Fort Stanwix National Monument

Known as "the fort that never surrendered," Fort Stanwix successfully repelled a prolonged siege in August 1777 during the Revolutionary War.

For thousands of years the ancient trail that connects the Mohawk River and Wood Creek served as a vital link for people traveling between the Atlantic Ocean and Lake Ontario. When Europeans arrived they called this trail the Oneida Carrying Place and inaugurated a significant period in American history—a period when nations fought for control not only of the Oneida Carrying Place but also the Mohawk Valley, the homelands of the Six Nations Confederacy.

The failed siege combined with the battles at Oriskany, Bennington, and Saratoga thwarted a coordinated effort by the British in 1777 to take the northern colonies, and led to American alliances with France and the Netherlands. Troops from Fort Stanwix also participated in the 1779 Clinton-Sullivan Campaign and protected America's northwest frontier from British campaigns until finally abandoned in 1781.