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Show Celebrations in New York Honor "Greatest American of His Day" ; ,sof pageants in Mohawk Valley Recall the Arrival 200 Years Ago of a Young Irish - emigrant Who, as an Enghsh Baronet and Mohawk Indian Chieftain, Ruled Over a Wilderness Empire and Helped Shape the Destiny of America in Colonial Davs Western NcWSDIlIlPr TTnCnn ' V , ELMO SCOTT WATSON t'v THE historic Mohawk Valley of New York a 1 series of historical pag-,. pag-,. memorial services and tr gatherings have been ".d this summer as a bicen-, bicen-, ;;nial commemoration of a "3t American who is too ; :3e known to later genera's genera-'s ".;s of Americans. He was ; ;t'oniy the greatest Amer- -n of his day, but he was h 'world figure; a great con- '-active genius; the greatest I -'.dow-ner in North Amer-a Amer-a wise magistrate, a vic-'f vic-'f '-lous soldier, a builder of U. V:jeS amid a wilderness; a deemer of men. "He was a Baronet of the :-;tish Realm; His Majesty's ;, Tjerintendent of Indian Af-,V Af-,V 'is for all North America. Ut- v; Was the only living white -in implicitly trusted by the ;vaes of this continent, be- N r . 1 r T NN 1 J ind:- Elockhouse at Johnson Hall. 8t". jiise he never broke his liiT -ord to them. He was, per-te per-te :aps, the only representa-afr: representa-afr: :ve of royal authority in the f.' Western Hemisphere utterly at relieved in by the dishonest, las-: :yrannical, and stupid pack Ef :i Royal Governors, Magis- ::ates and lesser vermin that ::1icted the colonies with a British plague, "f "He was kind and great. ' ,. -!1 loved him. All mourned ::.n. For he was a very per-, per-, :;ct gentleman who prac-nei: prac-nei: ied truth and honour and an; "ercy; an unassuming and respectable man who loved to ;lJghter and gaiety and plain on- ople." St- He was thus characterized in p:fc- historical novel of the Colonial ely-i :-.d Revolutionary days. But, let 1 As " be added at once, historians tie:- -;ve confirmed the novelist's ie lc ,dment of Sir William Johnson. 1 1: H was just 200 years ago that tht f tall, rugged, handsome young shman, aged twenty-three, fc- "ded in Eoston and went im-o: im-o: "stately afterwards to the an- aall, dull and dirty" city of it York to become the guest of e k s uncle, Sir Peter Warren, the is aous British admiral. Here Siti a few months young Johnson enf-; :ltKi whole-heartedly into the e! ; social life for which the New :';of that period was noted. ;m. rn with the true spirit of the air ;';leer stirring in him, Johnson le t : a boat up the Hudson to C .;?y.and then went by wagon the r- ; Itle Mohawk valley where he enp :.f(to be in charge of a large o!;,: of land belonging to his jit's: This land, 13,000 acres of 0:-. ;mess, lay along the south ibU s of the Mohawk river near ats'; ''st ls now South Amsterdam. tti ' ' ... Be Becmes a Trader, yli: ..Whin a year Johnsoni with c"; -.a p of several mechanics p" :'!,! ew.settlers whom he had 6i.i wun nmii had surveyed ::; f , built a house, opened a - rai s ore and was bringing ;;. settlers to the place. The ,'; 'Pal patrons of his trading ;;e were the Indians of the r ?uois confederation, es-'ythe es-'ythe Mohawks, and before ,, ;s wis trade was vital to the . j' V-l ?g o the Indians. Soon '.'s'der? WaS one o the greatest 5 -iraL"1 the colony with his ?i ,:, ?ns finding far beyond 1 Iohawk valley. '5 lived at - '51if. hls Indian neighbors, i eJas"t free from danger. acv -thr contest for su" H ; s America and ? ;;s jhnal years the early $i Pst was on col f, te a raid by the i 174; their Indian allies. r. ;-DLhe situation had be- ; Jih anous- Commissions f;r Cl'intn n'n the past' 50 Gver- ' :--d of T J' JhnSOn on the t'J on a,,L commissioners i tinted "pS 23' 174S- he was - ' be r,LVolonel f the Forces ,,ed out of the Six Na-y Na-y 'l al ,hWa7S left for Johnson au e Indians over to the Johnson Hall, baronial mansion of Sir William Johnson. English side, which he soon did. They made him a Mohawk war chief and gave him the name c-f Warraghiyagey, "Chief Big Business," Busi-ness," a fitting name for this energetic en-ergetic young merchant, who sat at their council fires, joined in their games and dances, respected respect-ed their traditions and folkways and treated them fairly a unique experience for them in their dealings with the English colonists. So when the Six Nations met in Albany in 1746 the Mohawks were immediately won over to the English side by the man whom they considered their brother and the other five tribes followed their lead. Indian relations improved and in 1748, when Johnson reorganized re-organized the Albany county militia mili-tia under his command, life be- aiiic saici ill cue U1SU11.1. The Appeal of the Mohawks. To equip the braves and to keep them happy with presents required much money and credit. Johnson advanced supplies and money until he was loaded down with debts which the New York assembly was never in any hurry hur-ry to settle, and the burden became so heavy that in 1751, to the dismay of the Mohawks, Johnson John-son resigned all his public offices and commands. At the next Indian In-dian council the Mohawks appealed ap-pealed to the governor to re- ' .-vSl. J if Statue of Johnson in Johnstown, N. . instate Johnson because "he has large Ears and heareth a great deal, and what he hears he tells to us, he also has large Eyes and sees a great way, and conceals con-ceals nothing from us." Johnson was at once, appointed to the crown council, the upper house of the legislature, where, although al-though he had no direct responsibility respon-sibility for Indian affairs, he was able to use his influence. Several years of comparative quiet followed until the outbreak of the French and Indian war in 1755. Then Johnson, the trader, trad-er, the landowner, the councilor blossomed out as a military leader lead-er of the first rank. In August, irjnC l. fnr Pmwn Poillt on Lake Champlain with a force of Indians and New England militiamen mili-tiamen and established a camp at the southern end of Lake George. When the French attacked Fort Edward in September, Johnson sent a relief force which was ambushed' am-bushed' by the French and was about to be routed when reinforcements re-inforcements under the commander com-mander arrived. Johnson, who rushed into the heat of fire, received re-ceived a bullet wound and was carried to his tent during the battle bat-tle The enemy was not pursued because the supplies were low and many of the troops were unfit un-fit for duty. Nevertheless the French were definitely halted. An Important Victory. Johnson's victory was important. impor-tant. It bolstered the faltering faith of the Iroquois in British prowess. The Indians had seen their white chief triumph on the battlefield and they realized that it would be folly to desert the victor. It was, after all, the first purely American victory over regular European troops. me English parliament was so pleased that William Johnson was made Sir William Johnson and given $25,000, with the thanks of the nation, and in February, 1756, a royal commission made him "Sole Agent and Superintendent" Superin-tendent" of the Indians in the North. Later, while Wolfe was capturing captur-ing Quebec and Amherst fighting his way toward Montreal, the former for-mer Irish immigrant, now Sir William Johnson, Bart., was winning win-ning another victory at Niagara and thus securing for Great Britain Brit-ain absolute assurance of control of the Middle West and Canada. But no sooner was the danger from the French eliminated than a new one arose. The Indians in the West were restless at the prospect of what would happen to them, now that control of the continent had passed from tneir triends, the French, to their enemies, the English. So to Detroit De-troit went Sir William Johnson in 1761, there to hold a council, to exert much of the same influence over these tribes as he had exerted ex-erted over the Iroquois and to postpone for a while the inevitable inevi-table conflict which flamed out two years later in Pontiac's uprising. up-rising. But again it was the strong hands on the Covenant chain which turned the scale. For "Sir William Johnson and his brothers by adoption managed to keep all but one of the Six Nations Na-tions out of the most bitter Indian war the British fought in America" Amer-ica" and so Pontiac was defeated. defeat-ed. Worn out from his arduous services on the frontier, Sir William Wil-liam declined to be considered for governor of New York. A year after his arrival in the Mohawk Mo-hawk valley he had purchased for himself (thereby alienating his uncle, Sir Peter Warren) a tract of land on the north side of the Mohawk river where he later built Fort Johnson, near the present pres-ent Amsterdam, N. Y. But after his return from the wars he built a new mansion for himself, Johnson Hall, in what is now Johnstown, N. Y. A settlement quickly sprang up around the hall. Churches were built and schools here he established probably the first free school in America and missions for the Indians. A Baronial Mansion. Life at Johnson Hall was on an expansive and expensive scale. Guests came from all parts of the world to enjoy the boundless hospitality of this American baronet. bar-onet. Rich wine and abundant food graced his table. His stables were filled with fine horses. Fox hunting with hounds brought from England, archery, fencing, racing rac-ing such sports were the order of the day. Always his Mohawk brethren haunted the place and once a year the Six Nations came trooping in for a council and a feasting which lasted for days. Thus for more than a decade the former Irish immigrant boy ruled like a feudal baron over - " " Last resting place of a great American. his little kingdom on American soil. His last days were devoted to perfecting various schemes for the education of the Indians and protecting them from the encroachment of land-hungry settlers. set-tlers. The end of his career came on July 11, 1774. He was buried in the churchyard of St. John's in Johnstown and visitors there today to-day see only a simple headstone, bearing the words, "Sir William Johnson, Bart. 1715-1774" to mark the last resting place of this great American. One of the most interesting of the pageants presented during the bicentennial celebration this year was staged at Johnson Hall, late in July and depicted the council of the Six Nations over which Sir William presided on the day of his death. Just before he died he spoke to a young Mohawk chieftain who stood at his bedside and who had aided him in that council. "Joseph, "Jo-seph, restrain your people. I have to go away," he said. The man to whom these words were addressed was one of the most remarkable Indians in American history. Thayendane-gea Thayendane-gea ("Bundle of Sticks") was his Indian name but he is better known as Joseph Brant. He was born in 1742 on the banks of the Ohio, whither his mother, a Mohawk Mo-hawk widow, had gone to live. Although Al-though it has never been proved, historians have good reason to believe that Sir William was Joseph Jos-eph Brant's father. Certainly the close association of the baronet and the Mohawk boy during the last three decades of Sir William's Wil-liam's life indicated that he had a special interest in him. The baronet, seeing his unusual talents, sent him to Dr. Whee-lock's Whee-lock's school at Lebanon, Conn., where he learned to read and write. But the confinement of the white man's school was too irksome irk-some for the Indian boy so he returned re-turned to New York and became an employee of Sir William's Indian In-dian department. He also served as assistant and interpreter for Reverend Charles Jeffrey Smith, a missionary, and when Pontiac's war broke out Brant was with Smith in the enemy territory. The missionary mission-ary was forced to return to the settlements but Brant remained to lead a party of Iroquois against Pontiac's warriors and it is probable that he helped Sir William in the negotiations which brought peace to the harried frontier. In 1765 Brant married the daughter of an Oneida chief and settled at Canajoharie, N. Y. Meanwhile Sir William's wife fw r r " i . " 1 JOSEPH BRANT (From the painting by .Romney) had died and he had fallen in love with Molly Brant, Joseph's sister. sis-ter. She became his common law wife and bore him several children. While she lived at Johnson John-son Hall, Joseph Brant was a frequent visitor there. After Sir William's death, Col. Guy Johnson, his nephew and son-in-law, succeeded to his position posi-tion as Indian agent and through the influence of Colonel Guy and Sir John Johnson, Sir William's son, the Mohawks cast their lot with the British at the outbreak of the Revolution. Thereupon Joseph Jos-eph Brant was elevated to the post of principal war chief of the Six Nations and given the title of captain by the British. In November, 1775, Brant accompanied ac-companied Col. Guy Johnson to England, where he was entertained enter-tained and made much of by many prominent people. He became be-came a friend of James Boswell, biographer of the great Samuel Johnson, and sat for his portrait by the famous painter, Romney. On his return he made a hazardous haz-ardous inurnev on foot from New York to Canada to aid in the plans of the British for an invasion inva-sion of New York from the north. Brant played a prominent part in the Revolution and although his name will always be associated associat-ed with the massacre at Cherry Valley, his career is full of instances in-stances of humanity to his enemies. ene-mies. These are in striking contrast con-trast to the cruelty which some of the Tories practiced upon their former friends and neighbors in the Mohawk valley who had espoused the Patriot cause. After the Revolution Brant again visited England to see that justice was done to his people who had supported the Crown during the war. Upon his return, he settled in Canada and devoted devot-ed his life to the welfare of his people. He died on November 24, 1807 at his home at the head of Lake Ontario. He was buried in the Mohawk reservation which lay along the Grand river, east of'Hamilton, Out., but in 1850 his remains were transferred to a new tomb at Brantford, Ont., where an imposing monument was erected to perpetuate the fame of this great Indian. |