Mohawk River, Herkimer, NY
Beginning around 1709, hundreds of Palatine refugees flooded the new colonies in America fleeing fire and sword in their homeland, the Palatine region of Germany, where the French were continually attacking from across the border and ravaging their land.

The British tried to take advantage of the new immigrants by indenturing them into a tar production camp in NY. The Palatines, a strong willed and independent people, were angry about being tricked into their indenture but they persevered until the project eventually failed due to poor planning by the British.

The British then decided to use these "troublemakers" once more and removed the Palatines to the Mohawk Valley region of Herkimer County, NY. There they would both be out of the way as well as act as a buffer between the British Colonies and the French who were attacking from Canada. Between their strong independence and their memories of the injustices done them in Germany by the French soldiers, the Palatines became a force to reckon with in this new fight, the French & Indian War (1754-63).

Unfortunately for the British it was these same traits and long memories that turned the Palatines against them during the Revolutionary War (1775-83) and the Palatines once again found themselves living on the front lines between the colonies and the enemy, this time the British and Mohawk Indians attacking from across the border in Canada.

The freedom of our nation today is in large part due to these brave Palatine families who, in the bloody battles of the French & Indian War and later the American Revolution, sacrificed their homes, their lands and their very lives to help make this nation free.