On November 12, 1757, during the French and Indian War, a company of French and Indian warriors staged an attack on German Flatts, on the north side of the Mohawk River in the British Province of New York. The settlement of Palatine German refugees and their families was destroyed, and many of the men, women and children were taken prisoner. (Since 1788 the village has been called Herkimer, New York, and not German Flatts.)