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William Johnson

Lake George Battlefield, More Than Just A Setting for Cooper’s ‘Last of the Mohicans’

February 10, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

A scene from the film The Last of the Mohicans (1992)In February 1826 one of America’s seminal works of historical fiction, James Fenimore Cooper‘s The Last of the Mohicans, was first published.  Last of the Mohicans has also been adapted to film at least eight times, most recently in 1992 starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Madeleine Stowe. The novel is one of five Cooper wrote that make up the Leatherstocking Tales series, all of them set in Upstate New York between the years 1740 and 1804.

Warren County, NY is where many of the real-life actions of 1757 depicted in the novel occurred, including at what is now Lake George Battlefield Park, the location of several other important historical events. [Read more…] about Lake George Battlefield, More Than Just A Setting for Cooper’s ‘Last of the Mohicans’

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Arts, History Tagged With: Battle of Lake George, Fort George, Fort William Henry, French And Indian War, French History, Haudenosaunee, Hendrick Theyanoguin, Indigenous History, Iroquois, Issac Jogues, James Fenimore Cooper, Lake George, Lake George Battlefield Park, Lake George Battlefield Park Alliance, Literature, Military History, Mohawk, New France, Robert Rogers, Warren County, William Johnson

The Albany Congress of 1754: Native People, Colonists & the Monarchy

January 26, 2022 by Peter Hess 1 Comment

Dec 1754 Map of the English Colonies (LOC)William Shirley was the Royal Governor of Massachusetts, appointed by the King of England. Shirley had been a British official in England serving on negotiating committees with French officials determining boundaries. This had led Shirley to a thorough dislike of the French.

He was very aggressive and had been a stalwart advocate of invading Canada and driving the French out of North America. Shirley had written a strong criticism of the New York Congress for its resistance to an invasion of Canada in 1748. He was upset when New Jersey and Rhode Island refused to cooperate in the invasion because they were not threatened. [Read more…] about The Albany Congress of 1754: Native People, Colonists & the Monarchy

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, Mohawk Valley, Western NY Tagged With: Albany, Albany Plan of Union, American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin, Canajoharie, Colonial History, Connecticut, French And Indian War, French History, George Clinton, Haudenosaunee, Hendrick Theyanoguin, Indigenous History, James DeLancey, Kayaderosseras Creek, Lenape, Maryland, Massachusetts, Military History, Mohawk, Mohawk Valley, Mohican, New France, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Northwest Territory, Oswego, Pennsylvania, Political History, Rhode Island, Saratoga County, Schaghticoke, Stockbridge Indians, Virginia, West Canada Creek, William Johnson

Albany’s Role In Three Little-Remembered Colonial Wars in the Northeast

January 24, 2022 by Peter Hess 2 Comments

New-France_2_6_Map-of-New-Belgium-or-New-NetherlandFrom the time Henry Hudson sailed up the Hudson River in 1609, the area that is now Albany, NY was considered the focal point of trade with Indigenous People.  For over a hundred years, Albany was the trading post furthest west and most remote in the colonies. Most of the other colonies were English; New Netherland was Dutch and settled for the purpose of trade.

With a moderate climate, abundant rainfall, a lake and river system for good transportation and plentiful natural resources, New Netherland was well-positioned. The fur trade significantly raised the standard of living of many European settlers and Native People.  Arriving at Albany with a catch of furs, an native person could trade would usually trade with a representative of the Van Rensselaers, or one of his agents.

Thousands of pelts began to flow into Albany in return for Dutch, and later English, trade goods. News of the Dutch market spread and before long Native People from as far away as today’s Minnesota and Illinois were traveling across the Great Lakes and Mohawk River to Albany to obtain manufactured goods with animal pelts. [Read more…] about Albany’s Role In Three Little-Remembered Colonial Wars in the Northeast

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: Albany, Albany Plan of Union, Burning of Saratoga, Catholicism, Connecticut, Dutch History, Fort Frederick, French History, George Clinton, Haudenosaunee, Hendrick Theyanoguin, Hudson River, Iroquois, King George’s War, King William’s War, Massachusetts, Military History, Mohawk, Mohawk River, New France, New Netherland, Pennsylvania, Political History, Queen Anne's War, Stockbridge Indians, William Johnson

Sir William Johnson and the Wars for Empire Conference Announced

August 30, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Sir William Johnson and the Wars for Empire ConferenceThe Fort Plain Museum has announced the Sir William Johnson and the Wars for Empire Conference, featuring nine speakers and a bus tour, is set for October 15th through 17th. [Read more…] about Sir William Johnson and the Wars for Empire Conference Announced

Filed Under: Events, History, Mohawk Valley Tagged With: Conferences, Fort Plain Museum, William Johnson

Sir William Johnson and the Mohawk Valley Fur Trade

October 17, 2016 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

mohawk-valley-fur-tradeOn Thursday, October 20, 2016 at 7 pm, the Fort Plain Museum will present “Sir William Johnson and the Evolution of the Mohawk Valley Fur Trade by Michael Perazzini. The presentation will take place at the museum located at 389 Canal Street in Fort Plain. This is the second of four lectures that will take place at the museum.

Perazzini will discuss the evolution of the fur trade in Upstate New York as well as the changes implemented by Superintendent of Indian Affairs Sir William Johnson. He will also display and lead a discussion about many of the artifacts involved in the fur trade. [Read more…] about Sir William Johnson and the Mohawk Valley Fur Trade

Filed Under: Events, History Tagged With: Environmental History, Indigenous History, Native American History, Natural History, William Johnson

The Mystery of William Johnson’s ‘Fish House’

August 18, 2015 by Glenn Pearsall 3 Comments

47One of the real pleasures in researching and writing When Men and Mountain Meet was exploring the actual sites of the historic places mentioned in my book: the little town of Castorland on the Black River, the LeRay Mansion at Fort Drum, Gouverneur Morris’ Mansion at Natural Dam and David Parish’s house, now the Remington Art Museum, in Ogdensburg. And then there was finding Zephaniah Platt’s grave in the Riverside Cemetery in Plattsburgh, in Lake Placid the site of the 1813 Elba Iron and Steel Manufacturing works , Charles Herreshoff’s flooded iron ore mine in Old Forge and the complex of building foundations that made up John Thurman’s 1790 development at Elm Hill.

There was one site, however, that was a little harder to locate than the others; Sir William Johnson’s fishing camp “Fish House”. [Read more…] about The Mystery of William Johnson’s ‘Fish House’

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Adirondacks, American Revolution, Archaeology, floods, Fulton County, Great Sacandaga Lake, Johnstown, William Johnson

New Evidence About Cannon Found In Adirondacks

July 7, 2015 by Glenn Pearsall 4 Comments

Johnsburg Revolutionary War CannonThe story goes that, in the summer of 1970, a Town of Johnsburg highway crew was straightening a Garnet Lake Road near Crane Mountain in Northern Warren County in the Adirondacks. While removing some of the ancient corduroy logs that once carried the road across a swampy section, they discovered what appeared to be an old cannon.

Vincent Schaefer had the cannon dated at the Watervliet Arsenal and it was determined that it was a swivel gun of the type probably used by Benedict Arnold’s troops during the battle of Valcour Island. [Read more…] about New Evidence About Cannon Found In Adirondacks

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Adirondack Park, Adirondacks, American Revolution, French And Indian War, John Johnson, Johnsburg, Military History, War of 1812, Warren County, William Johnson

The Oneida Nation Supported American Rebels

June 15, 2015 by Bob Cudmore 2 Comments

Oneidas  at the Battle of Oriskany in 2009James Kirby Martin, a history professor at the University of Houston, traces his interest in the Mohawk Valley to his birthplace in northern Ohio.

Joseph Brant of the Mohawk Nation was born in what is now Ohio in 1743 and Martin was fascinated by Brant’s life. The younger brother of Sir William Johnson’s longtime consort Molly Brant, Joseph Brant and Sir William’s son John led devastating raids in the Mohawk Valley during the American Revolution.

Sir William, Britain’s Indian agent in our region, died in 1774 before the war. However, his good relations with the Iroquois Confederacy kept most of them on the side of the British during the Revolution. [Read more…] about The Oneida Nation Supported American Rebels

Filed Under: History, Mohawk Valley Tagged With: American Revolution, Documentary, Fort Plain Museum, Indigenous History, John Johnson, Joseph Brant, Military History, Native American History, Nicholas Herkimer, Oneida Indian Nation, Palatines, Photography, Political History, William Johnson

New York History and the Birth of the Nation

January 2, 2014 by Peter Feinman 1 Comment

A portion of the 1768 Fort Stanwix Treaty line showing the boundary in New YorkScholars divide time into periods in an effort to make history comprehensible, but when to draw the diving line can be problematical and historians often disagree where one period ends and another begins.

For the birth of the nation, I am using the end of the colonial period, roughly from the French and Indian War to the end of the War of 1812. The colonial era for me was the time of the settlement of the 13 colonies which would become the United States. That process began in Jamestown and ended approximately 130 years later in Georgia. Up until then individual colonies, notably New York, Massachusetts / New England, and Virginia, dominate the curriculum, scholarship, and tourism, with only passing references to the Quakers in Pennsylvania and the Dutch in New York. [Read more…] about New York History and the Birth of the Nation

Filed Under: History Tagged With: American Revolution, Cultural History, Fort Stanwix, French And Indian War, Indigenous History, Iroquois, Military History, Native American History, New France, Political History, Treaty of Fort Stanwix, War of 1812, William Johnson

Colonial New York Scholar to Address NYSHA Meeting

July 8, 2013 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

nysha_logo_press-release3Dr. Timothy Shannon, Professor of History at Gettysburg College, will address members of the New York State Historical Association (NYSHA) at its 110th Annual Meeting. The meeting, held Thursday, July 18, at 4:00 pm at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, New York, is open to members of the association.

According to the Fenimore Art Museum’s webpage, NYSHA is “a private, non-governmental educational organization. It is closely affiliated with its sister organization, The Farmers’ Museum.” The website also publishes what it calls NYSHA’s “strategic plan”, as follows: [Read more…] about Colonial New York Scholar to Address NYSHA Meeting

Filed Under: Events Tagged With: Fenimore Art Museum, Mohawk, New York State Historical Association, Public History, William Johnson

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