The area of New York between the Hudson River at Albany and the Great Lake Erie was home to the Iroquois nation. The five (later six) Nations consisted of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, and Cayuga tribes. Their form of government among the tribes became a model for the structure of the thirteen original United States. (For more information, see: American Journey.)
William Johnson became fascinated by his "neighbors" and grew to respect their character and customs. Because he always dealt fairly and respectfully with them, the Indians grew to trust Johnson. He assumed their dress and learned their language. He took an Indian woman as his wife, and was made a sachem (chief) of the Mohawk tribe.
Holding the rank of Major General in the British militia, Johnson was active in the border warfare against the French who held much of Canada and who also had a long relationship with the Iroquois. In 1748, he was given command of all the New York colonial militia. In 1755, he was appointed "Sole Superintendent of the Affairs of the Six United Nations, their Allies and Dependents" which post he held until his death in 1774. (By this time, the Tuscarora tribe had joined the original five Nations). William Johnson was knighted for his service in the French and Indian War and given 100,000 acres of land in the Mohawk Valley.
It was through Johnson's constant efforts and persistent lobbying that the post of Indian Superintendent was created. The British government and the individual colonial governments were more inclined to decentralize control of the local native populations in their midst, but Johnson realized that a single authority would have better success administering justly and consistently to such a widely dispersed and diverse Indian nation from northern New England to Virginia. Almost entirely due to his personal integrity and character, the Iroquois turned their loyalty from the French to the British. This would be their undoing, during the American Revolution.
