Mohawk Valley, the
The valley of the
Mohawk River, extending from near the middle of the
State of New York to the
Hudson River, is one of the most interesting historical regions in the republic.
Within it, according to
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Communion plate presented by Queen Anne. |
tradition, was formed the powerful
Iroquois Confederacy (q. v.), the members of which have been called “The
Romans of the Western world.”
French
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220]
missionaries spread through the valley a knowledge of the
Christian religion, and 100 years before the
Revolutionary War it was the scene of sharp conflicts between the natives and intruding Europeans.
Within its borders, before that time, its chief inhabitant (
William Johnson) received the honors of knighthood, and ruled not only over a vast private manorial domain, but also over Indian tribes of the confederacy, as their official superintendent.
When the Revolution broke out his family were the leaders of the adherents to the crown in the northern regions of New York; and his son, Sir John, who inherited his title and his possessions, with a large number of Scotch retainers and other white people, organized a corps of loyalists called “Johnson Greens,” which, with Indians under
Brant, his kinsman by marriage, carried on a distressing warfare against the patriots.
Later, the
Erie Canal, the most gigantic single work of internal improvement in the
United States, was dug the whole length of the valley, and became the highway for a vast commerce between the
Western States and the
Atlantic Ocean.
