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For other men with the same name, see John Johnson (disambiguation).

Sir John Johnson, 2nd Baronet (5 November 1741 – 4 January 1830) was a loyalist leader during the American Revolution. He was the son of the Superintendent of Indian Affairs Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet, who had promoted the British settlement of the Mohawk Valley and founded the community of Johnstown in Tryon County in the Province of New York.

Sir John Johnson

In 1774, John Johnson inherited his father's title and estates, making him a wealthy landowner. When the American Revolutionary War erupted in 1775, Sir John's loyalty to the King cost him his home in Johnstown and extensive property in the Mohawk Valley.

In January, 1776 Johnson had gathered several hundred armed supporters around him at Johnston. He sent a letter to Governor Tryon, through Captain John McDonell, that that he and his Tory neighbors had conferred about raising a battalion in the British cause. He also said that he could also raise five hundred Indians which when used with his regular troops could retake all of the forts. On January 20, 1776, General Schuyler with a force of Continental troops and the Tryon County militia numbering around 3,000 disarmed Johnson and about 300 of his loyal supporters. Sir John was placed on his parole of honor.

When Johnson later heard of another force being sent to arrest him in May, 1776 he fled to Canada. He led a group of 170 of his tenants and allies among the Iroquois Confederacy to Montreal, Quebec. He and his followers formed the core of the British military regiment known as the King's Royal Regiment of New York, which saw substantial action under his command throughout the war. Johnson was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in 1782. On March 14, 1782 he received the appointment of Superintendent General and Inspector General of Indian affairs. His authority extended over all northern Indians allied with the crown.

In 1783 when the Treaty of Paris was signed, establishing the independence of the American Colonies, Johnson and thousands of other loyalists found themselves in permanent exile in Canada. In 1784, Johnson was assigned by the British government to distribute crown lands along the St. Lawrence River and the north shore of Lake Ontario to the loyalists who had come to Canada during the Revolution and to help them settle on these lands. Johnson estimated that he had arranged the settlement of 3,776 loyalists during that year. In 1796, he moved back to Montreal and served in the Legislative Council of Lower Canada and as head of the Indian Department for Lower Canada. He held extensive land holdings in Upper and Lower Canada, including the seigneuries of Monnoir and Argenteuil.

Johnson married Mary Watts (daughter of John Watts of New York) on 30 June 1773 and the couple had eight sons, all of whom served in the British army and navy, and three daughters. He died in Montreal in 1830 and was succeeded by his eldest son, William. His last surviving child, an unmarried daughter, died in London on 1 January 1868.

Sir John Johnson who assumed office in 1771, was the last Provincial Grand Masters of Masons in the colonies of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

The Sir John Johnson House in Williamstown was declared a Canadian National Historic Site.

• "White Savage: William Johnson and the Invention of America", Fintan O'Toole, 2005.
• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• The Mohawk Valley During the Revolution, by Harold Frederic, 1877
• Sir John Johnson Burial vault (for reference only)
• The Chancellor Robert R Livingston Masonic Library of New York: The History of the Grand Lodge of New York
• This page incorporates information from Leigh Rayment's Baronetage Page.