SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON'S JOURNEY AROUND
LAKE ERIE
By CATHALINE ALFORD ARCHER
Lake Erie and its borders have received
some unusual atten-
tion lately, including the explorations
and early settlements.
Herewith is some pertinent material
which seems not to have
been reckoned with, but which seems
essential to the full story.
Harlan Hatcher's Lake Erie (1945),
for example, presumably
the latest and best-organized account of
the period, does not men-
tion the journey of Sir William Johnson
around the lake in
August, September and October, 1761,
items of which would
amplify the story of some of the early
military and trading posts.
The facts which are here related may be
found in his own
journal as edited by William L. Stone
and embodied in his Life
and Times of Sir William Johnson,
Bart. (Albany, 1865). The
original diary had been destroyed by
fire prior to the publication
of the Sir William Johnson Papers. Recent
accounts seem to
have missed these materials.
After Major Robert Rogers of the famous
Rangers received
the surrender of the French post in
Detroit at the close of 1760,
Captain Donald Campbell was left
temporarily in command there.
Early in 1761 rumors of disaffection
amongst former Indian
allies of the French had become definite
intelligence that Seneca
and Wyandot chiefs were plotting a
massacre of the Detroit gar-
rison, and that Senecas, Shawnees, and
Delawares were prepar-
ing to fall upon forts Pitt and Niagara.
Captain Campbell, pos-
sibly prematurely alarmed, sought
immediate help from Sir Jef-
frey Amherst, commander-in-chief of His
Majesty's forces in
America. In response, Sir William
Johnson, who had just been
recommissioned by King George III
superintendent of all Indian
tribes in the northern colonies, was
asked to visit Detroit for two
purposes: to make a treaty with all the
"Several Nations of North-
ern and Western Indians" and to
make "regulations" for the fur
283
284
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
trade in frontier posts. Johnson himself
had further intentions,
namely, as his journal says, "to
learn . . . the names of several
nations of Indians in this country,
their number of men, places
of residence, their connections,
disposition and wars," and to
ascertain "how many posts the
French had in the Indian country,
the number of men in each, how
maintained, from whom they
received their orders, . . . which post or place was always looked
upon as the best for trade; what prices
the French generally paid
for beaver, furs, &c."
Johnson's intimate knowledge of Indian
character and his remarkable influence
with all Indians in any way
connected with the Six Nations were
counted upon to shield him
from danger during a trip which Rogers
had reported as ex-
tremely perilous.
Johnson assembled a party of "Royal
Americans" and Indian
scouts, "140 on board of 13 Battoes
& Canoes," with stores for
the garrison at Detroit and gifts
ordered by General Amherst for
the western Indians. He chose the
northern shore of Lake Erie
for the outward trip and included in his
diary references to the
various camping and carrying places
thereon, such as one at "the
Grand river," another near
"the Grand Point" (Long Point?)
and one at "Point a Pain"
(Pointe aux Pins). On "Wednesday
2d" (September) his party arrived
at "the entrance of the River
Detroit," and on the following day
Johnson was welcomed in
Detroit by "the officers of the
garrison with those of Gage's Light
Infantry," who conducted him to his
"quarters, which is the house
of the late commandant Mr. Belestre, the
best in the place."
He treated as satisfactorily as he could
with delegations from
important tribes of the western
Indians--Shawnees, Delawares,
Wyandots, Chippewas, Ottawas and Hurons,
but says, "I am
greatly distressed for the want of
provisions for the Indians,
having received none from Fort Pitt as I
expected; wherefore
am obliged, at a very great expense, to
purchase cattle and what I
can get here," saying further that
"on examining the goods in-
tended for the present many are found to
be rotten and ruined
by badness of the boats, for want of a
sufficient number of oil
cloths, &c.; so that I shall be
obliged to replace them, and add
SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON AND LAKE ERIE 285
more goods to the present, the number of
Indians being very
great." He was much concerned
because the Ottawas "received
nothing at Detroit," and while he
was later in Sandusky he
dispatched by "Mr. Croghan . . .
what goods [he had] for about
thirty Tawas," doubtless hoping
that he might fully conciliate
the Ottawa chief Pontiac.
He began his return journey on September
19 by the southern
shore of the lake and on the next day
"crossed a great bay to
Cedar Point . . . the largest or deepest
bay [he had] seen." He
records that "the end of the lake,
near the Miami [Maumee]
river is about five leagues
across," that he "encamped on Cedar
Point, where [he] cut some cedar sticks
to bring home," and that
"it is about twenty-four miles from
here to the camping place of
Sandusky, which is a mile and a half
across; from thence six
miles to the Indian village."
He camped "at the carrying-place of
Sandusky" on the fol-
lowing night and in the morning sent
[his] boats round the point,
and ordered them encamped at the east
side of the entrance of
Lake Sandusky into Lake Erie, which is
about a mile across--
there to wait [his] coming." Then,
he says, "I crossed the carry-
ing-place which is almost opposite one
of the Wyandot towns,
about six miles across the lake here. I
sent Mr. Croghan to the
Indian town, and went down the lake in a
little birch canoe to the
place where the block house is to be
built by Mr. Meyer. This
place is about three leagues from the
mouth of Lake Sandusky,
where it disembogues itself into Lake
Erie. They have a view
of all boats which may pass or come in
from said post. It is about
three miles from another village of
Hurons, and fifteen by water
from the one opposite to the
carrying-place, and nine by land.
The Pennsylvania road comes to this
post. This is one hundred
and seventy miles from Presque Isle, and
forty from Detroit."
That Johnson was fully aware of the
strategic value of this
Sandusky post is emphasized by Stone who
says, "On his return
Sir William halted a day at Sandusky to
examine the proposed
site for the block house; and as there
was a direct road from this
place to Presque Isle, Mr. Croghan was
dispatched to Colonel
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OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Bouquet with instructions for the
traders at Fort Pitt." But that
Johnson realized the hazards in the way
of placing a fort there is
plain from a letter of his to General
Amherst during his stay in
Niagara on the way out to Detroit. He
wrote, "I am also ap-
prehensive, the erecting a fort at
Sandusky will likewise alarm
them [the Indians]; and I could wish
that I had time enough at
Detroit to reconcile them to our
establishing ourselves there, which
otherwise will give great disgust to the
nations of the Ottawa
Confederacy."
The British fort of 1761 was evidently
built on the site de-
scribed by Johnson, which seems to have
been in the vicinity of
the present village of Venice. H. L.
Peeke, president of the Fire-
lands Historical Society, explaining
that Major Frederick Falley.
a fifer in his father's company during
the battle of Bunker Hill,
had bought in 1811 the township west of
Sandusky city, made this
comment in his Centennial History of
Erie County, Ohio (1925):
"A fort was discovered near Venice
by Major Falley, overgrown
with underbrush and timber, but showing
a double entrenchment.
It has since been completely obliterated
by cultivation, and now
no trace of it can be found" (Vol.
II, p. 725). Johnson's fear was
justified, since this was probably the
fort burned by Pontiac's
men in 1763.
Johnson continued his journey eastward,
camping "at a
river within fifteen miles of Sandusky
Lake" where he shot "a
fine buck" which he had seen driven
into the lake by three wolves,
and then proceeded onward "nearly
forty miles" along "very
bad banks, indeed, of rock and some
places clay" where the party
camped on a beach "near to
Cayahoga." This reference to Cuya-
hoga is relied upon by Stone to indicate
that when Major Rogers
reported that he was met by Pontiac at
"Chogage" he probably
meant Sheawga--now known as the Grand
River--and not the
Cuyahoga as Hatcher and others have
assumed. (cf. Hatcher,
Lake Erie, p. 47).
Sir William completed his circuit of
Lake Erie on October
4, was detained by illness for ten days
at Fort Niagara, proceeded
by way of Oswego and Fort Schuyler and
reached Fort Johnson
SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON AND LAKE ERIE 287
on October 30 when he entered in his
journal of the trip this con-
cluding record: "Fine morning, but
smart white frost. Set off
at 8 o'clock . . . and arrived at my
house about half after seven
at night, where I found all my family
well; so ended my tour--
Gloria Deo Soli."