imported>JJMC89 bot III: Moving :Category:Battles involving Native Americans to :Category:Battles involving Native American people per Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Speedy

2025-04-21T20:57:23Z

Moving Category:Battles involving Native Americans to Category:Battles involving Native American people per Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Speedy

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{{Short description|1779 battle}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| image = Groveland Ambuscade Park; Groveland, NY.JPG
| image_size = 150px
| caption = Groveland Ambuscade Park commemorating the ambush
| conflict = Boyd and Parker ambush
| partof = the [[American Revolutionary War]]
| date = September 13, 1779
| place = [[Groveland, New York]]
| result = British (Loyalists and Seneca) victory
| combatant2 = {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Great Britain|23px}} [[Seneca people|Seneca]]
| combatant1 = {{flag|United States|1777}}
| commander2 = [[John Butler (Ranger)|Major John Butler]] [[Cornplanter]] [[Little Beard]]
| commander1 = {{flagicon|United States|1777}} Lieutenant Thomas Boyd †
| strength2 = 400
| strength1 = 24
| casualties2 = 1 Seneca killed
| casualties1 = 14 killed 3 captured and killed 7 escaped
}}

The '''Boyd and Parker ambush''' was a minor military engagement in what is now [[Groveland, New York]] on September 13, 1779, during the [[American Revolutionary War]]. A scouting patrol of the [[Sullivan Expedition]] was ambushed by [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalist]] soldiers led by Major [[John Butler (Ranger)|John Butler]] and their [[Seneca people|Seneca]] allies led by [[Cornplanter]] and [[Little Beard]].

==Background==
Native American raids in [[Upstate New York]] resulted in General [[George Washington]] sending Major General [[John Sullivan (general)|John Sullivan]] with several thousand soldiers into the [[Finger Lakes Region]] to displace the Seneca and [[Cayuga people|Cayuga]]; destroy their villages, crops and food stores; and remove the threat to settlers.

==Prelude==
Butler and the Seneca war chiefs had roughly 800 men to defend Seneca territory including [[Butler's Rangers]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=Glenn F. |title=Year of the Hangman: George Washington's Campaign against the Iroquois |date=2005 |publisher=Westholm Publishing |location=Yardley, Pennsylvania |page=264 |isbn=9781594160134 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/yearofhangmangeo0000will}}</ref> Sullivan had marched from [[Easton, Pennsylvania]] to the [[Wyoming Valley]], then ascended the [[Susquehanna River]] to its confluence with the [[Chemung River]].

After defeating Butler at the [[Battle of Newtown]], Sullivan headed north into the Seneca homeland. His brigades proceeded up the eastern side of [[Seneca Lake (New York)|Seneca Lake]] to [[Kanadaseaga]] before heading west towards [[Little Beard's Town|Chenussio]], also known as Little Beard's Town.

Sullivan had camped at the site of Foot’s Corners in [[Conesus, New York|Conesus]] on Sunday, September 12, 1779, after marching from [[Honeoye Lake]]. That night, Lieutenant Thomas Boyd received orders to organize a scouting party to locate and reconnoiter Chenussio. Boyd took 26 soldiers with him including Sergeant Michael Parker. Also with him was Thaosagwat, an [[Oneida people|Oneida]] guide also known as Han Yost.<ref>Williams (2005), p. 279.</ref>

Meanwhile, about 400 Rangers and allied warriors were preparing to ambush the vanguard of Sullivan's army as it emerged from the marshy area south of Conesus Lake, unaware that Boyd's patrol had unknowingly passed them in the night.

==Ambush==
{{Campaignbox American Revolutionary War: Northern 1777}}
The following morning Boyd's patrol reached an abandoned village which he believed was Chenussio. After sending four runners back to Sullivan they spotted a group of four Seneca entering the village and a brief skirmish followed. One Seneca was killed. Boyd then decided to return with his patrol to Sullivan's camp. On the trail they spotted five Iroquois who fled. Thaosagwat warned Boyd not to follow but he ignored the warning, and the patrol stumbled upon the enemy’s lines. Surrounded and outnumbered, fourteen of Boyd’s men were killed. Seven escaped, while Boyd, Parker and Thaosagwat were captured. Thaosagwat was immediately executed by Little Beard.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Graymont|first=Barbara|title=The Iroquois in the American Revolution|year=1972|publisher=Syracuse University Press|location=Syracuse, N.Y.|page=217 |isbn=9780815600831 |url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/iroquoisinameric00gray}}</ref>

==Aftermath==

Boyd and Parker were taken to Chenussio, where Butler questioned them. After Butler departed, Little Beard had Boyd and Parker tortured, mutilated and decapitated in anger over the destruction of Seneca villages. According to one source, Boyd and Parker had their entrails secured to a tree and were then forced to circle the tree so that their innards were drawn out. However, this particular detail is not included in the journals kept by several members of the Sullivan Expedition which describe the condition of the mangled bodies in gruesome detail.<ref>Graymont (1972), p. 219.</ref><ref name="Journals">{{cite web |title=Journals of the Military Expedition of Major General John Sullivan against the Six Nations of Indians in 1779 |url=http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/1pa/1picts/sullivan/sitetoc.html |website=USGenWeb Archives |access-date=8 March 2023}}</ref>

A tree, thought to be the tree to which Boyd was bound, is located in the [[Boyd & Parker Park and Groveland Ambuscade|Boyd and Parker Park]] in [[Leicester, New York]].

[[Image:Groveland Ambuscade Monument; Groveland, NY.JPG|thumb|right|Monument to Boyd and Parker]]
The bodies of Boyd and Parker were discovered by Sullivan's forces on September 14, and the men were buried with full military honors. Chenussio was razed to the ground and the extensive fields of corn and vegetables surrounding it were destroyed.<ref>Graymont (1972), p. 218</ref> Sullivan then turned his army around and headed back towards Seneca Lake. The bodies of Thaosagwat and the 14 soldiers who died at the ambush site were discovered two days later.<ref name="Journals" />

Besides Boyd, Parker and Thaosagwat, the names of 12 of the killed are known and are inscribed on a memorial located in [[Rochester, New York|Rochester]], New York.<ref>{{cite web |title=Boyd - Parker Memorial |url=https://mcnygenealogy.com/pictures/0500/pic-0553.htm |website=Pictures of Rochester and Monroe County |publisher=Munroe County GenWeb}}</ref> One name on the memorial, Corporal Calhoun, refers to a soldier who died of his wounds in a separate encounter the same day as the Boyd and Parker ambush.<ref name="Journals" />

==Memorials==
The remains of Boyd and Parker were left buried at the site of their deaths until 1841, when they were re-interred at Rochester's [[Mount Hope Cemetery, Rochester|Mount Hope Cemetery]] in a ceremony attended by New York Governor [[William H. Seward]].<ref>{{cite book |title=History of Rochester and Monroe County, New York |publisher=Pioneer Publishing Company |last=Peck |first=William |year=1908 |page=23 |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_IvssAAAAYAAJ |accessdate=2009-04-05}}</ref>

Today the [[Boyd & Parker Park and Groveland Ambuscade|Groveland Ambuscade Monument]] marks the site of the ambush inside a small park, which was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 2009. In September 2004 the ambush's 225th anniversary was commemorated at the site with an reenactment.<ref>{{cite web |title=2004: The 225th Anniversary Events |url=https://www.sullivanclinton.com/categories/two-hundred-twentyfifth/ |website=Sullivan-Clinton Campaign |access-date=8 March 2023}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

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{{New York in the American Revolutionary War}}

[[Category:1779 in the United States]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1779]]
[[Category:Battles in the Northern theater of the American Revolutionary War after Saratoga]]
[[Category:Battles involving Native American people]]
[[Category:Battles involving the United States]]
[[Category:Battles involving Great Britain]]
[[Category:Livingston County, New York]]
[[Category:Battles of the American Revolutionary War in New York (state)]]
[[Category:1779 in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Ambushes in the United States]]
[[Category:Sullivan Expedition]]

Boyd and Parker ambush - Revision history

imported>JJMC89 bot III: Moving :Category:Battles involving Native Americans to :Category:Battles involving Native American people per Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Speedy