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Hello. Hello and thank you for joining the American Revolution. This week episode 270, Stone Arabia and Clocks Field.

Last week we covered the British capture and destruction of Fort Anne and Fort George,

as well as the raid on Boston near Albany. Those actions were primarily designed to distract from another

ongoing raid taking place further to the south. Sir John Johnson, along with Mohawk Chief and British Captain Joseph Brant, and Seneca Chief

Corn Planter, led a combined force of around 1,000 men. They were a mix of Indians, loyalists, and some British regulars.

Among them were also some German Yeagers and Butler's Rangers. They also brought with them two small mortars and a brass three-pound

cannon. Some estimates put the total number at only 800, some go as high as 1,500. It may be that the group started off with more, but that part of the group

broke off before they engaged in any combat. According to some stories, a large group of the Indians left the raiding party and went home

after some unspecified dispute.

The leader, John Johnson, was the son of William Johnson, who had been the British Indian agent for decades

before the Revolution. The Johnsons lived in upstate New York and John grew up living along

the Mohawk River. As a teenager he moved to Philadelphia to continue his education.

He saw his first military service during the French and Indian War,

when at age 13 he accompanied his father to fight the French at Lake George.

During Pontiac's rebellion Johnson led an expedition into the Ohio country. In the mid-1760s Johnson,

in the mid-1760s, Johnson embarked on a grand tour of Europe.

While in London, the king knighted him, Sir John.

His father, William, died just before the revolution. Johnson inherited

expansive estates in New York, over 200,000 acres, along with his father's baronetcy and the position as Indian agent for the Iroquois.

Since he remained loyal to the king, Johnson had to flee New York for Canada to avoid arrest by the Patriots. He received a commission as a

lieutenant colonel and recruited the King's Royal Regiment of New York. He

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