Adirondack Memories: Sir John Johnson’s Cannons – Jon Kopp

 They ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles

And they ran through the bushes where a rabbit couldn't go

They ran so fast that the Colonel couldn't catch 'em

On down the Grasse River, to the valley down below.

 A few weeks ago I learned about a photo postcard on E-Bay that may have historical significance to Tupper Lake. It was a picture of a cannon that sat on top of an old pine stump in the middle of an Adirondack forest. The postcard was sent from the Moody Post Office to a Mr. E. G. Moore in New York City. Was this a photo of one of the cannons left behind by Sir John Johnson on his mad rush to Montreal?

Some of you have heard the story, but to refresh your memory, in 1776 a party of some 300 Tories and Indians, led by the Sir John Johnson, traversed the Adirondack wilderness and passed within two miles of the upper end of Tupper Lake along the old military road (long gone now).

Johnson was a loyal Tory and learned that was going to be arrested for conspiring with the British against the colonist who declared there independence from Great Britain.

His only recourse was to escape to the safe haven of Montreal, Canada. He made his way from Johnstown to the Sacandaga River, then over to Lake Pleasant, and then through the Fulton Chain to Raquette Lake. Records of that time indicate that the party discarded their snowshoes at Raquette Lake on account of spring thaw. From there they took the Raquette River to Long Lake.

At the extreme end of Long Lake, the spring thaw must have weighed heavy upon them. The cannons were slowing the pace of escape. Near an opening of the forest called Anthony’s clearing they decided to spike the cannons to prevent their use and abandoned them to the forest where they laid for the next 120 years.

In the 1850s a man named Bowen built a rough cabin on the pine ridge at the west side of the outlet of Long Lake. The Old Military Road passed near his house, and could be easily traced in his day. He often followed it, and spoke of seeing the abandoned English cannon that lay near it. So did other guides like Mitchell Sabbatis and son Joe, Joseph Gokey, Alfred Lappel, Ed Sabourin and James Derwood.

The two cannons were apparently abandoned in separate locations on their way to Tupper Lake. One was described in 1905 as lying in Anthony Ponds Clearing south of Tupper Lake and also south of the "Old Military Road". One weighed 1,300 pounds and is five feet long; the other weighed 700 pounds and is 54 inches long. They became the properly of John Edward Barbour who had them removed to his summer camp on Follensby Pond. In October, 1937 the cannons were donated to the Johnstown Historical Society.

So what of the Cannon in the photo? Where was the picture taken? According to past articles the cannon barrels were found to be sunk deeply into the ground so just the top part was showing. The photo reveals the cannon propped up on an old pine stump, seemingly notched to fit and probably laid to rest after the move. At the time of the photo the land around Follensby Pond belonged to the Meigs. The Barbours acquired the tract about ten years laters.

The postcard is what’s called an undivided back and was mailed in 1906 from the Moody post office. That would suggest that the cannons were moved from Anthony’s Clearing to the Meigs Camp sometime between1905-06.

To add a little more interest to this story, soon after this article appeared in the Tupper Lake Free Press, Tom Lake, the long time caretaker to Follensby Park, told me of two old cannonballs that were in the boathouse for years. They were both of different size. After reading the article he learned that the two cannons found were of different size, clearing up the mystery he had pondered for years.

Photo postcards became the rage in the early 1900s and it was not unusual to have a photo taken to personalize your “private mailing card” Most likely, the card mailed to E. G. Moore in New York City was sent by a Meig. The only text on the postcard was “Well, How’s the world treating you”. The photo says so much more, all about a trip in 1776.

We took a little bacon and we took a little beans,

Dragging iron cannons through wilderness ravines

In the end we made it through the mud and forest tall

And we met the bloody British in the town of Montreal