Siege of Fort Stanwix
In November he was made a full Colonel and given command of the 3rd New York Regiment. which he recruited and trained in early 1777. Lt. Colonel Marinus Willett became his second in command. His area of responsibility was extended from the Hudson River valley and Fort Edward and Fort George, along the Mohawk River Valley to Fort Oswego in the northwest. This was to be the axis of Colonel Barry St. Leger's attack during the Saratoga Campaign.
The 3rd New York did not have the men and equipment to extend that far, even with the support of local militia units. He conceded Fort Oswego to the British, and elected to defend Fort Stanwix (near modern Rome, New York). The fort had been abandoned after the French and Indian War and was in ruins. Gansevoort and Willett restored the fort and strengthened its defenses. They hurriedly set up a garrison, getting the last boatload of supplies into the fort under fire from St. Leger's advance force on August 2.
He and his more than 700-strong garrison withstood the three-week-long siege, making a sortie on August 6, while much of St. Leger's force was occupied in the Battle of Oriskany. The siege was lifted on August 22, after word arrived that Benedict Arnold was leading a large relief force up the Mohawk valley.
He received the grateful thanks of the Congress, as John Adams noted that "Gansevoort has proven that it is possible to hold a fort."
Read more about this topic: Peter Gansevoort
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