Program

Patriot Burials

Subject

Site

Location

6199 Morris Rd, Geneseo, NY 14454, USA

Lat/Long

42.7199177, -77.7350807

Grant Recipient

Rochester Chapter Sons of the American Revolution

During the American Revolution, the Seneca, Cayuga, and Mohawk tribes, members of the Six Nations, were allied with the British. Loyalists and their Native American allies wreaked havoc on local communities and Continental stores. General George Washington tasked Major General John Sullivan and his forces to undertake an expedition with the goal of destroying villages and food supplies of these tribes in New York. In an April 15, 1779 letter from General Sullivan to General George Washington, Sullivan wrote “this expedition is intended to cut off these Indian nations, and to convince others that we have it in our power to carry the war into their own country whenever they commence hostilities, it will be necessary that the blow should be sure and fatal, otherwise they will derive confidence from our ineffectual attempts.”

Sullivan and his forces laid waste to a number of Native American villages and crops. Later, in summer and early fall of 1779, they moved their way into western New York State. On the night of September 12, 1779, Sullivan ordered Lt. Thomas Boyd to lead a scouting party into enemy territory in order to gather reconnaissance on the forces at Genesee Castle. On September 13, 1779 the Senecas, along with their British allies, ambushed the scouting party and killed 14 Continental soldiers.