Bill Johnston (pirate)
Encyclopedia
Pirate Bill Johnston was a Thousand Islands
smuggler, river pirate
, and War of 1812
American privateer
. He so annoyed the British in the 19th-century Canadian colonies that they called out the army every time his name made the newspapers. He was the man the British most wanted to hang. They spent a fortune hunting him and preparing defenses against him.
(now Ontario
).
As a boy, he helped carve a farm out of the primal forest west of present day Kingston. At 16, he apprenticed to a local blacksmith and stayed for six years. At 22, he became a potash
manufacturer, making use of the plentiful supply of ashes from burned forests. By 24, he captained his own schooner
on eastern Lake Ontario
. While he often carried legitimate cargo, he just as often smuggled tea and rum
.
He married an America, Ann Randolph, in 1807 or early 1808 and began raising a family on his farm west of Kingston, Ontario
. After five years of smuggling, Bill amassed enough profit to buy a Kingston store valued at an estimated $12,000—a small fortune in that era. By 1812, at 30, he was a prosperous merchant and on his way to becoming a pillar of Upper Canada society.
began with American attacks on Britain's colonies in Canada. In May 1813, the Kingston military commander ordered Bill Johnston arrested, allegedly for spying. Johnston escaped and paddled to Sackets Harbor, NY, in a canoe. The British confiscated all his property. He vowed undying revenge on the British and pledged himself to the American commander of the US fleet in Lake Ontario.
For two years, Bill Johnston made war in the Thousand Islands in a gig—a fast, light rowboat—powered by six oarsmen that gave them a distinct advantage. It was faster and more able to slip through narrow channels than larger boats. If trapped, Johnston's men could easily carry the boat across an island to escape.
Through the warm months of 1813 and 1814, he spied on the British, attacked their supply boats, robbed mail couriers, burned ships, and participated in battles at Sackets Harbor, New York, and Crysler's Farm
, Upper Canada.
After the war, Bill and his growing family lived briefly in several upstate New York towns. They settled in Clayton
in 1834. He established a waterfront shop and continued smuggling tea and rum to Canada. Ironically, the US revenue service paid him to spy on Canadian smugglers coming into the US.
. His force defeated, Mackenzie fled to Buffalo, New York
, and recruited an army of American sympathizers and Canadian refugees known as the Patriots. They fortified Navy Island
in the Niagara River
. One night, a band of British soldiers crossed the icy river and destroyed Mackenzie's supply ship, the Caroline
, and killed an American sailor.
The Caroline
raid enraged Johnston. He left his peaceful life and joined the Patriot War
. Mackenzie appointed him admiral of the eastern navy (there was no navy).
In 1838, rebel armies based in the US, calling themselves either Patriots or Hunters, attacked Canada at least seven times. Johnston helped plan an attack on Upper Canada near Detroit led by Patriot General Donald McLeod
in February 1838. The same month, he organized an attack on Kingston and temporarily occupied a Canadian island. (He aborted the invasion because the British learned of his plans.)
In November 1838, a force of 186 American freedom fighters occupied a small village in Canada across from Ogdensburg, NY. Later known as the Battle of the Windmill
, they held off a superior British force for five days before surrendering. Johnston ferried supplies to the Canadian shore and helped refloat two rebel schooners that ran aground on mud flats the first day of the battle.
Note: Some historians say Johnston was the skipper on one of the rebel schooners. None of the written accounts by participants support that notion.
Following a plan Johnston hatched with McLeod, they and twenty others, mostly Canadians, set out to capture the passenger steamer, the Sir Robert Peel. They intended to use the Peel to transport rebel troops.
Shortly after midnight, the Peel docked at Wellesley Island
to load firewood for its boilers. Johnston's men landed 500 yards downstream and set out through the woods towards the Peel. Nine men got lost in the dark. Undeterred, Johnston, McLeod and 11 others attacked the ship.
They had hustled the 80 passengers and crew at gunpoint to the wharf. Johnston ordered the ship untied and it drifted downstream. Rebel leaders had promised to send men to help run the ship. They failed to show up.
Since none of Johnston's men could restart the boilers, he ordered them to loot the ship and burn it. With cries of "Remember the Caroline," they set it aflame and retreated in their boats.
American authorities soon arrested 11 of Johnston's pirate crew. A sympathetic jury acquitted the first man put on trial. The remaining prisoners were released for fear of the same result.
Johnston remained at large and even issued a proclamation of war against Britain in which he admitted destroying the Peel.
The British and American forces each sent a small armada and army into the islands searching for Johnston. For a brief time, the US allowed British vessels to search for Johnston in American waters, much to the chagrin of many New York citizens.
Johnston knew every cave and secret glen in the archipelago. His children, especially his daughter Kate, smuggled him supplies throughout that summer. Despite months of effort and probably millions of dollars in costs, both sides failed to find him and reduced their forces.
Johnston surrendered to US authorities shortly after the Battle of the Windmill. He claims he was tired of running. Johnston faced numerous charges for his rebel activities and the Peel raid. In many cases, juries refused to convict him. When he was jailed, he escaped when the mood struck him.
Nineteenth-century parents living near the Thousand Islands raised children on apocryphal tales of Pirate Bill Johnston, a pistol-packing bogeyman who stalked into people's rooms while they slept. Mothers warned naughty boys he would come for them unless they behaved. In contrast to his reputation, Bill was never the accused cutthroat that people though he was. There is no evidence he killed anyone outside of the War of 1812.
Thousand Islands
The Thousand Islands is the name of an archipelago of islands that straddle the Canada-U.S. border in the Saint Lawrence River as it emerges from the northeast corner of Lake Ontario. They stretch for about downstream from Kingston, Ontario. The Canadian islands are in the province of Ontario, the...
smuggler, river pirate
Piracy
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence at sea. The term can include acts committed on land, in the air, or in other major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally include crimes committed against persons traveling on the same vessel as the perpetrator...
, and War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
American privateer
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
. He so annoyed the British in the 19th-century Canadian colonies that they called out the army every time his name made the newspapers. He was the man the British most wanted to hang. They spent a fortune hunting him and preparing defenses against him.
Early years
Bill Johnston spent his first 30 years as a loyal British subject. He was one of a dozen children born to British Loyalists parents who fled the American Revolution in 1781 to become pioneers in Upper CanadaUpper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...
(now Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
).
As a boy, he helped carve a farm out of the primal forest west of present day Kingston. At 16, he apprenticed to a local blacksmith and stayed for six years. At 22, he became a potash
Potash
Potash is the common name for various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form. In some rare cases, potash can be formed with traces of organic materials such as plant remains, and this was the major historical source for it before the industrial era...
manufacturer, making use of the plentiful supply of ashes from burned forests. By 24, he captained his own schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
on eastern Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south by the American state of New York. Ontario, Canada's most populous province, was named for the lake. In the Wyandot language, ontarío means...
. While he often carried legitimate cargo, he just as often smuggled tea and rum
Rum
Rum is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from sugarcane by-products such as molasses, or directly from sugarcane juice, by a process of fermentation and distillation. The distillate, a clear liquid, is then usually aged in oak barrels...
.
He married an America, Ann Randolph, in 1807 or early 1808 and began raising a family on his farm west of Kingston, Ontario
Kingston, Ontario
Kingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in Eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Originally a First Nations settlement called "Katarowki," , growing European exploration in the 17th Century made it an important trading post...
. After five years of smuggling, Bill amassed enough profit to buy a Kingston store valued at an estimated $12,000—a small fortune in that era. By 1812, at 30, he was a prosperous merchant and on his way to becoming a pillar of Upper Canada society.
Johnston in the War of 1812
The War of 1812War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
began with American attacks on Britain's colonies in Canada. In May 1813, the Kingston military commander ordered Bill Johnston arrested, allegedly for spying. Johnston escaped and paddled to Sackets Harbor, NY, in a canoe. The British confiscated all his property. He vowed undying revenge on the British and pledged himself to the American commander of the US fleet in Lake Ontario.
For two years, Bill Johnston made war in the Thousand Islands in a gig—a fast, light rowboat—powered by six oarsmen that gave them a distinct advantage. It was faster and more able to slip through narrow channels than larger boats. If trapped, Johnston's men could easily carry the boat across an island to escape.
Through the warm months of 1813 and 1814, he spied on the British, attacked their supply boats, robbed mail couriers, burned ships, and participated in battles at Sackets Harbor, New York, and Crysler's Farm
Battle of Crysler's Farm
The Battle of Crysler's Farm, also known as the Battle of Crysler's Field, was fought on 11 November 1813, during the Anglo-American War of 1812. A British and Canadian force won a victory over an American force which greatly outnumbered them...
, Upper Canada.
After the war, Bill and his growing family lived briefly in several upstate New York towns. They settled in Clayton
Clayton (town), New York
Clayton is a town in Jefferson County, New York, USA. The population was 5,153 at the 2010 census. The town is named after John M. Clayton, a federal political leader from Delaware.The Town of Clayton contains a village named Clayton...
in 1834. He established a waterfront shop and continued smuggling tea and rum to Canada. Ironically, the US revenue service paid him to spy on Canadian smugglers coming into the US.
Johnston joins the Patriots
In early December, 1837, a small band of rebels in Upper Canada attacked Toronto, led by its former mayor, William Lyon MackenzieWilliam Lyon Mackenzie
William Lyon Mackenzie was a Scottish born American and Canadian journalist, politician, and rebellion leader. He served as the first mayor of Toronto, Upper Canada and was an important leader during the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion.-Background and early years in Scotland, 1795–1820:Mackenzie was...
. His force defeated, Mackenzie fled to Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
, and recruited an army of American sympathizers and Canadian refugees known as the Patriots. They fortified Navy Island
Navy Island
Navy Island is a small island in the Niagara River in the province of Ontario, managed by Parks Canada as a National Historic Site of Canada. It is located about upstream from Horseshoe Falls, and has an area of roughly...
in the Niagara River
Niagara River
The Niagara River flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the Province of Ontario in Canada and New York State in the United States. There are differing theories as to the origin of the name of the river...
. One night, a band of British soldiers crossed the icy river and destroyed Mackenzie's supply ship, the Caroline
Caroline affair
The Caroline affair was a series of events beginning in 1837 that strained relations between the United States and Britain....
, and killed an American sailor.
The Caroline
Caroline affair
The Caroline affair was a series of events beginning in 1837 that strained relations between the United States and Britain....
raid enraged Johnston. He left his peaceful life and joined the Patriot War
Patriot War
The Battle of Windsor was a short-lived campaign in the eastern Michigan area of the United States and the Windsor area of Upper Canada. A group of men on both sides of the border, calling themselves "Patriots", formed small militias in 1837 with the intention of seizing the Southern Ontario...
. Mackenzie appointed him admiral of the eastern navy (there was no navy).
In 1838, rebel armies based in the US, calling themselves either Patriots or Hunters, attacked Canada at least seven times. Johnston helped plan an attack on Upper Canada near Detroit led by Patriot General Donald McLeod
Donald McLeod
Donald McLeod was an Australian politician. Born in Strathmerton, Victoria, he received a primary education before serving in the military 1914-18. He returned as a soldier settler to Gringegalgona. In 1940, he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as the Labor member for Wannon...
in February 1838. The same month, he organized an attack on Kingston and temporarily occupied a Canadian island. (He aborted the invasion because the British learned of his plans.)
In November 1838, a force of 186 American freedom fighters occupied a small village in Canada across from Ogdensburg, NY. Later known as the Battle of the Windmill
Battle of the Windmill
The Battle of the Windmill was a battle fought in November 1838 in the aftermath of the Upper Canada Rebellion. Loyalist forces of the Upper Canadian government defeated an invasion attempt by Hunter Patriot insurgents based in the United States.-Background:...
, they held off a superior British force for five days before surrendering. Johnston ferried supplies to the Canadian shore and helped refloat two rebel schooners that ran aground on mud flats the first day of the battle.
Note: Some historians say Johnston was the skipper on one of the rebel schooners. None of the written accounts by participants support that notion.
Destruction of the Sir Robert Peel
Bill Johnston's signature event—the one that earned him his pirate moniker—occurred early on the morning of May 30, 1838.Following a plan Johnston hatched with McLeod, they and twenty others, mostly Canadians, set out to capture the passenger steamer, the Sir Robert Peel. They intended to use the Peel to transport rebel troops.
Shortly after midnight, the Peel docked at Wellesley Island
Wellesley Island
Wellesley Island in Jefferson County, New York, USA is partially in the Town of Orleans and partially in the Town of Alexandria.-Geography:...
to load firewood for its boilers. Johnston's men landed 500 yards downstream and set out through the woods towards the Peel. Nine men got lost in the dark. Undeterred, Johnston, McLeod and 11 others attacked the ship.
They had hustled the 80 passengers and crew at gunpoint to the wharf. Johnston ordered the ship untied and it drifted downstream. Rebel leaders had promised to send men to help run the ship. They failed to show up.
Since none of Johnston's men could restart the boilers, he ordered them to loot the ship and burn it. With cries of "Remember the Caroline," they set it aflame and retreated in their boats.
American authorities soon arrested 11 of Johnston's pirate crew. A sympathetic jury acquitted the first man put on trial. The remaining prisoners were released for fear of the same result.
Johnston remained at large and even issued a proclamation of war against Britain in which he admitted destroying the Peel.
The British and American forces each sent a small armada and army into the islands searching for Johnston. For a brief time, the US allowed British vessels to search for Johnston in American waters, much to the chagrin of many New York citizens.
Johnston knew every cave and secret glen in the archipelago. His children, especially his daughter Kate, smuggled him supplies throughout that summer. Despite months of effort and probably millions of dollars in costs, both sides failed to find him and reduced their forces.
Johnston surrendered to US authorities shortly after the Battle of the Windmill. He claims he was tired of running. Johnston faced numerous charges for his rebel activities and the Peel raid. In many cases, juries refused to convict him. When he was jailed, he escaped when the mood struck him.
Later years
Johnston spent his later years as a smuggler, tavern owner, and lighthouse keeper. He spent his last years in Clayton living in his son Samuel's hotel, the Walton House.Nineteenth-century parents living near the Thousand Islands raised children on apocryphal tales of Pirate Bill Johnston, a pistol-packing bogeyman who stalked into people's rooms while they slept. Mothers warned naughty boys he would come for them unless they behaved. In contrast to his reputation, Bill was never the accused cutthroat that people though he was. There is no evidence he killed anyone outside of the War of 1812.
Further reading
- Pirates of the Thousand Islands, a biography of Bill Johnston by John Northman. Published in 120 installments in the Watertown Daily Times, 1938 and 1939
- Canada As It Was, Is and Will Be by Sir Richard Bonnycastle, Colburn and Co., London, 1852
External links
- Northern New York In The Patriot War, 1923, by L. N. Fuller