The Warriors: “A Captain of the Royal Highland Emigrants,” artist unknown
The Royal Highland Emigrants were raised to a large extent from disbanded soldiers who had served in North America in the Seven Years’ War, particularly with the Black Watch and Fraser’s Highlanders. Their magnificent uniform was patterned on that of the Black Watch, except for the sporran which would normally have been of badger pelt but in this case was racoon, probably because of the greater availability of that pelt in the new world. The uniform was meant to be a lure to Highlanders to enlist, as the public wearing of the kilt had been generally proscribed since the defeat of the Highlanders at Culloden Moor in 1746.
By mid-1775 events were leading towards the formation of a more prominent Loyalist regiment. The Johnsons were gathering their forces in the Mohawk Valley. In June, under increasing pressure from rebel sympathizers, Guy Johnson, the superintendent of the Northern Indian Department, along with his chief aides, removed to Montreal. Sir John Johnson, Sir William’s son, stayed behind; by late 1775 he and his neighbours had secretly agreed to form a battalion in the king’s favour and had actually “named all the Officers.” They were held back, however, by the American General Philip Schuyler who maintained firm control of the Mohawk Valley with a large force of outside militia. Sir John Johnson was a comparative stranger to many of those from the New York frontier who would serve with him. Then thirty-four years of age, he had been educated at a distance and afterwards had made a prolonged visit to England, where he had been knighted by the king in recognition of his father’s services. He had then resided for several years in Albany and New York, both before and after his marriage to an heiress and lady of fashion. Reserved and distant in manner, Johnson never gained the popularity and local influence of his father. Nonetheless, because of his position and parentage, he was the acknowledged leader of western New York Loyalists.
By early 1776, the Patriots were tightening their grip on the New York frontier. In May an American regiment was ordered to march upon Johnson Hall and take Sir John and his principal adherents dead or alive. Johnson, having had prior warning of the attack, escaped to Canada. With him went a large number of Tories and a few Mohawk Indians as scouts. This group, numbering 170, arrived safely in Montreal after a long and arduous journey through the woods, “being nine days without anything to subsist upon but wild onion roots and the leaves of Beech Trees.” When Johnson returned again to New York, it would be at the head of a provincial regiment which he called the King’s Royal Regiment of New York (Royal Yorkers for short) and which the Americans nicknamed Johnson’s Greens. Johnson was given a commission to form such a regiment in June. It grew slowly at first, amounting to only 300 men by the end of its first year. Ultimately it would total more than 1,290 men, making it the largest single Loyalist corps to operate in the northern theatre of the war.
The Warriors: “Sir John Johnson” (1742-1830), artist unknown
The son of Sir William Johnson, Sir John was superintendent of the Northern Indian Department from 1783. He had served in both the Seven Years’ War and against Pontiac’s Rebellion. Sir John commanded the King’s Royal Regiment of New York, known as the Royal Yorkers, the largest Loyalist unit to be raised in Canada during the course of the Revolution. In 1784 he was entrusted by the government with the general supervision of Loyalist settlement in central Canada areas. Because of his family connections, Johnson was one of the most prominent Loyalists to settle in that region.
The Warriors: “Joseph Brant” (ca. 1743-1807), by William Berczy
Joseph Brant was the Indian leader who most fully accepted the war aims of the crown as defined by British military leaders. He was in turn the chief spokesman of the Indian interest to their white allies. Indian-raised and white-educated, he was a man of many parts. From the age of twelve, he had participated in the Seven Years’ War and later in an expedition against the Western Indians. He acted as a translator and interpreter for the Indian Department and in course of his varied career translated the Gospel of St. Mark, a primer, the liturgy of the Church of England and other religions works into Mohawk. He served fully throughout the course of the Revolutionary War. At its end, he settled at Burlington Bay near the Grand River, where he continued as the Iroquois’ chief spokesman in the adjustment to the new conditions, and their major leader in wider Indian affairs. His sister, Molly Brant, was the Indian wife of Sir William Johnson and in her own right exercised a formidable influence in the council of the Iroquois.
A Loyalist war leader whose status would become every bit as great as that of Sir John Johnson was Thayendanegea, or Joseph Brant. A Mohawk Iroquois who had been educated by whites, Brant was a devout Anglican and a Freemason. He spoke at least three and possibly all of the Six Nation languages, and had frequently been useful as an interpreter in the Indian Department. His attachment to the Johnsons and his devotion to what he felt was the best interest of the Indian peoples made him a valuable ally for the British. Joseph in his turn was dependent upon his relations with the British. He was not a traditional chief or sachem of the Iroquois. He exercised his influence as a war chief, an office open to any brave who by the force of reputation and personality could draw together a war party and lead it. Even though he showed great capacities in that role, Brant was not ranked by the Iroquois as their most distinguished war chief. His prominence came as spokesman of the Indian interest to their British allies. Joseph’s education and his reliability endeared him to the whites, and they respected and admired him for his degree of acculteration. His complete dependability attracted British officials to him and raised him high in their esteem. Brant would be the linchpin in British-Indian relations both during the war years and for three decades afterwards.
In November 1775 Brant, together with Guy Johnson and other members of the Indian Department, had travelled to England. He returned in July 1776 fully convinced that the only salvation for his people lay in complete and active support of the royalist cause. During the winter and spring of 1775-76, while the Iroquois clung to their wavering neutrality, Brant made a wide-ranging tour through their territory, encouraging active involvement, gathering about him a party of about one hundred warriors and raising enthusiasm for the British cause.
At the same time John Butler, the Indian agent at Fort Niagara, was also working to break the Indians’ neutrality. Butler, who, like Johnson and Brant, would be a major figure in the early settlement of Ontario, was the son of a British soldier. As chief translator of the Indian Department, he had risen to be right-hand man of Sir William Johnson. Butler has been described as “a fat man, below middle stature, yet active. . . . Care sat upon his brow. Speaking quickly, he repeated his words when excited. Decision, firmness, courage were undoubted characteristics of the man.”4 Butler was a highly ambitious and driving individual who by early 1776 was turning all his considerable energies to encouraging Iroquois resistance of the Revolution. By a combination of