For generous assistance at various points and in details, I have to thank, and hereby do so most heartily, Mr. Edward F. De Lancey, of New York; Mr. William L. Stone, of Jersey City; Prof. A. L. Perry, of Williams College; Mr. Berthold Fernow, keeper of the State Archives, Albany; Rev. J. A. De Baun, D. D., of Fonda; Rev. J. H. Hubbs, of Grand Rapids, Mich.; Rev. Henry R. Swinnerton, of Cherry Valley; Mr. R. A. Grider, the chief American specialist and collector of powder-horns and their art and literature; Mr. A. G. Richmond, archæologist in Indian relics, of Canajoharie, N. Y.; Mrs. I. E. Wells of Johnson Hall at Johnstown; Mr. Ethan Akin, of Fort Johnson at Akin near Fonda; James Fuller, Esq., of Schenectady, N. Y.; and Major J. W. MacMurray, U. S. N.; besides various descendants of the militiamen who served under the illustrious Irishman who is the subject of the following pages.

W. E. G.

Boston, Mass.,

May 21, 1891.


CHRONOLOGICAL OUTLINE.


1400–1600 a. d.Occupation of the region between
the Niagara and the Hudson
River by the Indian tribes
of the Long House.
{ July 29.Defeat of the Iroquois near
{ Ticonderoga, N. Y., by
{ Champlain.
1609,{ Sept. 1-23.Hendrick Hudson explores the
{ river as far as the Mohawk.
1613.Hollanders build on Manhattan and Nassau Islands.
1617.Iroquois form an alliance with the Dutch.
1623.Jesse De Forest and the Walloons settle and found New York City.—Fort Orange built.—Settlement at Albany.
1630.Patroon Kilian Van Rensselaer.—Arrival of Arendt Van Curler.
1642.Van Curler enters the Mohawk Valley and ransoms Isaac Jogues.
1661.Van Curler founds the city of Schenectady.
1664.English Conquest of New Netherlands.
1667.Kryn leads the Caughnawaga Indians to Canada.
1690.Massacre at Schenectady.
1710.Palatine Germans in New York.
1713.The Tuscaroras join the Iroquois Confederacy.
1715.Sir William Johnson born.
1722.Palatines settle in Mohawk Valley.—Oswego founded.
1738.Johnson settled at Warrensburgh, N. Y.
1740.Johnson made head of the Indian Department.
1754.The Congress and Council at Albany.
1755.Battle of Lake George.
1757.Massacre at German Flats.
1759.Surrender of Niagara to Johnson.—Fall of Quebec and the French power in America.
1763.Conspiracy of Pontiac.—Johnstown founded, and Johnson Hall built.
1768.Treaty at Fort Stanwix.
1770.January 18, First bloodshed of the Revolution.
1771.First battle of the Revolution at Alamance, N. C.
1772.Division of Albany County.—Johnstown made the county-seat of Tryon County.
1774.Death of Sir William Johnson.
1777.Battle of Oriskany.
1778.Massacre at Cherry Valley.
1779.Brant at Minnisink.—General Sullivan’s Expedition against the Six Nations.
1782.New York’s Western lands transferred to the nation.
1783.Tories banished from the Mohawk Valley.