Boyd and Parker ambush

Groveland Ambuscade Park commemorating the ambush

Date	September 13, 1779
Location	Groveland, New York
Result	British (Loyalists and Iroquois) victory

Belligerents

United States

Great Britain

Iroquois Confederacy

Commanders and leaders

Thomas Boyd†

Little Beard

Strength

Unknown

Casualties and losses

14 killed
2 captured and killed
8 escaped

1 Iroquois Killed
1 Iroquois wounded

The Boyd and Parker ambush was a minor military engagement in Groveland, New York on September 13, 1779, during the American Revolutionary War. A scout group of the Sullivan Expedition was ambushed and captured by Loyalists and their Seneca Indian allies led by Little Beard.

Native American raids in Upstate New York compelled General George Washington to send General John Sullivan with some 3500 men into Western New York to displace the Senecas; destroy their crops, villages, and food supplies; and remove the threat to settlers.

Iroquois Chief Joseph Brant and British Colonel John Butler had some 800 men and were in defense of the region. Sullivan marched from Easton, PA through Pennsylvania and into Western New York. They camped at the site of Foot’s Corners in Conesus on Sunday, September 12, 1779, after traveling from Honeoye Lake. That night Sullivan ordered Lt. Thomas Boyd to organize a scouting party to discover the location of the Seneca village. Boyd took 23 men with him including Sergeant Michael Parker. They left late that night and passed by Butler’s ambush party without either group knowing of the other.

During the next day the scouting party spotted a group of four Indians along the trail and a brief gun fight occurred. One Indian was killed, and Boyd and Parker started to return to Sullivan. On the trail they spotted five Indians who fled. Boyd’s guide told him not to follow, for it was a trap, but he ignored the warning. They were led into the enemy’s lines, surrounded, and outnumbered. Fifteen of Boyd’s men were killed, eight escaped, while Boyd and Parker were captured. Estimates from contemporary Journals is that the Boyd party numbered 29 of whom 17 were killed; 5 returned and 7 escaped.

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