1755
Feb 22
Loyalist soldier Anthony Allaire is born in New
Rochelle.
April
William Johnson is given command of British forces
in northern New York.
May 1
Johnson writes to governor William Shirley,
recommending the construction of a series of forts at strategic points,
beginning with one at the former site of Fort Nicholson, at the Great Carrying
Place.
May 27
The 24,000-acre Stewart’s Patent in Hamilton
County, is granted to James Stewart and others.
May 30
The 3,000-acre Timberman’s Patent, in Herkimer
County, is granted to Jacob Timberman and others.
June
Johnson assembles a provincial army of 5,000 at
Albany, including King Hendrick and other Mohawks, to open a fortified road to
Lake George.
Jun 3
The 43,000-acre fourth Schuyler Patent, in Otsego
County, is granted to David Schuyler and others.
Jun 14
The 34,000-acre Staley’s Patent, in Herkimer
County, is granted to Rudolph Staley and others.
Jun 21
Johnson opens a conference with over a thousand
Iroquois at Mount Johnson.
Jul 4
The Mount Johnson conference comes to an end with
the Iroquois agreeing to aid the British and 200 warriors agreeing to accompany
Johnson in his attack on Crown Point.
August
English troops under the command of General
Phineas Lymamn build Fort Lydius (later Fort Edward) on the upper Hudson River.
It incorporates a house once owned by John Henry Lydius.
Aug 28
Johnson renames Lac St. Sacrement as Lake George,
in honor of George II.
September
Colonial scouts begin reporting new French
fortifications being built at Ticonderoga (Carillon).
Sep 3
Johnson joins his newly-arrived forces at Lake
George. He writes to Board of Trade president the earl of Halifax and to Thomas
Pownall, advocating the removal of Governor Shirley as a bad influence on the
Indians.
Sep 4
Baron de Dieskau and a force of 1500 men from
Montréal arrive at Carillon (Ticonderoga), embark by canoe for Fort Edward.
Sep 7
Dieskau arrives in the area near Fort Edward only
to find the Indians will not attack a fortification. He gives in to their
suggestion to attack Johnson's unprotected forces at Lake George. Johnson
learns that enemy forces have been spotted in the area, begins strengthening
his defenses.
Sep 8
The Bloody Morning Scout/Battle of Lake George.
French commander Baron Dieskau attempts to cut off communication between
Johnson and Fort Lyman. Johnson sends out an advance force under provincial
commander Massachusetts colonel Ephraim Williams and the Mohawk chief Hendrick
(Theyanoguin), but they are ambushed and killed, Hendrick, in his
mid-seventies, by three young Caughnawagas, after being separated from his
young companion Joseph Brant. Caughnawaga leader Legardeur de Sainte-Pierre is
also killed. The French begin pulling back, are attacked and defeated by New
Hampshire colonial troops under Captain William McGinnis arriving from Fort
Edward. McGinnis is killed, Dieskau and Johnson wounded.
Sep 11
Johnson's forces finish finding and burying their
dead.
Sep 29
Johnson decides to build defense works -Fort
William Henry - at Lake George, under the supervision of Captain William Eyre.
November
Fort William Henry is built. ** George II makes William
Johnson a baronet.
Dec 31
Johnson learns of his baronetcy. He's also named
Colonel, Agent and Sole Superintendent of Indian Affairs.
State
William Johnson establishes a headquarters near
Canajoharie, on the Mohawk. The approximate date he erects fortifications on
the Staley/Herkinmer property, to defend against the French. ** The French move 12 miles
closer to English settlements, build Fort Carillon at Ticonderoga. ** Rudolph Staley, John Joost
Herkimer, Nicholas Herkimer and 15 others are awarded 34,000 acres along the
Mohawk River (the Staley tracts). ** The 10,000-acre Schuyler Patent, in
Herkimer and Oneida counties, is granted to David Schuyler and others.
1756
Jan 7
During a British cabinet meeting the earl of
Halifax, president of the Board of Trade, proposes a plan to have a new
commander in chief sent to the colonies and making William Johnson
Superintendent of the Six Nations.
Jan 9
Peter Wraxall, secretary to Indian commissioner
Sir William Johnson, suggests an official clearance be required for all Indian
land transfers.
Jan 21
The British ministers meet in London at Newcastle
House. Cumberland and Fox put forth their own proposals, adapting Halifax's
suggestions to replace royal governor of Massachusetts and New York William
Shirley and give Johnson a new commission, but calling for the posting of two
regiments of redcoats to America rather than using provincial troops, and
suggesting a southern administrator for the Indians - South Carolina trader
Edmund Atkin.
February
Parliament grants William Johnson £5,000 for his
services to the nation.
Mar 17
Gaspard de Chassemy leads a mixed-force out of
Montréal into New York’s Mohawk Valley.
Mar 25
Hudson, New York, co-founder Ezekial Gilbert is
born in Middletown, Connecticut, to Jonathan and Prudence Harris Gilbert.
Mar 27
De Chassemy’s raiders destroy Fort Bull, on the
Wood Creek end of the Great Carrying Place portage.
Mar 31
Secretary at War Fox writes to Shirley, relieving
him of his command of British forces in America and recalling him to London.
Jun 25
Major General James Abercromby arrives in Albany
and replaces Shirley, who heads for New York.
Jul 22
The HMS Nightingale arrives off New Jersey's Sandy Hook carrying
Lieutenant General John Campbell, earl of Loudon, for New York City, to replace
governor William Shirley as commander of Britain's forces in North America.
Jul 23
Loudon arrives in lower Manhattan.
Jul 24
Loudon confers with Shirley for the first
time. He will travel to Albany
toward the end of the month.
Aug 5
Loudon orders provincial Major General John
Winslow to appear in Albany from Fort William Henry to confer. Winslow will
hasten to comply.
Aug 19
Winslow and his provincial forces are back at Fort
William Henry.
November
Fort Herkimer is completed.
State
6,000 Troops assemble in Warren County to fight
the French. Nothing comes of it. ** Samuel Blodget's engraving of the Battle of Lake
George goes on sale in Boston. ** Fort Herkimer is built at German Flatts.
1757
Mar 17
French forces attack Fort William Henry, having
marched up Lake George on the ice, and are driven off after burning a few
buildings and several Lake Champlain vessels.
July
Canadian governor Louis Joseph, Marquis de
Montcalm, gathers 9,000 troops at Carillon (Ticonderoga) and marches to the
head of Lake George.
Jul 31
Colonial major Israel Putnam discovers a French
force encamped 18 miles down Lake George.
Aug 3
The French besiege New York's Fort William Henry.
Aug 9
French and Indian forces under the Marquis de
Montcalm capture Fort William Henry
from Colonel George Monroe's defenders. The Indians massacre surrendered
soldiers.
November
French and Indian forces under Captain Francois de
Belétre raid Herkimer, burn the Reformed Church. Some residents seek refuge in
the British fort.
State
A dock is built at Fort St. Frederick (later Fort
Amherst, then Fort Crown Point) on Lake Champlain. ** Johnson tries to get the Mohawks to give up a
tribesman suspected of treasonous speech. Not believing in capital punishment,
the Indians will not cooperate.
London
William Smith's The History of the Province of
New-York from the First Discovery to the Year M.DCC.XXXII is
published.
1758
Jan 22
Banker and promoter Elkanah Watson is born in
Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Jul 8
Troops from Halifax, Nova Scotia, lead by James
Abercromby, outnumbering French defenders under Montcalm at Fort Carillon
(Ticonderoga) 5 to 1, are driven off.
Aug 27
Colonel John Bradstreet, having earlier assembled
at Three Rivers, moves on to capture Fort Frontenac (Kingston, Ontario) from
the French.
Dec 16
Justices and supervisors in Westchester County are
directed to select a site for a courthouse in White Plains, replacing the
current meeting site at East Chester. They will vote £2,000 this year for
construction.
State
Acting under the orders of General James Abercrombie,
Colonel John Stanwix erects a square fort by the headwaters of the Mohawk River
near those of Mud Creek. The fort will be named for him and later become Rome,
New York. ** The British erect the Royal
Blockhouse where Fish’s Creek enters the western end of Oneida Lake, as a
defense against Indians and the French. Next year a fort – Fort Schuyler - will
be erected on the site.
** A
particularly serious famine causes some starvation among the Oneida Indians.
Pennsylvania
The approximate year the family of New York State
pioneer Moses Van Campen moves from Hunterdon County, New Jersey, to
Northampton City.
1759
Mar 19
The 3,000-acre Starnberg’s Patent, Schoharie
County, the first of two this year with the same name, is granted to Lambert Starnberg
and others.
April
Catherine Weisenberg, mistress of New York Indian
agent Sir William Johnson, dies, at the age of 37, at Fort Johnson.
Apr 21
Sir William Johnson, Baronet, convenes an Indian
council at Canajoharie, rallies the Iroquois to attack the French at Fort
Niagara. The Seneca, some of them from Ganuskago (Dansville), dependent on the
British for ammunition and trade goods, agree to an alliance with them.
May 17
Johnson writes to the Board of Trade in London,
advocating fair trade with the Indians.
Jul 2
16 New Jersey troops are surprised while gathering
firewood near Lake George by a force of close to 240 Indians, who kill and
scalp half a dozen soldiers. The natives taunt the rest of the Army before
escaping in their canoes.
Jul 26
The French abandon Carillon (Ticonderoga) to the
British.
Aug 4
The French at Crown Point (Fort St. Frédéric)
surrender to the British under Amherst. Paul Revere is present as a lieutenant
of artillery in the Massachusetts militia.
September
A son, Peter, is born to Sir William Johnson and
Molly Brant, who had become Johnson’s mistress earlier in the year.
State
Skenesborough (later Whitehall) is founded. ** The French take over
Chimney Island in the St. Lawrence, which they call Isle Royale, and fortify
it. ** Construction begins on
Samuel Fuller's St. George's Episcopal Church in Schenectady. ** The British build Fort
Brewerton, where the Oneida River enters Oneida Lake.
© 2012 David Minor / Eagles Byte
