.net/Turnpike/Dolgeville.html