In January 1776, American Revolutionaries disarmed and arrested those accused of Loyalist sympathies in Johnstown, NY. Some would remain under watchful parole. Others were brought to Albany or sent out of the Province of New York for imprisonment, far from home and family. [Read more…] about Dealing With British Loyalists in Johnstown During the Revolution
John Butler
Early Settlers Near Rome, NY
Johannis Rueff (later anglicized as John Roof) was born in Durlach, a district in what is now Karlsruhe, in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, on January 9, 1730. He married Annie Mira Leonardo of Heildelberg on January 13, 1759. They migrated to the American colonies and landed in Philadelphia in October 1759 and moved north to Fort Stanwix on the New York frontier.
There he traded with Indigenous People, most likely the Oneida and other Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) he encountered, and the few traders moving over the portage known as the Great Carry or Carrying Place, which connected Wood Creek with Oneida Lake, at what is now Rome, NY. [Read more…] about Early Settlers Near Rome, NY
1779 Sullivan-Clinton Campaign Against the Iroquois: Retribution or Genocide?
The 1779 Sullivan-Clinton campaign against the Iroquois has been described as implementing a “scorched earth” policy for no useful purpose other than eradicating Indigenous People, a failed attempt to capture Fort Niagara, or a wild success that denied the enemies of American Revolution free access to Western New York.
Few campaigns of the American War for Independence have been more controversial than the Continental Army’s invasion of the Iroquois Confederacy in 1779. [Read more…] about 1779 Sullivan-Clinton Campaign Against the Iroquois: Retribution or Genocide?
Marinus Willet, Tammany Hall & The Treaty of New York
Every year in October the Lower Manhattan Historical Society holds its Saratoga/Yorktown celebration in Trinity Churchyard to celebrate the American victories at the Battles of Saratoga and Yorktown.
At that ceremony wreaths are lain on the graves of Revolutionary War figures associated with those battles — Horatio Gates, Alexander Hamilton and Marinus Willett. [Read more…] about Marinus Willet, Tammany Hall & The Treaty of New York
Marinus Willett, the Battle of Johnstown, and a Hated Loyalist
The Battle of Johnstown and the death of Walter Butler are considered two of the more important events in the final phase of the Revolutionary War in the Mohawk Valley. More than any other events in his life, these events are seen as raising Col. Marinus Willett from to the status of “Hero of the Mohawk Valley.” [Read more…] about Marinus Willett, the Battle of Johnstown, and a Hated Loyalist
American Revolution Tory Partisan William Caldwell
The name William Caldwell first caught my attention while researching the August 12, 1781, raid in Wawarsing, in Ulster County, NY. His name was mentioned again in Governor George Clinton’s public papers. It was also in connection to the August raid which, it was believed, was lead by Caldwell (then a Captain). During this raid he led other Tories and Native American allies.
William Caldwell was born around 1750 in Northern Ireland. Prior to the American Revolution, Caldwell came to England’s North American Colonies first settling in Pennsylvania. [Read more…] about American Revolution Tory Partisan William Caldwell