Peter Gansevoort was a Colonel in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He is best known for leading the resistance to Barry St. Leger's Siege of Fort Stanwix in 1777. Gansevoort was also the maternal grandfather of Moby-Dick author Herman Melville.
Portrait of Gansevoort by Gilbert Stuart, 1794
Statue of Peter Gansevoort, Rome, NY
Catherine Van Schaick Gansevoort, portrait by Ezra Ames
Image: Peter Gansevoort
The siege of Fort Stanwix began on August 2, 1777 and ended on August 22, 1777. Fort Stanwix, at the western end of the Mohawk River Valley, was a primary defense point for the Continental Army against the British and indigenous forces aligned against them during the American Revolutionary War. The fort was occupied by Continental Army forces from New York and Massachusetts under the command of Colonel Peter Gansevoort. The besieging force was composed of British regulars, Loyalist soldiers, Hessians, and indigenous warriors, under the command of Brigadier General Barry St. Leger. St. Leger's expedition was a diversion in support of Lieutenant General John Burgoyne's campaign to take control of the Hudson River Valley to the east.
Aerial view of the reconstructed Fort Stanwix
18th-century engraving of Barry St. Leger
A road blocked by a "giant abatis" such as delayed St. Leger's artillery.
Portrait of Peter Gansevoort by Gilbert Stuart, 1794