less and lacking authority or patronage,
Johnson died in London on March 5, 1788, a
talented administrator, but too self-absorbed
to be of much use to either England or the
Iroquois.
See also
Brant, Joseph
Bibliography
Allen, Robert S. His Majesty’s Allies: British Indian
Policy in the Defense of Canada, 1774–1815.
Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1992; Callaghan, E.B.O.,
and B. Ferlow, eds. Documents Relative to the Colo-
nial History of the State of New York.15 vols. Al-
bany: Weed, Parsons, 1853–1887; Gibb, Harky L.
“Colonel Guy Johnson, Superintendent of Indian Af-
fairs, 1774–1782.” Papers of the Michigan Academy
of Science, Arts, and Letters,no. 37 (1943): 596–613;
Graymount, Barbara. The Iroquois in the American
Revolution. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University
Press, 1972; Mintz, Max M. Seeds of Empire: The
Revolutionary Conquest of the Iroquois.New York:
New York University Press, 1999; Reinhardt, Leslie.
“British and Indian Identities in a Picture by Ben-
jamin West.” Eighteenth Century Studies31 (1998):
283–305; Stevens, Paul L. “His Majesty’s Savage Al-
lies.” Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, State Univer-
sity of New York, Buffalo, 1984.JOHNSON, JOHN
Johnson, John
(November 4, 1741–January 4, 1830)
Loyalist Officer
J
ohnson was an active partisan leader in
New York’s Mohawk Valley and responsi-
ble for several destructive raids. After-
ward, he became a leading figure of Canadian
settlement and an outspoken champion of
dispossessed Native Americans.
John Johnson was born near Amsterdam,
New York, the son of Sir William Johnson, the
legendary Superintendent of the British Indian
Department, and Catherine Weissenberg, a
German servant. Despite his illegitimacy, Sir
William decided to raise his son as his rightful
heir and educated him at home for many
years. At the age of 13, young Johnson accom-
panied his father as a volunteer in the French
and Indian War and also attended several im-
portant Indian conferences. In 1757, he was
packed off to continue his studies at Benjamin
Franklin’s College and Academy of Philadel-
phia, although he proved a mediocre student,
more interested in military affairs than his
studies. By 1760, he was back home and com-
missioned a captain in the local militia. In this
capacity Johnson fought in Pontiac’s Rebel-
lion through most of 1763, acquitting himself
well. In 1765, his father sent him on a grand
tour of the British Isles at the behest of Lord
Adam Gordon, who sought to expand the
young man’s social horizons. There he was in-
troduced to King George III, who knighted
him, and he returned to New York in 1767 as
Sir John Johnson. This honor was not a reflec-
tion of his abilities, which until that point had
been mediocre, yet the title was his hereditary
right as the son of a baronet. Nonetheless, he
remained a staunch supporter of the king and
the British Empire for the rest of his life.
Johnson eventually settled on the old fam-
ily estate of Fort Johnson, New York, and
lived with a common-law wife, Clarissa Put-
nam. They raised several children, but in
1773, at his aged father’s insistence, he for-
mally married into the New York aristocracy
by taking Mary Watts as his bride. However,
Johnson artfully dodged the opportunity to
succeed his father as superintendent of In-