Milford News | 1938-08-11 | Page 2 | Celebrations in New York Honor "Greatest American of his Day"

Celebrations in Nev Ycr!c Honor "Greatest American of His Day" Series of Pageants in Mohawk Valley Recall the Arrival 200 Years Ago of a Young Irish Immigrant Who, as an English Baronet and Mohawk Indian Chieftain, Ruled Over a Wilderness Empire and Helped Shape the Destiny of America in Colonial Days. Western Newspaper Union. By ELMO SCOTT WATSON IN THE historic Mohawk Valley of New York a series of historical pageants, pag-eants, memorial services and other gatherings have been held this summer as a bicentennial bicen-tennial commemoration of a great American who is too little known to later generations genera-tions of Americans. He was not only the greatest American Amer-ican of his day, but he was "a world figure; a great constructive con-structive genius; the greatest landowner in North America; Amer-ica; a wise magistrate, a victorious vic-torious soldier, a builder of cities amid a wilderness; a redeemer of men. "He was a Baronet of the British Realm; His Majesty's Superintendent of Indian Affairs Af-fairs for all North America. He was the only living white man implicitly trusted by the savages of this continent, be- 1 I I ' ill r 4 ? s i ,fx j ?- - s - ( i Blockhouse at Johnson Hall. cause he never broke his word to them. He was, perhaps, per-haps, the only representative representa-tive of royal authority in the Western Hemisphere utterly believed in by the dishonest, tyrannical, and stupid pack of Royal Governors, Magistrates Magis-trates and lesser vermin that afflicted the colonies with the British plague. "He was kind and great. All loved him. All mourned him. For he was a very perfect per-fect gentleman who practiced prac-ticed truth and honour and mercy; an unassuming and respectable man who loved laughter and gaiety and plain people." He was thus characterized in an historical novel of the Colonial and Revolutionary days. But, let it be added at once, historians have confirmed the novelist's judgment of Sir William Johnson. It was just 200 years ago that a tall, rugged, handsome young Irishman, aged twenty-three, landed in Boston and went immediately im-mediately afterwards to the "small, dull and dirty" city of New York to become the guest of his uncle, Sir Peter Warren, the famous British admiral. Here for a few months young Johnson entered whole-heartedly into the gay social life for which the New York of that period was noted. Then with the true spirit of the pioneer stirring in him, Johnson took a boat up the Hudson to Albany and then went by wagon to the Mohawk valley where he was to be in charge of a large tract of land belonging to his uncle. This land, 13,000 acres of wilderness, lay along the south bank of the Mohawk river near what is now South Amsterdam. He Becomes a Trader. Within a year Johnson, with the help of several mechanics and a few settlers whom he had brought with him, had surveyed the land, built a house, opened a general store and was bringing other settlers to the place. The principal patrons of his trading store were the Indians of the great Iroquois confederation, especially es-pecially the Mohawks, and before long this trade was vital to the well-being of these Indians. Soon Johnson was one of the greatest traders in the colony with his operations extending far beyond the Mohawk valley. Although Johnson lived at peace with his Indian neighbors, his life was not free from danger. England and France were entering enter-ing upon their contest for supremacy su-premacy in North America and for several years in the early 1740s Johnson's post was on constant con-stant watch for a raid by the French and ' their Indian allies. By 1745 the situation had become be-come precarious. Commissions had failed in the past, so Governor Gover-nor Clinton put Johnson on the board of Indian commissioners and on August 28, 1746, he was appointed "Colonel of the Forces to be raised out of the Six Nations." Na-tions." It was left for Johnson to win all the Indians over to the ill- ;rAvtt U K u'tH,-"J'l Vt - '' -1 -Yn' rlnJi 11 , , 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 of 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 became be-came safer in the district. 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- M-m-: -Mi WUI ml .' '". ", . : yL:'0m ' . ? s . x'W .":::::;.;.;::'::":;'':v- ".' , 'i! :, " i. ; --. 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 1 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, 1755, he started for Crown Point 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. The 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 their friends, 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 I " , V ' j if & tr' 1 , - - j 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 1 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. "Ja' 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-j 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 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 Jos-1 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 tl ' 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 Iroquoi 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 i I i 1 t J f : VV I Jy- f y 1 X c s 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 journey 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, Ont., 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.