During the spring of 1779 the whole struggle in America was rather bare of events.  The raids against Wyoming and Cherry Valley had roused the indignation of the Congress of the United States, and it had turned its attention energetically to the Indian races who were opposed to its rule.  They must be crushed at all hazards.  On February 25 Congress had voted that means should be taken to bring aid to those settlements which had been suffering from the Indians.  A campaign of vengeance into the homeland of the Six Nations was to be the crowning effort of the year.  This was the plan.  A numerically strong force was to operate under the command of General Sullivan.  Sullivan was to move up from Pennsylvania, and along the Susquehanna until he reached the Tioga river.  At the same time, General James Clinton was to advance from the north, meeting his brother officer by the way.  The two divisions should then follow the bed of the Chemung river, and sweep mercilessly upon the villages of the Senecas and Cayugas.

Clinton was at Canajoharie Castle on June 16.  With difficulty he crossed the twenty-mile portage to Lake Otsego, and by the end of the month was able to tell General Sullivan that he was ready for the last stage of the journey.  Sullivan, on the other hand, was making no attempt to hasten.  He moved forward at a leisurely pace, and Clinton grew very impatient at the delay.  Even Brant marvelled at Sullivan’s inaction.  The War Chief knew only too well that when the two rebel forces met the struggle to save the homes of his people would be difficult.

At this juncture the great Mohawk lay with a considerable body of warriors at Grassy Brook.  He had learned that Minisink in the Shawangunk Mountains close to the New Jersey line was left unguarded, and decided to fall upon it.  Taking sixty redskins and twenty-seven white men apparelled as Indians, he advanced so stealthily that his approach was unnoticed.  During the night of July 19 he surprised the town, burnt it to the ground, and carried off prisoners and booty.

Orange county, in which Minisink was situated, was at once in a state of tumult.  The local militia flocked together, and were eager to follow hard after their daring foe.  Some thought it more prudent to stay at home, but the majority wished immediately to take up the chase.  The matter was settled when Major Meeker sprang on his horse, waved his sword, and cried with vehemence:  ’Let the brave men follow me, the cowards may stay behind.’  With this, the ill-advised settlers picked up the trail of the redskins and started in pursuit.  A body of scouts who were slightly in the lead emerged, after various exciting adventures, upon the broad hills that skirt the Delaware river.  Below them they could see the Indians twining in and out among the trees.  The red men were evidently making for a shallow place where they might ford the stream.