Herkimer, Nicholas (1728–1777)

US soldier. A veteran of the French and Indian War, he was made Brigadier-General of militia at the outbreak of the American Revolution and was given responsibility for defending the Mohawk Valley of upstate New York against the British troops, the Loyalists, and their Indian allies. Wounded in an ambush near Oneida, New York, in August 1777, he rallied sufficiently to cheer his men on during the subsequent battle near Oriskany; but his force had to retreat and he died of his wounds at home on 16 August. He was born near what is now Herkimer, New York.