Accompanying General Burgoyne on his Northern Campaign were several hundred Native warriors. Serving as scouts and raiders, these fierce fighters struck terror into the hearts of everyone they encountered. One of many incidents involving Burgoyne’s Native allies took place on 27 July 1777 in the village of Fort Edward. That day, one or more members of the indigenous Wyandot people murdered and mutilated a young woman named Jane McCrea. Many myths about Jane (also called Jenny) McCrea have arisen over the years, obscuring the truth behind her death. Fortunately, one eyewitness lived to write about it.
"[Private Standish and his captors] arrived at the top of the hill were he had stood centinell, near a large pine tree & spring of water. Several Indians were gathered round the spring, and in a few minutes [Standish] saw Jenny McCrea and Mrs. MacNeil walking up the hill with a group of Indians. They came near the spring and stopped. In a short time violent language passed between the Indians and they got into a high quarrel, beating each other with their muskets. In the midst of the fray, one of the Chiefs in a rage shot Jenny McCrea in her breast and she expired immediately. Her hair was long & flowing, and the same chief took off the scalp, cutting it so as to unembrace nearly the whole part of the head on which her hair grew. He then sprang up, tossed the scalp in the face of a young Indian standing by, brandished it in the air, and uttered a savage yell of exultation. When this was done the quarrel ceased & the whole party moved off quickly"
Pvt. Samuel Standish, Massachusetts militiaJohn Luzader. “Saratoga: A Military History of the Decisive Campaign of the American Revolution.” El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie, 2008, pp. 87-88.