John Deseronto

Captain John Deseronto (alt. Deserontyon, (Odeserundiye) UE (c1740's - 1811) was a prominent Mohawk war chief during the American Revolutionary War. He was born in the 1740s, most likely in the Mohawk valley. He was educated in a white school and had acculturated to their customs. In 1759, during the French and Indian War, he was at the Battle of Fort Niagara, and the following year he was at the Battle of Quebec. In the summer of 1764, he accomp... more

Captain John Deseronto (alt. Deserontyon, (Odeserundiye) UE (c1740's - 1811) was a prominent Mohawk war chief during the American Revolutionary War. He was born in the 1740s, most likely in the Mohawk valley. He was educated in a white school and had acculturated to their customs. In 1759, during the French and Indian War, he was at the Battle of Fort Niagara, and the following year he was at the Battle of Quebec. In the summer of 1764, he accompanied John Bradstreet when he went to Fort Detroit at the end of Pontiac's Rebellion. He lived at Fort Hunter where he owned a handsome house and 82 acres (330,000 m) of rich flat land. He had a wagon, plough, harrow, and ten beaver traps. When the American Revolution started he was a chief of the Mohawks at Fort Hunter, during this war he sided with the British and the Johnson family. He accompanied Guy Johnson when he left for Canada in the summer of 1775. Deseronto went back to the Mohawk valley the following year and met with Sir John... less