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The Direct Agency of the English Government in the employment of the Indians in the Revolutionary War. By William W. Campbell. Read by Mr. Campbell, October 7^th, 1845, before the New York Historical Society.

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Nearly forty years before the commencement of the Revolutionary war, a young man arrived in the valley of the Mohawk, who was destined to exert a greater influence than any other individual since the settlement of the province of New York, over the Indians who dwelt within its borders. He was in early manhood, but little over twenty years of age, and was entrusted with an extensive and important agency. He was of a good family – an Irishman by birth – a nephew of Sir Peter Warren, and had charge of a large landed property belonging to his uncle, which was situated in that vicinity. He rose rapidly in public estimation, for he had talent and opportunity for its exercise. He early entered the provincial army – leading sometimes the provincial troops, and sometimes the warriors of the Six Nations. In 1755 he gained a signal victory over the French on the northern frontiers of New York. The English government created him a baronet, and granted him five thousand pounds, and he was appointed a superintendent of Indian affairs for the northern provinces, with a salary of a thousand pounds a year. The fame and the fortune of Sir William Johnson were made.

He continued in the exercise of his important duties down to the period of his death. He was a man of stern and determined purpose, but urbane and conciliatory when necessary, and held a controlling influence over the Indians and most of the inhabitants of the frontier. For nearly twenty years he resided at his place, called Fort Johnson, and which is situated in the valley of the Mohawk, about three miles west of Amsterdam. He afterwards removed to Johnson Hall, near the village of Johnstown, and where he spent the remaining years of his life. In the month of July, 1774, an Indian council was called at Johnson Hall, and besides a large number of the Six Nations, there assembled at his house, Governor Franklin of New Jersey, the judges of the Supreme Court of New York, and other gentlemen of consideration and influence in the province. During the sitting of this council, on the 11^th July, 1774, Sir William died suddenly. He had been, it is said, previously unwell, and the exertion which he made was greater than he could bear. It was alleged at the time, by those who espoused the American cause, that he purposely hastened his death, having determined never to lead his Indian warriors against a people with whom he had so long dwelt on the most friendly terms; and at the same time, being unwilling to disregard the instructions and wishes of a government which had so highly honored and enriched him.

An eye-witness, under date of 13^th of July, 1774, thus writes: "The corpse of the late Sir William Johnson was carried from Johnson Hall to Johnstown, and deposited in the family vault in the church which he erected, attended by upwards of two thousand persons from the neighboring country, with the Indians, who all behaved with the greatest decorum, and exhibited the most lively marks of real sorrow. The pall was supported by his Excellency, the Governor of New Jersey, the Judges of the Supreme Court of New York, and other persons of note who happened to be in Johnstown at that time; and on their return from the funeral to Johnson Hall, the Indians acquainted Colonel Johnson that they would perform the ceremony of condolence the next day." They wished, they said, "to kindle up anew the fires at Johnstown and Onondaga."

Johnson Hall, the residence of Sir William at the time of his death, was situated upon an eminence, and overlooked the village and the church, from which it was distant about one mile; and the scene must have been one of an imposing character, as the long funeral procession moved slowly down the winding avenue, conveying to its last resting-place all that remained of him who had for so many years been the first man upon the borders. They who were soon after to be known as patriot and loyalists, as Whig and Tory, walked side by side, and mingled their tears together. The dusky Indian warrior bowed his head in sorrow by the side of the pale face, with whom he was not to meet again, except in the fierce and bloody contests which were soon to be waged. Some, perhaps, met for the first time afterwards in bloody strife upon the same ground over which they bore the corpse of the good old chieftain.

Thus died Sir William Johnson; and he died as he had lived, surrounded by Indian warriors. The Indian superintendency was to pass into other hands, and new and perilous scenes were preparing for the inhabitants of the frontiers of New York.

Sir William Johnson left one son, Sir John Johnson, and two daughters, one of whom was married to Colonel Daniel Claus, and the other to Colonel Guy Johnson. The latter was a distant relative of Sir William, and for thirty years had been also intimately acquainted with Indian affairs. In 1762, then being a lieutenant in the British army, he was appointed by Sir William, a deputy superintendent. For some time previous to his death, Sir William seems to have felt that his life was precarious, and deemed it a matter of great importance that a successor should be appointed. In April, 1774, a few months before his death, he wrote a pressing letter to the English government, strongly urging such an appointment at once, and recommending Colonel Guy Johnson. He spoke of the duties and fatigues growing out of his civil and military employments, and observed that they had drawn upon him a train of infirmities which had often threatened his life, and at best had rendered it precarious. "I have often," said he, "carried the most important points merely through personal influence, when all other means had failed. If, therefore, I have the least claim to indulgence in support of the application of the Indians, I cannot withhold my warmest recommendation in favor of the gentleman they wish for; and whilst I assure your lordship that I rate my present reputation and future fame too high to prostitute it for interest or partiality, would rather hazard the imputation of both than refuse my testimony towards a measure that may benefit the public when I am no more."

The recommendation of Sir William Johnson procured the appointment of Colonel Guy Johnson as his successor. The place was one of great power and responsibility. There were within the department at that time, 130,000 Indians, of whom 25,420 were fighting men. The Six Nations numbered about 10,000, and had two bold and skillful warriors. The whole population of the province of New York in 1774 was 182,251, and an estimate of the militia was 32,000. In 1771, the county of Albany, then embracing all the northern and western part of the province, and extending from the banks of the Hudson on to the great cataract of Niagara, contained only 38,829 inhabitants.

In 1772, the county of Tryon, named after the then governor of the province, was formed, and it embraced the whole section of the State west of a north and south line running nearly through the centre of the present county of Schoharie. It contained, probably, a population of 10,000. Johnstown was the county town. There was no section of the country which felt so deep an interest in the movements and operations of the Indians as the inhabitants of this latter county. The population was sparse, and they were exposed upon the south, the west, and the north, and had in their midst, and immediately around them, an Indian population equal in number to their own. If we consider that there were more than twenty-five thousand Indian warriors, in some measure under the control of the superintendent, located in the valley of the Mohawk, it will at once be seen that if the Indians should be prevailed upon to take part in the contest then about commencing, the situation of the inhabitants would be one of extreme peril. It was with feelings of deep interest, therefore, that they learned that the new superintendent had called an Indian council, to be held at Guy Park, his place of residence, in the month of May, 1775.

The political elements were all in motion. Tories and Whigs were arraying themselves and preparing for the issue. As early as August, 1774, the inhabitants, at a meeting held at Palatine, had resolved, among other things, that they deeply sympathized with the inhabitants of Boston, who were suffering under the oppressive act for blocking up the port, and they added, "we will join and unite with our brethren of the rest of this colony in any thing tending to support and defend our rights and liberties."

On the 20^th of May, 1775, and just previous to the Indian council at Guy Park, Col. Guy Johnson, the superintendent, addressed the following letter to the magistrates and committees of the western districts: "Gentlemen, I have lately had repeated accounts that a body of New Englanders, or other men, were to come and seize and carry away my person, and attack our family under color of malicious insinuations, that I intended to set the Indians upon the people. Men of sense and character know that my office is of the highest importance to promote peace amongst the Six Nations, and prevent their entering into any such disputes. This I effected last year, when they were much vexed about the attack made upon the Shawnese, and I last winter appointed them to meet me this month to receive the answer of the Virginians. All men must allow that if the Indians find their council-fire disturbed and their superintendent insulted, they will take a dreadful revenge. It is therefore the duty of all people to prevent this, and to satisfy any who may have been injured, and that their suspicions and the allegations they have collected against me are false, and inconsistent with my character and office. I recommend this to you as highly necessary at this time, as my regard for the interest of the country and self-preservation has obliged me to fortify my house, and keep men armed for my defense, till these idle and malicious reports are removed."

The committee, to whom this letter was addressed, observed very truly, that they had an open enemy before their faces, and treacherous friends at their back, but they resolved that the conduct of Col. Johnson was alarming, arbitrary and unwarrantable, inasmuch as he was stopping and searching travellers upon the king’s highway, and they added that they would "defend their freedom with their lives and fortunes."

On the 25^th of May, 1775, the Indian council convened at Guy Park, but the Mohawks alone were in attendance. A delegation from the Committee of Safety was also present, and contradicted the report which had been freely circulated among the Indians, that there was an intention to seize the superintendent.

Dissatisfied with the council which had been held at his house, yet professing to be desirous to promote peace between the Indians and the inhabitants, Guy Johnson had called another council to meet in the western part of the county. Under pretense of meeting the Indians in this council, he removed his whole family and retinue to Cosby’s Manor, a little above the German Flats. Here he was waited upon by another delegation from the committee, and in answer to a communication they addressed to him, among other things he observed: "I am glad to find my calling a congress on the frontier gives satisfaction. This was principally my design, though I cannot sufficiently express my surprise at those who have either through malice or ignorance misconstrued my intentions, and supposed me capable of setting the Indians on the peaceable inhabitants of this county. The interest our family has in this county and my own is considerable, and they have been its best benefactors; and malicious charges, therefore, to their prejudice are highly injurious, and ought to be totally suppressed;" and he concluded by stating, "I am very sorry that such idle and injurious reports meet with any encouragement. I rely on you, gentlemen, to exert yourselves in discontinuing them, and am happy in this opportunity of assuring the people of a county I regard, that they have nothing to apprehend from my endeavors, but I shall always be glad to promote their true interest."

The Provincial Congress of New York addressed a letter to Col. Johnson on the same subject, and in his reply, written from Fort Stanwix, he says: "I trust I shall always manifest more humanity than to promote the destruction of the innocent inhabitants of a colony to which I have been always warmly attached; a declaration that must appear perfectly suitable to the character of a man of honor and principle." Among the documents obtained by the historical agent of this State, are copies of three letters, taken from drafts and originals in the State Paper Office at London, and which throw much light upon the question of the agency of the government in the employment of the Indians.

One of these is a letter from Guy Johnson to Lord Dartmouth, the Secretary, dated at Montreal, 12^th October, 1775, and after reading the letters of the superintendent to the Committee of Tryon County, and to the Provincial Congress, we might exclaim, with Hamlet, "look here on this picture, and on this." After enumerating his difficulties and embarrassments, and repeating to his lordship the reports, that it was determined to seize upon his person at Guy Park, and that he had convened an Indian council there in May, he adds: "And having then received secret instructions from General Gage respecting the measures I had to take, I left home the last of that month, and by the help of a body of white men and Indians arrived with great difficulty at Ontario, where in a little time I assembled 1455 Indians, and adjusted matters with them in such a manner that they agreed to defend the communication and assist his majesty’s troops in their operations. The beginning of July I set out for this place with a chosen body of them, and rangers to the number of 220, not being able to get any craft or even provisions for more, and arrived here the 17^th of that month, and soon after convened a second body of the northern confederacy, to the amount of 1700 and upwards, who entered into the same arrangement, notwithstanding they had declined coming in some time before on Gov. Carleton’s requisition, their minds having been corrupted by New England emissaries."

And thus, at the very time he was writing the letters to the committees, and protesting that he had no intentions of engaging the Indians in the contest, he had in his possession the secret instructions of Gen. Gage, under which he was acting, and in pursuance of which he arranged with more than three thousand warriors to take up the hatchet.

The other two letters to which I have alluded, were from Lord Dartmouth to Col. Johnson, and they settle the question as to the active agency of the English government in the employment of the Indians. The first letter is dated 5^th July, 1775, and is as follows: "I have received your letter of the 17^th of March, No. 7, and have laid it before the king. The present state of affairs in his majesty’s colonies, in which an unnatural rebellion has broke out that threatened to overturn the constitution, precludes all immediate consideration in the domestic concerns of the Indians under your protection. Nor is it to be expected that any measures which the king may think fit to take, for redressing the injuries they complain of respecting their lands, can, in the present moment, be attended with any effect. It will be proper, however, that you should assure them in the strongest terms of his majesty’s firm resolution to protect them and preserve them in all their rights, and it is more than ever necessary that you should exert the utmost vigilance to discover whether any artifices are used to engage them in the support of the rebellious proceedings of his majesty’s subjects, to counteract such treachery, and to keep them in such a state of affection and attachment to the king, as that his majesty may rely upon their assistance in any case in which it may be necessary to require it."

On the 24^th of July Lord Dartmouth wrote the second letter, nineteen days after writing the first, and during which time the news of the battle of Bunker Hill had reached London.

"Sir, I have already in my letter to you of the 5^th inst. hinted that the time might possibly come when the King, relying upon the attachment of his faithful allies, the Six Nations of Indians, might be under the necessity of calling upon them for their aid and assistance in the present state of America. The unnatural rebellion now raging there calls for every effort to suppress it, and the intelligence his majesty has received of the rebels having excited the Indians to take a part, and of their having actually engaged a body of them in arms to support their rebellion, justifies the resolution his majesty has taken of requiring the assistance of his faithful adherents, the Six Nations.

"It is, therefore, his majesty’s pleasure, that you do lose no time in taking such steps as may induce them to take up the hatchet against his majesty’s rebellious subjects in America, and to engage them in his majesty’s service, upon such plan as shall be suggested to you by General Gage, to whom this letter is sent, accompanied with a large assortment of goods for presents to them, upon this important occasion.

"Whether the engaging the Six Nations to take up arms in defense of his majesty’s government, is most likely to be effected by separate negotiations with the chiefs, or in a general council assembled for the purpose, must be left to your judgment, but at all events, as it is a service of very great importance, you will not fail to exert every effort that may tend to accomplish it, and to use the utmost diligence and activity in the execution of the views I have now the honor to transmit to you. I am, &c.,

These letters settle the question as to the direct agency of the English government in the employment of the Indians. The directions are peremptory in their language, and admit of no discretion. It was the command of George the Third, that the Indians should be employed, and the Secretary lays the command upon the Indian Superintendent. With how much faithfulness and zeal that Superintendent executed the command, is known to all who have looked into the history of the war, as it was carried on upon the borders.

But it is alleged, in justification, that the rebels had instigated the Indians to take up the hatchet in their behalf. A few of the Stockbridge tribe did early join the continental army; but they were few in number and comparatively a civilized people. I have searched the records of the Committee of Safety, and of the Provincial Congress of New York, but have not been able to find a letter or speech or even a secret resolve in favor of the employment of the Indians, but there are letters, and speeches, and resolves innumerable in favor of a strict neutrality.

At the council of Guy Park in May, 1775, the gentlemen who attended on the part of the Committee of Safety of Tryon County stated in their speech, that they desired peace with the Indians, and in the reply, the Indians said, "Brothers, we are very glad to hear you speak and hear you confirm the old friendship of our forefathers, which we intend to abide by and thank you for the same."

At the same time, the magistrates and committees of Schenectady and Albany, in a reply to a speech of the principal Mohawk chief, made in behalf of his tribe, said:

"Brothers, we are extremely well satisfied to hear that you have no inclination or purpose to interfere in the dispute between Old England and America, for you must not understand that it is with Boston alone, it is between Old England and all her colonies. The people here are oppressed by Old England, and she sends over troops among us, to destroy us. This is the reason our people are all in alarm to defend themselves. They intend no hostilities against you. Do you continue peaceable, and you need apprehend no danger. It is a dispute wherein you have nothing to do. Do not you disturb any of our people, and depend upon it they will leave you in peace."

In a communication to Guy Johnson, under the same date, May 23^d, the Albany committee say – "We are not ignorant of the importance of your office as Superintendent, and have been perfectly easy, with respect to any suspicions of the Indians taking a part in the present dispute between Great Britain and her colonies, knowing them to be a people of too much sagacity to engage with the whole continent in a controversy that they can profit nothing by."

On the 2^d of September, 1775, a conference was had at Albany, between the committees and a few of the Six Nations, and at which commissioners on the part of the Continental Congress were present. In their reply to the speech of the Indians, the committee among other things say:

"Brothers, attend! In your speech you further observed, that you had long since taken a resolution to take no active part in the present contest for liberty. We do not offer to censure you for your conduct, but admire your wisdom, praise your pacific disposition, and hope that you will have fortitude to maintain and persevere in it."

On the 10^th day of June, 1775, the delegates from New York in the Continental Congress, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, James Duane, William Floyd, and John Alsop, addressed a letter from Philadelphia to the Provincial Congress of New York, in which they say: "We shall not fail to attend to what you suggest concerning the Indians. This is an object to our colony of the highest moment, and we hope in due time it will be considered by Congress. We think the Indians will not be disposed to engage in this unhappy quarrel, unless deceived and deluded by misrepresentation, and this with vigilance and care on our part can be prevented. As one step towards it which we much applaud, are the assurances you have given the Superintendent of his safety."

The proof could be multiplied, if necessary, by many such extracts from the letters, speeches and proceedings of the various public bodies, which were called into existence by the exigencies of the times. The English government understood the mode of Indian warfare, and could not have failed to foresee, that their employment would make the war one almost of extermination upon the borders. That the tomahawk, the scalping-knife, and the fire-brand would do their fearful work, not alone on the field of battle, where armed men meet, but also among the women and children in the homes of the unarmed and defenseless.

Such reflections must have forced themselves upon the attention of the English Secretary, when he penned his letter of the 19^th of July, 1775, and he felt called upon to give some excuse for the course which his king and government had determined to pursue.

I have already spoken of the departure of the Indians with General Johnson in the summer of 1775. Few of the Mohawks ever returned to dwell in their homes upon the banks of that river which bears their name. The graves of their ancestors were abandoned. Their council-fires were extinguished. That they should remain attached to the English government is by no means strange, for they had been their allies in war, and dependents in peace, and the chain of friendship had been brightened by constant use for more than an hundred years. They returned however as enemies, and with the other confederated tribes laid waste the frontier settlements of New York and Pennsylvania. Year after year they swept over the valleys of the Schoharie, the Mohawk, and the Susquehanna, until there was scarcely a spot remaining, where the destroyer had not left the impression of his footsteps. It is impossible now to say what would have been the fate of the Six Nations, had they remained neutral in the revolutionary contest. There can be little doubt, however, that their final removal from the land they had so long inhabited would have been delayed. If their employment by the English government was disastrous to the inhabitants of the frontier, it was equally so to the Indians themselves. A considerable portion of the Oneidas refused to take up the hatchet against the Americans. When hostilities commenced on the part of the other tribes, the bond of union which had for so long a time bound together the Six Nations was severed, never more to be reunited. The great council-fire which had burned so long at Onondaga went out, never again to be rekindled. The fame and power of that distinguished confederacy which had been known and felt over the whole of North America, were thereafter to be numbered with the things that were. Their country was overrun by invading armies; their villages were destroyed; and their cultivated fields were laid waste. During the long years of the war, many a warrior fell in battle; others died from want and its consequent diseases. Their pleasant homes, alike with those of the pale faces, were made desolate.

With the restoration of peace, the tide of emigration set in upon their country with resistless force; and, like the other aborigines, they have gradually faded away before its advance.

Some found a home in Canada under the protection of that government which had prevailed upon them to take up the hatchet, and there their descendants are still found.

A few yet remain upon the soil of their fathers, but they are imperfect representatives of that proud and warlike people, who, by their prowess and skill, earned from the early colonist the appellation of the Romans of North America.

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Transcribed from the original text and html prepared by Bill Carr, last updated 8/25/99.