- Call Number:
- HIL-MICL FC LMR .J6J6O7
- Category:
- Military
- Creator:
- Johnson, John, Sir, 1742-1730.
- Material Description:
- 1 microfilm textual records 35 mm
- Background:
Sir John Johnson was born on 5 November 1741 at Mount Johnson near Amsterdam, New York, the only son of Sir William Johnson and Catherine Weissenberg. His childhood was spent at Fort Johnson on the Mohawk River where he received most of his formal education at home. During the French and Indian Wars, he served under his father on several occasions and led an Indian expedition into the Ohio territory in 1764. He was present at most of Sir William Johnson's conferences with the Indians, something that would give him invaluable experience in years to come. From 1765 until 1767, he lived in Britain and was knighted by King George III before returning to New York. In 1773, Sir John Johnson married Mary Watts, and in 1774 on the death of Sir William Johnson, he inherited his father's vast estates along with the responsibility for his many tenants. Johnson Hall in Johnstown, the beautiful manor house build by Sir William now became his residence.
During the first years of the American Revolution, Sir John and his brothers-in-law, Daniel Claus and Guy Johnson, tried without success to retain the loyalty of the Mohawk Valley for the British cause, and in 1776 he was forced to flee with around two hundred of his followers and loyal Indians when word came that a military unit of rebels was en route to arrest him. The overland trek to Montreal was arduous, but upon his arrival he was commissioned a lieutenant colonel and authorized to recruit the 1st Battalion of the Kings Royal Regiment of New York, sometimes known as Johnson's Greens. In 1780, he raised a second battalion. Sir John and the Kings Royal Regiment of New York took part in the siege of Fort Stanwix as well as in the American defeat at Oriskany in 1777, and in 1780 he led several raids into the Mohawk Valley to destroy grain and supplies for the Continental Army. He was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general on the American establishment in 1782, and was commissioned Superintendent-General and Inspector-General of the Six Nations Indians.
Sir John was always an ally, defender and friend of the Indians in all their affairs well into the nineteenth century. With the end of the American Revolution, thousands of Loyalist soldiers and refugees had to be settled on new lands, and Sir John was appointed by the Governor, Frederick Haldimand, to supervise their settlement in the Upper St. Lawrence River and Bay of Quinte areas, which was then part of Quebec. The Loyalists looked upon him as their leader, and in 1785 he petitioned the King on their behalf to separate the new settlements from Quebec so the Loyalists could retain their land freehold and live under English civil law. As a result, Upper Canada (Ontario) was created in 1791 with John Graves Simcoe as the first lieutenant-governor. Simcoe's appointment was a deep and bitter disappointment for Sir John Johnson and he sailed for England, not returning to Montreal until 1796.
An appointment to the Legislative Council of Lower Canada soon followed, as did his resumption of duties as Chief Superintendent of Indian Affairs. Sir John had suffered tremendous losses of property and land in the Mohawk Valley as a result of his loyalty to Britain during the war, and for the rest of his life he actively pursued the acquisition of real estate in Quebec, Lower Canada and Upper Canada. Although compensated for his losses to a degree by these land acquisitions, he always retained his love for the Mohawk Valley. He died in Montreal on 4 January 1830 and was buried at Mount Johnson (renamed Mont Saint-Gregoire), a location that reminded him of his Mohawk Valley home.
- Contents:
Sir John Johnson's Orderly Book During the Oriskany Campaign begins on 4 November 1776 at La Prairie, Quebec, and the last entry is 31 July 1777 at Oswego Falls, New York, six days before the battle of Oriskany. It is a detailed record of the expedition led by Colonel Barry St. Leger from Montreal, along the St. Lawrence River, across Lake Ontario and through the Mohawk Valley, where the advance was halted by Fort Stanwix and the Battle of Oriskany before the army could reach Albany. This expedition was made up of British troops, the Kings Royal Regiment of New York under Sir John Johnson, Canadians, German troops, Butler's Rangers, Indian Department officers, and Indian Allies.
It was one element of a larger campaign that was planned and led by Brigadier-General John Burgoyne which was intended to sever communications between the northern and southern colonies making it easier for the British to subdue the rebel colonists.
The other two elements of the campaign called for Burgoyne's main army to advance southward from Canada following the Lake Champlain-Lake George waterway to reach Albany.
The third element of the plan was for Sir William Howe to march north from New York along the Hudson River to prevent American forces from attacking Burgoyne's army from the south.
The grand plan failed for several different reasons, one being the failure of Colonel St. Leger's forces to capture Fort Stanwix and his subsequent retreat. While the siege of Fort Stanwix was in progress, St. Leger received word that an American column was approaching from the west under Colonel Nicholas Herchmer, commander of the Tryon County militia. St. Leger immediately sent Loyalist soldiers and 400 Indians under Joseph Brant to ambush Herchmer's column. On 6 August 1777, the ambush was sprung as the column was passing through a gully and the ensuing battle of Oriskany was one of the bloodiest small engagements of the war. The Americans were dispersed and the Loyalist Provincials and Indians won the day, but because of the casualties suffered by the Indians, and the loss of supplies when a detachment of Americans raided their camp, together with St. Leger's failure to capture the fort, the Indians lost patience and left the field forcing the whole expedition to retreat to Oswego and finally to Montreal. Among the documents that were captured when the camp was overrun was Sir John Johnson's Orderly Book, and it has remained in American hands to this day. Meanwhile, Burgoyne's main army on the Hudson suffered huge losses and eventually was forced to surrender at Saratoga on 17 October 1777. Burgoyne's surrender later proved to be the turning point in the war.
- Originals:
The original Orderly Book is now held by The Huntington Library, San Marino,California.
- Archival Ref. No.:
Huntington Library. HM 616.
- Notes:
A statement at the beginning of the reel indicates that the microfilm contains annotations by William L. Stone. They have not been included in the film.
The Orderly Book of Sir John Johnson during the Oriskany Campaign, 1776-1777, with annotations by William L. Stone and with an Historical Introduction and Illustrations by J. Watts de Peyster, was published in Albany, New York, by Joel Munsell in 1882.
The Orderly Book was also published in the March and April issues of the American Magazine of History in 1881.