Fort Dayton, New York

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Fort Dayton, New York

FORT DAYTON, NEW YORK. The site of Fort Dayton, built in 1776 by New Jersey troops of Colonel Elias Dayton, is marked in the present-day village of Herkimer, New York. The Palatines settled the area, calling it German Flats, in 1722, about two miles west of Fort Herkimer Church. Presumably on the site of the dilapidated blockhouse left from the Seven Years' War, the fortified stone house was the point of departure for the ill-fated march to Oriskany in August 1777. Fort Dayton figured in the action at nearby Shell's Bush exactly four years later. The site is marked by a heroic bronze statue in Myers Park depicting the desperate defense of this position at Oriskany.

SEE ALSO Dayton, Elias; German Flats, New York; Oriskany, New York; Schell's Bush, New York.

                        revised by Michael Bellesiles

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Fort Dayton, New York

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