Sullivan Campaign of 1779

The Sullivan Campaign is a complex event of the American Revolution that has had a lasting impact on the indigenous Haudenosaunee (or Iroquois) people and the trajectory of Western New York.

During the Revolutionary War, a majority of the Haudenosaunee nations eventually were allied with the British due to complex histories of trade and diplomacy. The Genesee Valley was a stronghold of the powerful Seneca Nation, a key ally of the British army.

In 1779, Gen. George Washington sent Gen. John Sullivan into the heart of the Seneca Nation's territory with orders to destroy all villages and crops and drive the Seneca west to Fort Niagara. When the army joined Gen. James Clinton's army, the troops numbered 5,000 men. The campaign was one of the largest American offensive movements of the Revolutionary War.

What is now Livingston County was the western limit of the Sullivan Campaign. Here, the army destroyed several recently abandoned Seneca villages, including the populous and agriculturally productive Little Beard's Town. During the campaign, one of Gen. Sullivan's scouting parties was ambushed and several members killed. 

At the time, the Sullivan Campaign was regarded by Americans as a successful military operation against the Seneca and British, and it had long-lasting impact on the region. Although many Seneca people today regard the event as a genocide, it did not succeed in erasing them and their culture.

The physical sites associated with Seneca heritage and the events of the Sullivan Campaign are lasting reminders of the impact of the Revolutionary War in Western New York.

For more about the Sullivan Campaign, follow the trail in Livingston County from home or by car via this heritage tour. You can contact the Livingston County Historian’s Office with questions, or view the Sullivan Campaign of the Revolutionary War (2006) by the Historian's Office. 

To learn more about Seneca culture, check out Ganondagan State Historic Site in Victor, NY, and the Seneca-Iroquois National Museum in Salamanca, NY, a modern capital of the Seneca Nation.