Hon Yost Schuyler

Who was Hon Yost Schuyler?

Johannes Justus Schuyler was a Tory with patriot roots, who was used by American General Benedict Arnold to repel the British and Indian forces of Colonel Barry St. Leger and Joseph Brant from their siege of Fort Stanwix following the Battle of Oriskany during the American Revolution.

He was the son of Peter D. Schuyler and Elisabeth Barbara Herkimer. His mother was the sister of American General Nicholas Herkimer, and Hon Yost claimed that his father was a cousin of American General Philip Schuyler. Hon Yost grew up in the Mohawk Valley in the Colony of New York, prior to the American Revolution. Hon Yost's parents were poor and apparently he socialized more with the Mohawks than with the white patriots of the area. He has been variously described as dim-witted, coarse and ignorant, a half idiot, a madman, and a lunatic, but also as possessing "no small degree of shrewdness." Whatever the traits of this "singular being", the Mohawks saw him as special — perhaps as a prophet in contact with the supernatural. Hon-Yost tended to dress the part, adopting Iroquois manners as well as clothing. Tory leaders are said to have used his influence with the Mohawks to help maintain their support in defeating the revolutionary Americans.