The frontier settlers' response to the raids was generally with impotence. The local militia were supported by some Continental Army regiments stationed in the area, but these forces generally could not muster in time to catch the raiders before they disappeared. New York Governor George Clinton and militia commander Abraham Ten Broeck considered operations against the principal bases in the Iroquois territory used by the raiders, Onaquaga and Unadilla, early in the campaign, but it was not until an attack by Brant on the settlement of German Flatts (present-day Herkimer) on September 17 that an expedition was organized.