Battle of Minisink

Background. Although British forces in the Northern Theater were largely concentrated in and near New York, Joseph Brant, a Mohawk war leader, traveled to the upper Delaware Valley with his Loyalist and Indigenous volunteers to gather intelligence, seize cattle, and possibly disrupt American plans for an expedition against the Iroquois. The valley was vulnerable because Brigadier General Kazimierz Pulaski's infantry had been reassigned to the Southern Theater in February 1779, leaving the upper Delaware River valley largely undefended.

The Engagement. The local militia mustered at Minisink early on July 21, 1779, under Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Tusten, joined by a detachment from Sussex County, New Jersey. On the morning of July 22 they took position on a hill east of the confluence of the Lackawaxen and Delaware Rivers, intending to ambush Brant's forces crossing the Minisink Ford. The battle was a decisive Iroquois and Loyalist victory, as the Patriot militia was hastily assembled, ill-equipped and inexperienced.

Aftermath. The inhabitants of the Precinct of Goshen, which preceded the forming of towns in Orange County, were unable to bury their dead for 43 years because the battlefield was too remote. The site today lies within Minisink Battleground County Park in Sullivan County, a couple of miles north of the Hamlet of Barryville near the Roebling's Delaware Aqueduct. The settlement of Cushetunk was so divided that neighbors fought on opposite sides in the battle.