Cherry Valley Museum

Before the American Revolution, Cherry Valley was one of the largest and most prosperous settlements on New York's western frontier. In July 1778, residents built a new fort and brought in the 6th Massachusetts Regiment to protect the settlement from enemy raids, but the troops, inexperienced in frontier warfare, ignored warnings of attack. On November 11, 1778, Walter Butler led a British raiding party of 800 troops, rangers, Loyalists, and Six Nations warriors in an early morning assault. While British soldiers pinned down the fort with gunfire, Indians attacked individual farms in search of plunder and captives. More than 32 people were killed, many of them noncombatants who supported the Loyalist cause, and another 70 were taken captive. Some prisoners were later exchanged by Walter Butler for his mother and siblings, who were being held hostage by New York State forces at the time of the raid.

Cherry Valley, New York · United States