Three Rivers
Hudson~Mohawk~Schoharie
History From America's Most Famous Valleys

The Mohawk Valley and the American Revolution
Published by the State of New York
Nelson A. Rockefeller, Governor
Parks and Recreation
Alexander Aldrich, Commissioner
Historic Trust, Louis C. Jones, Chairman
Albany, NY 1972

The Outbreak of The Revolution

By the time of Sir William's death, the Revolutionary movement was well underway in the Mohawk Valley. Residents had raised their voices in objection to new regulations by the English Parliament increasing taxes and boosting prices on sugar, paper and tea. They opposed the aristocratic establishment that the Johnsons and Butlers represented. Meetings and assemblies of persons favoring fewer regulations and more opportunities to participate in political decisions agitated Valley communities. Feelings ran high as families split in their loyalties and neighbors took different sides in the dispute.

Sir William Johnson had denounced "the audacious behavior of New Yorkers" who were seeking a democratic system and who were encouraging "that spirit of libertinism and independence daily gaining ground." His relatives cast their lot with the Crown and became the leaders of Loyalism in the Valley.

<-The VAN ALSTYNE house, a favorite subject of Grider's, was enlarged over the years. It is now the Fort Rensselaer Club, a Canajoharie social organization.

In the month following Sir William's death, Tryon County patriots assembled in Stone Arabia to organize a Committee of safety, and organization in which they could express their new ideas. They held many meetings in Canajoharie in Martin Van Alstyne's house, a long, low stone structure. Patriots in Schenectady erected their banner proclaiming "Liberty," and organized a Committee of Correspondence to help keep informed about persons hostile to their beliefs. The dispute between the two factions boiled over in a spirited confrontation at the Johnstown Jail, another of the local structures erected (1772) under Sir William's direction. (The stone section was garrisoned and stockaded and, named Fort Johnstown, was used both as a fort and as a prison during the revolution).

In a period marked by increasing polarization, Sir John Johnson appeared to Patriots to be taking an equivocal position until Sir John, fearing an imminent attack on Johnson Hall, fled from his homestead on May 1, 1776. With friends, tenants and an armed retinue, he endured the extreme hardships of traveling through the Adirondack wilderness and 19 days later reached Canada. Soon after his arrival there, Sir John, with other Mohawk Valley refuges, formed a battalion of the "King's Royal Regiment of New York," also known as "Johnson's Greens." Together with Butler's Rangers and with Indians led by Joseph Brant, a Mohawk protégé of Sir William's known as Thayendanega, they scourged the Valley. They believed they were fighting for their homes as much as any Valley Patriot did.

Sir John Johnson (1742-1830), a pastel portrait hanging in Johnson Hall. -->

<- Guy Johnson (1740-1788) the son of Sir William's brother, John, married his cousin Mary, or "Polly." The portrait is by an unknown artist (New York State Historical Association).

 

Mohawk Valley in The Revolution