<P> Burgoyne's invasion was now in serious trouble . His supplies were low, Loyalists were not rallying to the colors in the numbers expected, and a huge force of Patriots was gathering against him . At Saratoga, Loyalists, Indians and French Canadians acted as scouts and sharpshooters for the British, but the fighting ended with a decisive defeat for the royal cause--the surrender of Burgoyne and his army on October 17, 1777 . </P> <P> The British general Guy Carleton, impressed by the ambush at Oriskany, authorized John Butler to raise eight more companies of Loyalist Rangers, "to serve with the Indians, as occasion shall require". This unit was Butler's Rangers . Butler's headquarters were established at Fort Niagara . This gave the Loyalists access to the river valleys of northern New York . </P> <P> The British now decided that raids upon frontier settlements were the correct path to follow . An early raid was made in May, 1778, on Cobleskill, New York, where three hundred Loyalists and Indians, led by the Mohawk chief, Joseph Brant, defeated a small Patriot force of militia and Continental regulars, then burned homes, crops and barns . </P> <P> In late June, 1778, a mixed force of Indians and John Butler's Loyalist Rangers attacked the settlement in Wyoming Valley, in Pennsylvania . The raiders were resisted by a force of inexperienced Patriot militia . These were badly defeated . The Loyalists and Indians devastated the whole area . Reports indicated that some prisoners and fleeing Patriots were tortured and murdered . One historian has said, "The Tories (Loyalists) usually neither gave nor expected any quarter, and when this vengeful spirit was augmented by the Indian propensity for total war, the results were almost invariably grim ." </P>

Supporter of the american side during the war of independence