Clan Mother

The Clandestine Challenge

The difficulty with any espionage study is the lack of unclassified sources — since clandestine work must remain secret by nature. This is especially true when looking back to the time of the Yankee Doodle spies, when nearly all espionage activity was "off the books," with few reports or records kept. Spies operated in all theaters throughout the war, but identifying who they were and what they did is difficult, requiring lots of "fill in the blank" and connect-the-dots analysis.

Spying on the Spies

Savage War of Peace

The American Revolution in the Mohawk Valley involved years of internecine conflict and small-scale combat that often reached a fever pitch. Patriot Whigs and Loyalist Tories went head to head in battles ranging from a few dozen to a few hundred fighters, rarely involving large-scale clashes with thousands. Add six Iroquois tribes, Canadians, Continentals, and British regulars into the mix, and you get a stew of conflict and chaos. But unlike many other areas of the war, the central New York region was never quiet. Instead, a relentless savage war of peace raged on. 

The Mohawk Valley

The role of the native tribes added an objective layer of complexity to the struggle in New York. The powerful Iroquois Confederacy was mostly aligned with the British, thanks to the outstanding efforts of the Crown's Indian Agent, Sir William Johnson, and his son. 

Sir William Johnson

Of the Iroquois nations, the most powerful, warlike, and pro-British were the Mohawks, who controlled the easternmost part of the territory. Our subject is one of those Mohawks, a woman born Konwatsi'tsiaiénni, but now known as Mary or Molly Brant, older sister to Joseph Brant, who became a Mohawk War Chief and British officer during the war for independence. 

Youth in Two Worlds

Molly Brant was born around 1736 in the Ohio Valley, although her family's ancestral home was the village of Canajoharie, on the upper Mohawk near Little Falls, New York. Her parents were Margaret (Onagsakearat) and Peter (Tehowaghwengaraghkwin), who were Anglicans. When Peter died while the family lived on the Ohio River, Molly's mother returned to Canajoharie with her and her brother Joseph.

Iroquois Village

Both Brant children grew up in two worlds, becoming fluent in English and comfortable with English culture. Molly was educated in the Mohawk Valley, and because she spoke English well, she accompanied twelve Mohawk tribal elders on a delegation to Philadelphia in 1755. After that trip, Molly met the most powerful man in these two worlds, the renowned British Indian Agent Sir William Johnson — her beauty and grace deeply affected him. Johnson handled all the deals involving the tribes and was known to be an honest broker who cared for both the Iroquois and the white settlers in central New York. He was also quite wealthy.

Lady of the Manor

By 1759, the twenty-three-year-old Molly was officially listed in Johnson's records as his "housekeeper," but she was, in fact, his common-law wife—possibly married under Iroquois customs. She would have seven children with him and served in all respects as the powerful Johnson's partner. 

Molly Brant was the Lady of Johnson Hall

Anglo visitors who visited Johnson's estate, Johnson Hall, remarked on her beauty, delicate features, olive skin, excellent manners, and understated but commanding presence. In all but name, Brant was the Lady of the  Johnson Hall estate.

The Clan Mother

During her time with Johnson, she also rose to become a Clan Mother, receiving the Mohawk name Tekonwatonti (Many Opposed to One). Molly led a society of Six Nations (Iroquois Confederacy) matrons. In the matriarchal hierarchy of the Iroquois, Clan Mothers held great power and influence, traditionally choosing and dismissing leaders. They also had the authority to veto their decisions.

Clan Mothers wielded significant influence

Sir William died the year before Lexington and Concord erupted and plunged the colonies into open war with the Crown. 

Loyal to the Crown

Molly Brant and her brother Joseph remained loyalists, dedicated to the British cause. Joseph became a well-known Loyalist commander and Mohawk War Chief whose actions frustrated the patriots. 

Chief Joseph Brant

His sister's role was more ambiguous but equally important. She provided food and ammunition to nearby Loyalist units. Most importantly, she passed valuable intelligence to her brother and other Loyalist and British leaders in central New York. 

Spymaster

Although there's little recorded about this (for reasons mentioned above), she probably heard reports on American movements in the Mohawk Valley from travelers, hunters, and traders passing through her village.

Molly Brant: Mother Clan, Mother.Spy

The best example of this occurred in August 1777. British Lieutenant-Colonel Barry St. Leger's force, composed of British troops, Loyalists, Canadians, and Indians, had besieged the American garrison at Fort Stanwix (located in today5s Rome, NY). When the Tryon County militia learned of the siege, a brigade-sized force marched west along the river to relieve the post.

Battle of Oriskany

When Molly learned of their movement, she sent word to St. Leger, who dispatched a force of Loyalists and Indian allies that set a well-planned ambush in the dense cypress forests near Oriskany. The relief column was pushed back with heavy losses, and its commander, Colonel Nikolas Herkimer, was mortally wounded.

Fort Stanwix

In retaliation, the American-Allied Oneidas attacked her village of Canajoharie, destroying it and nearby Fort Hunter. 

On the Road

Molly moved her family through various Loyal Iroquois villages. Brant and her family lost most of their belongings. They sought refuge at Onondaga near Syracuse, New York, the capital of the Six Nations Confederacy, first going to Syracuse, then Cayuga, and finally Niagara.

Iroquois Village along the Mohawk River

At each of these, she proved to be a strong and effective supporter of the Loyalist cause, helping to keep most of the Iroquois aligned with the British. As a result, the British were able to use the Iroquois war bands to strengthen their diminishing Loyalist and British forces in New York.

Iroquois War Band

Resilient Leader

As the war continued in New York, the British and their Indian allies were gradually pushed westward. The British asked Molly Brant to help lead the thousands of starving refugees fleeing the Americans to the safety of Fort Niagara — the last stronghold in the area. She proved to be a capable leader, organizer, and spokesperson for the tribes. Her influence and power grew among both the tribes and the British authorities.

Fort Niagra: last bastion of British 

power in New York

One British officer remarked that her influence on the tribes was such that "their uncommon good behaviour in great measure to be ascribed to Miss Molly Brant's influence over them, which [was] far superior to that of all their Chiefs put together."

A Separate Peace

But when the Treaty of Paris was signed, the rug was pulled out from under the Iroquois and Loyalists in New York. The British made little effort to protect their ancestral lands, leaving the Iroquois to face their enemies alone — and it did not go well. Many of the Iroquois and all the Loyalists fled to Canada. 

Treaty of Paris signing

A Bitter Nation

The Iroquois who stayed behind became bitter toward Molly and her British masters. Molly left the home the British built for her on Carleton Island, as it was now on the American side of the border. The Clan Mother moved to a village called Cataraqui and, with other Loyalists, founded what later became Kingston, Ontario.

A Grateful Crown

The grateful British awarded her land and a pension large enough to turn down the Americans' offers to return to New York. They recognized her leadership's importance. But she was dismissive of the people who had destroyed the Iroquois lands during eight years of bloody warfare.

Founding Canadian

Molly Brant's family became well-known in Upper Canada. Five of her six daughters married Canadian men. George, her surviving son, got a position in the Indian department. Her older son died fighting for the British. 

At age sixty, the Clan Mother died in Brantford, Ontario, in 1796. Her exact burial site is unknown, but many believe the good, lifelong Anglican rests somewhere beneath St. Paul's Church in today's Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Her legacy is that of a remarkable woman who cared for her family, clan, tribe, and nation in both peace and war.

St. Paul's Church and Burial Ground

Noble Warrior of Peace

Clash of Empires

The Native American tribes played an interesting role in the American War for Independence. In some ways, the tension caused by the westward expansion of European settlers contributed to the strain between the colonists and the British authorities in London, who saw the Indian Territory west of the Alleghanies as a buffer zone against Spain. Americans moving westward posed a potential risk as future allies of Spain or even as a cause of war with Spain. The tribes found themselves caught in the middle, especially in the Carolinas and western New York.

In New York, the British had built strong trade and political alliances with the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederation, who served as powerful military allies during the French and Indian War. Most of the tribes sided with the British. Among them was the Seneca nation. And among these proud people rose a leader who would earn fame in war and praise in peace. His name was Gyantwakia, which in English was Cornplanter.

Seneca Chief

Cornplanter was born in 1740 to a Dutch trader named John Abeel and a Seneca woman in the village of Conawagaus, now known as Avon, New York. He was raised as a Seneca, living among his mother’s influential family, the Wolf Clan, which was a warrior clan. He led a war party in support of the British during the French and Indian War, and by the start of the American Revolution in 1775, he was an established war chief, having gained his experience as a young warrior. The Iroquois were among the most skilled warriors of all the native tribes, and both sides sought their support. Cornplanter, showing notable caution, urged neutrality in the conflict between the white settlers.

                                                           Gyantwakia aka Cornplanter

Raising the Tomahawk

However, as the struggle grew more intense, he could not keep the Seneca on the sidelines. In August 1777, the Seneca joined their former allies, the British, in taking up the tomahawk. By that time, the war in New York was at its peak, with General John Burgoyne’s three-pronged campaign to capture New York already in progress. In many ways, this campaign would determine the outcome of the war.

                                                   The War Chief addresses the Wolf Clan

Valley of Death

Once committed, Cornplanter was fully involved. He soon led a Seneca war party in support of Lieutenant Colonel Barry St. Leger’s expedition east through the Mohawk Valley. Standing between him and his goal, Albany, was the small outpost known as Fort Stanwix. In this role, he participated in the siege of Fort Stanwix, New York, and later helped plan the ambush of Colonel Nicholas Herkimer’s relief column in the dense woods near Oriskany on August 6, 1777. 

The ambush was a typical Indian warfare tactic. Cornplanter’s warriors surprised and destroyed the column, mortally injuring Herkimer. However, the approach of another column under Benedict Arnold forced the British to withdraw their regular forces from New York and switch to hit-and-run guerrilla raids against frontier settlements.

                                    Seneca ambush at Oriskany mortally wounds Col Herkimer

Frontier on Fire

Cornplanter led many raids against American settlements, especially at Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania, where on July 3, 1778, his warriors ambushed and defeated a pursuit force of 400 militia commanded by Colonel Zebulon Butler. In November, his Seneca allies supported Loyalist Captain Walter Butler (unrelated to Zebulon) in a brutal attack on Cherry Valley, New York. 

These Indian and Loyalist raids caused such significant damage to American lives, property, and morale that General George Washington ordered a punitive campaign against the Six Nations the following year.

                                                              Cherry Valley Massacre

Yankee Retribution

American retribution arrived with the 1779 expedition led by General John Sullivan, who launched a punishing attack on August 28, defeating the Iroquois and Loyalists at Newtown (Elmira), New York. Sullivan then carried out a scorched earth campaign to punish Iroquois villages in the region. 

Under pressure, he and the Seneca stood down for the winter, but the next summer, Cornplanter was back on the warpath with raids against Canajoharie and the Schoharie Valley, New York. At Canajoharie, his band took his father, John Abeel, prisoner. Cornplanter offered to make him a guest of his clan, but Abeel declined, so the dutiful son released him.

                                                                   Wolf Clan attacks

Smoking the Peace Pipe

At the end of the Revolutionary War, the Iroquois faced complications as they tried to adapt to the new American government. Cornplanter participated in numerous treaty signings, which gradually led to the loss of his people’s land. 

The Iroquois had little influence against the victorious Americans, who never forgot their wrongdoings in support of the British. Cornplanter defended his nation and clan with calmness and resolve. This led more aggressive leaders like Red Jacket to criticize him and strongly oppose land sales, hoping to improve their own standing among the clans.

                                                           The  Senecas and the rest of the 

                                                                Six Nations stood down

A Moderate Influence

The Ohio (Northwest) Territory ignited with conflict as tribes along the Ohio River grew restless over American expansion and British interference. These tribes formed a Great Confederation led by figures like Little Turtle and initially achieved victory, notably defeating an American army led by Revolutionary War General Arthur St. Clair in 1791.

 Due to his reputation and prowess as a warrior, the new American government appointed him to represent them in negotiations with the tribes at a major peace conference, known as the Council on the Auglaize. However, Cornplanter and other moderate native leaders were unsuccessful. 

The fierce fighting persisted until former Revolutionary War leader Anthony Wayne defeated the confederation at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, leading the Ohio tribes to sign a peace treaty at the Treaty of Greenville. In recognition of his efforts to unite the western tribes, Pennsylvania rewarded Cornplanter with a large land grant on the Allegheny River.

    Treaty of Greeneville settled Indian Affairs 

in the Northwest Territory

Smoking the War Pipe

With the outbreak of war with Britain in 1812, the now elderly Chief Cornplanter offered his services to the United States but was refused. However, his son, Henry O’Bail, served with some distinction. Cornplanter, one of the fiercest Seneca warriors, lived peacefully on his land grant for another two decades.

                                                   Monument to Chief of the Wolf Clan

When he died on February 18, 1836, the great war chief was widely mourned as a man of peace. Many decades later, in 1871, Pennsylvania chose to honor the noble Seneca by erecting a marble shrine on his grave as a symbol of respect and admiration.

 

Stone Arabia

The Place

The lead-in title might make you think of a Crusader-era battle cry or pot advocates targeting the Middle East. But it’s actually about a place—a location in central New York with fertile fields and lush forests, bordered by freshwater and settled by Germans. The name itself, spelled and pronounced in various ways, has long sparked curiosity, speculation, and myth—and may always do so. The terms Stone Arabia, Steen Rabi, or Steen Raby, in their Dutch spellings, are found in Dutch writings long before they appeared in America. 

Regardless of its origins, Stone Arabia, in the eastern Mohawk Valley, became a land of promise for different groups of settlers, especially Germans from the Palatinate and Swiss who arrived in the 17th and 18th centuries. Interestingly, the name was sometimes used to describe areas on the west side of the Hudson near Kingston, the site of today's North Troy, and finally the central Mohawk Valley. According to land records, just before the Revolution, Stone Arabia referred to a region later called the Palatine District, stretching from the Nose to the Falls and northward to Canada. However, on March 8, 1773, it lost this broader meaning, and from then on, the name was limited to the land patent in the Mohawk region.

The Valley

Sir William Johnson, His Majesty's agent to the Indians
of New York

The Mohawk Valley was controlled by Sir William Johnson, a well-known British representative to the Indians in central New York. From the early 1700s until the start of the American Revolution, the area experienced white settlement and frequent conflicts with the native Iroquois. British policy aimed to limit settlement by whites and to pacify the Indians. Johnson generally succeeded in carrying out this policy. However, tensions between the natives and settlers always simmered just below the surface and sometimes erupted into violence. Sir William's influence over both whites and Indians helped keep the peace, though he had to work hard to maintain order, restrain unruly settlers, and calm the natives when their pride or sense of justice was offended. 

To the Indians, as well as to Johnson and his British superiors, the white settlers appeared land hungry. Johnson sought to curb land settlement and maintain a balance with the natives. These tensions set the stage for violent conflicts when the American War for Independence broke out, making Stone Arabia the western edge of the fighting. By the time the Revolution started, Stone Arabia was well populated and its economy thriving. Churches, schools, stores, mills, blacksmith shops, lime kilns, taverns, and boatyards dotted the landscape along the Mohawk. Each farm boasted an orchard, often serving as the family’s burial ground. Crops such as wheat, flax, potatoes, corn, fruit, hemp, hay, peas, and oats were cultivated, with wheat being the primary crop. The wheat flour from the Valley was worth more in New York City than any other product. The first homes were built of logs; later ones were made of frame or stone. The area was a diverse melting pot of German, Dutch, English, and Indian influences—often called the Mohawk Dutch.

The Revolution Comes to the Valley

Many settlers of Stone Arabia became members of the Valley militia of New York. Before the war, they met regularly for training and were subject to call to arms during emergencies. The Stone Arabia company was part of the 2nd battalion of the Palatine militia. When the struggle for independence broke out, Stone Arabia's settlers were generally patriots. In fact, almost two years before the declaration of independence, the Stone Arabia farmers drafted their own declaration of American Principles on August 27, 1774, at the White Tavern, owned by Adam Loucks. These resolutions read in part as follows:

III [in part]. That We think it is our undeniable Privilege to be taxed only with our own Consent given by ourselves (or by our Representative). That Taxes otherwise laid and exacted are unjust and unconstitutional....
IV. That the Act for blocking up the Port of Boston is oppressive and arbitrary, injurious in its principles and particularly oppressive to the Inhabitants of Boston, who we consider as Brethren suffering in the Common Cause.
V (in part). ...that we will join and unite with our Brethren of the Rest of this Colony in anything tending to support and defend our Rights and Liberties.

A Major Zielly and Andrew Dillenback (who was later killed at Oriskany) were appointed to a committee to gather material for war. In keeping with the spirit of pre-war revolutionary fervor, the people of Stone Arabia stayed alert and informed. And for good reason: they would soon find themselves at a key location in the struggle's Northern Department. The fertile Mohawk Valley and the fields, especially in Stone Arabia, served as supply sources for the Continental Army throughout the long war. In 1780, Washington relied on the wheat and oats of Stone Arabia to feed his army and was determined to prevent them from falling into the hands of the British Loyalists in the area. This set the stage for a small but fierce conflict whose only goal was destruction.

The Fighting Frontier

Mohawk Valley settlers were defeated
 at the Battle of Oriskany in 1777

The region played a key role in the British campaign of 1777, with many Palatinate Dutch serving at Fort Stanwyck and fighting at Oriskany. Two forts, Keyser and Paris, were built on Stone Arabia soil. Fort Keyser, a stone house from the 1740s built by Johannes Keyser, was palisaded and garrisoned by militia troops under Lt. John Zeiley. Fort Paris, originally built in 1737 by Isaac Paris, was a fortified farmhouse and trading post. Inside the palisade, there was also a barracks for 100 men and a blockhouse. Despite—or because of—the forts, the Loyalists and Indian allies struck Stone Arabia twice. The first attack was the Ephratah-Dillenburgh raid in 1778. 

On April 20, 1778, while a small company of twenty militia was drilling, a band of Indians and Loyalists appeared and began destroying homes and barns. Most of the militia went to defend their homes, but a few pursued the attackers. In a skirmish, several militiamen, including a boy of four, were killed. The Loyalists withdrew, but stragglers from the band took a boy captive at Kringsbush and killed a young woman in sight of Fort Klock. These raids, along with others north of the Mohawk River, so frightened the inhabitants that most of those missed by the Indians and Tories moved into the Mohawk Valley to seek protection in the forts. As for the northern slope of the valley, the British effort to scare people away from their farms was a great success.

Fort Klock, Home of Colonel Jakob Klock
of the Palatine Regiment of the Tryon County Militia

Battle of Stone Arabia

Map of the Johnson Raid on Stone Arabia, 1780

Sir John Johnson

On October 19, 1780, Sir John Johnson, William's son and a controversial Loyalist leader, led an army of 900 Loyalists and British Regulars in an invasion of the Mohawk Valley. After following a winding route across southern New York State, they moved north through the Schoharie Valley, entering the Mohawk Valley at Fort Hunter, where the army turned west toward the Canajohary and Palatine Districts. The invaders camped on the evening of October 18 near the Noses, a geological feature that marks the great divide in the Appalachian Mountain chain. 

The next day, they crossed the Mohawk River at Keator’s Rift. They burned Jellis Fonda’s mill before proceeding to attack the settlement of Stone Arabia, located a mile and a half north of the Mohawk River in the Palatine District. Colonel John Brown of the Massachusetts Militia marched his 380 militiamen out of Fort Paris to meet the enemy on a field about a mile from the fort. Outnumbered nearly 3 to 1, he was shot from his horse, and his men fled the field. Brown, who had served at Fort Ticonderoga in 1775 and participated in the Quebec invasion, died on the battlefield. With its defenders defeated, Stone Arabia was completely destroyed by the enemy, including the twin Dutch Reformed and German Lutheran churches. Both churches were rebuilt after the war ended and still stand today.

Left in ashes by the raid, the Dutch Reformed Church
was rebuilt in 1788

The Legacy

The raid of 1780, with its widespread destruction, delivered a significant blow to the cause. It is worth noting that there was greater unity among the Palatine farmers in opposition to the British policy than in some other districts in the Valley. However, hardly a family was not split between loyalty to the crown and loyalty to the cause. 

Despite this, we find New York Governor George Clinton (later the 4th Vice President of the U.S.) giving a fitting testament to the spirit of the Stone Arabia settlers in 1781: "Most of Tryon and Schoharie have been destroyed. They are not however abandoned; the inhabitants having recovered themselves, continue to improve their farms and assist in the general defense."

NY Gov Clinton

Stone Arabia exemplified many of the hundreds of localized conflicts that made up a significant but often overlooked part of the American War for Independence. The political struggles and fierce fighting among British, Loyalists, Indians, and Patriots in and around Stone Arabia played a crucial role in early New York history and in shaping an independent America.

The Bravest Son of Liberty?

A Boy from Jamaica

Colonial Jamaica, Long Island was verdant farmland

Jamaica, Long Island, that is. Brigadier General Marinus Willett may well be one of the greatest and most accomplished New Yorkers ever. He was a descendant of Thomas Willett, who arrived in New York on the ship The Lion in 1632. The elder Willett served as the first English Mayor of New York City after New Amsterdam fell to the British in 1664. Marinus' father was Edward Willett, a farmer who lived in Jamaica, Long Island (now Queens). It's hard to believe that the mean streets people see on the way to JFK Airport once were some of the lushest farmland in America. But Edward was a man of letters and business—he made his living as a school teacher and a tavern keeper.

Soldier of the King

Marinus Willett: Citizen Soldier

As with many American leaders of the Revolutionary War, young Marinus first gained experience fighting for the King as a Loyal and dedicated subject. He served in the militia during the French and Indian War, where he was commissioned as a Subaltern in a New York regiment led by Oliver DeLancey Sr. DeLancey was among the wealthiest New Yorkers, and his family would remain staunchly Loyal a generation later. The regiment participated in General James Abercrombie's 1758 expedition to Fort Ticonderoga. Later, Marinus Willett served with the regiment as part of John Bradstreet's forces at the Battle of Fort Frontenac. He fell ill during the campaign and remained at Fort Stanwix until he recovered. While there, he assisted in upgrading the fort, which, as his career later developed, seems almost providential.

Son of Liberty

New York, not Boston style. Willett settled in New York City after the war, and although he worked as a cabinetmaker, he took an interest in politics as tensions with Britain began to simmer. He became the community organizer of his time, which is to say, a rabble-rouser and street brawler. After the news of Lexington and Concord, he helped plan a raid on the old arsenal in New York and took weapons for the cause. On June 6, 1775, the British decided to evacuate New York City. Willett led an effort that prevented the soldiers from taking spare arms with them. On July 20, 1775, he and other members of the Sons of Liberty procured a sloop and captured a British storehouse at Turtle Bay. This cove on the East River was named by Dutch settlers because of its resemblance to a knife. The word "Deutal" (Turtle) is Dutch for "knife." Ironically, Turtle Bay is near where the British landed when they recaptured Manhattan a year later.

Patriot Soldier

Clearly, Marinus Willett proved himself during wartime, as many of our military legends have. He began as a captain in the 1st New York Regiment, and almost right away, the regiment participated in General Richard Montgomery's invasion of Canada in 1775, one of the most brutal episodes of the entire war. He fought at the Battle of Quebec in December of that year and temporarily commanded Fort St. John during the American occupation. However, he returned to New York City with the regiment when enlistments expired, arriving in March. During the British offensive to retake the city in 1776, he had lost a captain's commission in the 4th New York Regiment (possibly in a card game) but continued to serve as a militiaman. 

Colonel Marinus Willett during
the War for Independence

But experience and connections do matter, especially during wartime. In November 1776, he was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of the 3rd New York Regiment, commanded by Peter Gansevoort. He spent the winter recruiting before leading the regiment north. In March 1777, he took command of Fort Constitution in the New York Highlands, where he successfully attacked a blockhouse and burned a British force of one hundred soldiers. Later that year, he helped MacDougall defend Peekskill against a British raid, before being assigned to Fort Stanwix on the Mohawk River.

Drums Along the Mohawk

Stanwix was the anchor of a line of American defenses stretching from Albany to Oneida Lake. This was the western frontier with the Iroquois and a strategic position guarding the portage between Oneida Lake and the Mohawk River. General Washington recognized its importance and had the old French and Indian War post rebuilt and garrisoned. Willett worked tirelessly to prepare Fort Stanwix (also known as Fort Schuyler) for the inevitable attack. It arrived in the form of a British force led by Colonel Barry St. Leger, who laid siege to Stanwix on August 3, 1777. St. Leger made the customary demand for surrender.  

Herkimer was wounded at Oriskany

But Willet refused. The defenders hoisted a makeshift Stars and Stripes in defiance of the more than one thousand British, Loyalists, and Iroquois. Word arrived on the fifth that General Nicholas Herkimer and the Tryon County Militia were marching to relieve the fort. On August 6th, the defenders made a sortie to distract the besiegers, with the signal being the sound of three guns. But when Willett led his troops out of the fort, they found the enemy camp deserted. The force of Loyalists and Indians had gone east to Oriskany, where they ambushed Herkimer. The British Regulars, Loyalists, and Indian Allies returned from that vicious ambush under the cypress trees to find Willet had ransacked and looted their camp of supplies and munitions with his sortie. Willett was later presented with a sword from the Continental Congress for this exploit.

Fort Stanwix

Still, the besiegers kept demanding Willet surrender. Willet personally met with the emissaries. But when he learned of Herkimer's defeat at Oriskany, he decided to slip out on his own and seek help from Fort Dayton further down the Mohawk Valley. There, he discovered that Major General Schuyler had already sent a second relief force under Benedict Arnold's command. Willett then traveled to Albany, where he met with Arnold, and afterward returned to Fort Dayton with Arnold's army. On the return trip, Willett stopped to visit Herkimer. Almost two weeks after the Battle of Oriskany, Herkimer had his leg amputated on August 19th but appeared in good spirits. However, the next day, Herkimer died from infection and blood loss.

Countering Espionage?

In a surprising connection to Yankee Doodle Spies, Willett appears to have played a small role in counterespionage efforts. On August 20th, he served as a judge at Loyalist Captain Walter Butler’s trial. Butler was the son of John Butler, who commanded Butler’s Rangers, a prominent Loyalist unit both feared and despised by Patriots on the New York frontier. Continental Army troops had captured the younger Butler while he was trying to recruit rangers at Shoemaker Tavern in German Flatts, New York. Butler was tried as a spy. Willett's court found him guilty and sentenced him to death. The condemned Butler was sent to Albany to await execution, but after a few months, he escaped and returned to Canada.

Back to the Continental Army, then back to New York's Frontier, then...

Willett seemed to be everywhere at times. In June 1778, he was granted leave from the Northern Department to join Washington's Main Continental Army, which was preparing to attack General Clinton's British forces moving from Philadelphia to New York. There, he served as an aide to General Charles Scott and participated in the Battle of Monmouth. Scott's Brigade was part of the vanguard in that epic clash.

By the summer of 1779, Willett had rejoined the 3rd New York Regiment during the Sullivan Campaign against the Iroquois. This campaign was a brutal, destructive effort that foreshadowed later Indian warfare. Willett later spent some time in the New York Highlands before returning to the main army at Morristown. In January, he took part in a raid on Staten Island.

In early 1780, he was appointed commander of the 5th New York Regiment, a unit severely weakened by battles in the New York Highlands. An enthusiastic advocate, he became involved in voicing grievances on behalf of unpaid troops. He also found time for leisure.

In 1780, while based at Fort Plain, New York, he met and had an affair with an attractive widow named Mrs. Seeber. The affair resulted in the birth of a son, Marinus Willett Seeber. Willett openly acknowledged the boy's paternity, supporting him and ensuring he received an education.

In January 1781, Willett returned home as the New York Line was reduced to just two regiments. By April, he was back as a colonel of the New York militia, engaging in numerous actions. His regiment defended the Mohawk Valley and the areas around Albany. That summer, he led the militia in the Battle of Sharon Springs, attacking Indians and Loyalists. 

In October, he commanded the militia at the Battle of Johnstown. Afterward, he pursued the retreating enemy through an increasingly cold month. A forced march in snowshoes during a heavy snowstorm brought Willett's militia close to the Loyalists, who escaped under cover of the swirling snow. Ironically, the 

Post War: Politico Peacemaker Peace Officer

I might need to write another blog about Marinus Willett's post-war adventures. His later career is hard to believe. At the end of the war, Willett helped establish the Society of the Cincinnati, a controversial order of former American and French officers from the Revolution. He opened a store on Water Street in New York City. 

In 1793, his first wife, Mary, died. He soon remarried. His new wife, Susannah Vardle, was “active” in New York society, but her vivacity proved more than he could handle, and they divorced in 1797. In post-war politics, Willett became an Anti-Federalist under George Clinton and served in the New York State Assembly. He served as Sheriff of New York County (also known as Manhattan) for several years and helped put down Shay's Rebellion in 1787. 

By 1788, he was again aligned with Clinton in fighting against the Constitution—yes, that Constitution. When it finally passed, he continued working with others to repeal or amend it. Despite his anti-Federalist stance, Willett was sent by President Washington to persuade the Creeks to come to New York (then the nation's capital). This led to the Treaty of New York, the first of many treaties that would not bode well for the Indians. He later served again as sheriff of New York County. 

When war broke out against the Indians in the Northwest Territory (1792), Willett was offered a general's commission. He declined, telling President Washington that he did not support war with the Indians. Willett also turned down a later offer to serve as a peace envoy to them. It’s only possible to speculate that his experiences during Sullivan’s campaign influenced his views on America’s Indian policies.

Creek Indian Leaders in New York City

Going Strong in the New Century

So strong was his character that in 1799, Willett married young Margaret Bancker. He was 59, and she was only 24, but they had four children—three sons and a daughter. Willett, the former Liberty Boy, believed in grassroots democracy. During one particularly hot gubernatorial race, he actually fought a duel with a member of the opposing party—fortunately, neither was hurt. 

At the turn of the new century, he played a role in building some of the fortifications protecting New York City. In 1808, he replaced populist DeWitt Clinton as Mayor of New York City, becoming its 48th mayor, and in 1811, he ran unsuccessfully for Lieutenant Governor of New York. He supported the War of 1812, but now, in his 70s, he only gave patriotic speeches to support it.  

De Witt Clinton

In 1824, he served as a presidential elector during the bitter election that elected John Quincy Adams as president. The highly accomplished Marinus Willett died at his home on August 22, 1830, a few weeks after suffering a stroke. Ironically, this was exactly 53 years after the lifting of the siege of Fort Stanwix. 

The ninety-year-old First Patriot was laid to rest in the churchyard of Trinity Church, at the corner of Broadway and Wall Street in New York City. His funeral was attended by 10,000 mourners — about 5% of the city’s population at that time. Not too bad for a cabinet maker from Jamaica.

Marinus Willett in later life