John Deseronto

 ( British Army Personnel Of The American Revolutionary War ) 

In July 1777, Deseronto was the leader of a Mohawk party that assessed the defences of Fort Stanwix. On 14 July, they surprised and attacked Ensign John Spoor's work detail as it was outside the fort cutting sod. Deseronto passed the information that the fort was strongly garrisoned back to Daniel Claus. Barry St. Leger decided to proceed without adequate artillery. Deseronto took part the Battle of Oriskany and the siege of the fort. After St. Leger had retreated, Deseronto stayed behind to enjoy a meal at the British commander's table. A scouting party from the fort found Deseronto in St. Leger's tent and shot him with buck and ball in the left arm and breast.Watt, pg. 253 Deseronto was seriously wounded and almost lost his arm.

He continued to Fort Hunter, where he set about preparing the village for a mass departure. On 4 September, he arrived at General John Burgoyne's camp with the Fort Hunter families and several prominent loyalists, totaling about 150 persons. The villagers had abandoned their homes after hearing about the sacking of the Mohawk Canajoharie by rebel patriots. Deseronto's party had to fight through a 40-man scouting party,Brown, pg. 104 consisting of soldiers from the New Hampshire Continental regiments, to reach Burgoyne's camp. They reported killing seven of the Americans, brought in four scalps, and Deseronto was freshly wounded.Watt, pg. 274 The American rolls showed five killed and three missing for several days as confirmed by their being accounted for on later rolls. The Fort Hunter Mohawks settled at La Chine, near Montreal, and were supplied by the British in exchange for the war service.

In 1779 Deseronto led two scouting parties up the Richelieu River. In 1780, he took part in Sir John Johnson's raid on the Mohawk valley and he was at the Battle of Klock's Field. In 1781 he led multiple raids into the Mohawk valley destroying mills and cattle and taking prisoners. In the spring of 1782, Deseronto and Captain Isaac Hill destroyed the mill at Little Falls on the Mohawk and took some prisoners.Graymont, pg. 254

The Canadian government acceded to Joseph Brant's desire and arranged for the Mohawk of the Upper Castle to settle at the Grand River, at what became known as the Six Nations Reserve.

In 1797, Deseronto and Joseph Brant went to New York to meet with state leaders. In exchange for a small sum, they agreed to extinguish Mohawk land claims within New York. This treaty was never ratified by Congress, and later land claims by Native American nations were based on the state's lack of constitutional authority to conduct such land negotiations and agreements with Native Americans. It was reserved to the federal government.

Deseronto died 7 January 1811 at the Mohawk settlement on the Bay of Quinte in Upper Canada.

• The town of Deseronto, Ontario is named in his honour. It was developed after his grandson John Culbertson inherited Deseronto's personal land grant. He received title from the government and started to sell off village tracts to encourage development. In 1995, the townsite was part of what was called the Culbertson Tract land claim, which the government agreed to negotiate in 2003. In 2013, the case was still unresolved.

• Barbara Graymont (1972). 9780815600831, Syracuse University Press. . ISBN 9780815600831
• Watt, Gavin, The Burning of the Valleys, 1997,
• Watt, Gavin, Rebellion in the Mohawk Valley, 2002,