Fort Johnson is the three story limestone house originally enclosed in fortifications built by Sir William Johnson in 1749 on the Mohawk River. ‘Old Fort Johnson’ is located at the center of the village of Fort Johnson, on the north side of NY Route 5 overlooking the Mohawk River just west of NY Route 67.
Sir William Johnson was only 23 years old when he arrived oversee his Uncle Peter Warren's land holdings south of the present day city of Amsterdam in the colony of New York. William purchased a tract of land north of the Mohawk River in 1739. He moved there, building a log house, sawmill, and trade post in 1743 called Mount Johnson. Here he developed the fur trade with the Mohawk and Haudenosaunee, which became the basis of his fortune. Johnson soon became involved in colonial politics. Johnson was influential in relations between the colonial government and the Haudenosaunee. He provisioned British military posts, kept the Indigenous Nations friendly to the British, served in the New York colonial legislature, and in 1756 was commissioned "Superintendent of all the affairs of the Six Nations and other Northern Indians." Johnson won military fame as a major general of the provincial militia and a commander when the French forces under Baron Dieskau were defeated at the Battle of Lake George on September 8th, 1755. Largely as a result of this victory, Johnson was made a baronet by King George III. Sir William won greater renown for military achievements at the Siege of Fort Niagara (July 6th-26th, 1759) and the capture of Montreal (July 2nd – September 8th, 1760).
Prior to these achievements William Johnson had constructed a larger house, for himself and his family. Acting as his own architect, Johnson built a large three story stone house about a mile west of his first home. Following the Georgian style of architecture it was finished in 1749 after King George's War ended, and was to be called Fort Johnson. The property, about 1 acre in size, is fringed on the front and east side by a low stone retaining wall. The house is a three story structure, built out of limestone and topped by a hip roof. Brick chimneys are located in the side walls, and the front face of the roof is pierced by three gabled dormers. The front facade is five bays wide, with a center entrance sheltered by a gabled portico supported by Doric columns. The interior follows a central hall plan, with a parlor and study on the left, and a large dining room and serving chamber on the right; the kitchen is located in the basement. Along with the three-story house, a grist mill and our buildings were on this property. Johnson convened many Native American conferences on this site as the British Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Northern Department. The fort served as Johnson's home, business office and trading center. Soon after completion, Johnson was ordering new furnishings from England and locally made pieces to enhance his new home. Structures which no longer exist flanked the house on the front and were fortified by a wooden palisade during the Seven Years War, from 1755 to 1763, as a means of defense from attack by the French.
In 1763, Sir William Johnson moved west to Johnson Hall in what is now Johnstown, New York. With Sir William's removal to Johnson Hall, Fort Johnson was given to his son John Johnson who married Mary Watts, a member of a prominent New York family. John occupied the Fort until 1774, when upon Sir William's death, John inherited the baronetcy and moved to Johnson Hall.
After Sir John and Lady Mary moved to Johnson Hall, Fort Johnson was used by other members of William's family. Fort Johnson was one of four Johnson family homes on the eve of the American Revolution. But the Fort did not remain in the Johnson family for long. With the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1775, Sir John Johnson decided to remain loyal to the British Crown. Sir John was declared a traitor, and he and his family fled to Canada from the Mohawk...
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