Colonel Johnson Harmon (or Harman; c. 1675 – 1751) was an army officer in colonial America. He led the expedition during

Father Rale's War Dummer's War (1722–1725) is also known as Father Rale's War, Lovewell's War, Greylock's War, the Three Years War, the Wabanaki-New England War, or the Fourth Anglo-Abenaki War. It was a series of battles between the New England Colonies and the ...

that killed Father

Sébastien Rale Sébastien Rale (also Racle, Râle, Rasle, Rasles and Sebastian Rale (January 20, 1657 – August 23, 1724) was a French Jesuit missionary and lexicographer who preached amongst the Abenaki and encouraged their resistance to British coloniza ...

in the

Battle of Norridgewock The Battle of Norridgewock was a raid on the Abenaki settlement of Norridgewock by a group of colonial militiamen from the New England Colonies. Occurring in contested lands on the edge of the American frontier, the raid resulted in a massacre of ...

. Harmon was heralded as a hero upon his return to Boston. New England Officer and historian Samuel Penahallow proclaimed the attack was "the greatest victory we have obtained in the three or four last wars."

Career

Harmon was from York and was a teenager during the

Raid on York (1692) The Raid on York (also known as the Candlemas Massacre) took place on 24 January 1692 during King William's War, when Chief Madockawando and Father Louis-Pierre Thury led 200-300 natives into the town of York (then in the District of Maine and ...

during King Williams War. During

Queen Anne's War Queen Anne's War (1702–1713) was the second in a series of French and Indian Wars fought in North America involving the colonial empires of Great Britain, France, and Spain; it took place during the reign of Anne, Queen of Great Britain. In E ...

, in 1707 he was present, with his younger brother John, at Winter Harbour (

Biddeford, Maine Biddeford is a city in York County, Maine, United States. It is the principal commercial center of York County. Its population was 22,552 at the 2020 census. The twin cities of Saco and Biddeford include the resort communities of Biddeford Po ...

) he helped repulse the attack of natives in 50 canoes. In this battle Benjamin Donnell was killed by Indians. On 10 October 1710 Bomazeen with 60–70 Indians attacked the village of Winter Harbour, killing 3-4 and taking many more prisoner, including Harmon. (Harmon was part of the expedition that killed Bomazeen, upon their return from the

.) He was released from captivity at

Chambly, Quebec Chambly is an off-island suburb of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is located in the Montérégie region, inland from the South Shore of the Saint Lawrence River. It was formed from the merger in 1965 of Fort-Chambly (formerly Chambl ...

on 22 May 1711 in exchange for Beauvenire de Vercheres who was taken in the Raid on Haverhill (1708). In 1716, Harmon was considered for the position of messenger for the Indians. A year prior to the Battle of Norridgewolk, the

Abenaki The Abenaki ( Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was pre ...

Indians made a failed attempt to assassinate Harmon. Harmon was the brother-in-law of the second-in-command of the expedition to Norridgewock, Col.

Jeremiah Moulton Jeremiah Moulton (b. York, Massachusetts (now in York, Maine), 1688, d. York, 20 July 1765) was a New England militia officer and member of the Massachusetts Council. As a boy, during King William's War, Moulton's parents were killed and he was ta ...

. He was the father-in-law of the soldier that killed Rale, Richard Jacques. Harmon was representative to the

Massachusetts General Court The Massachusetts General Court (formally styled the General Court of Massachusetts) is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, ...

(1727).Harmon Gaenology, p. 140
/ref> At age 70, Harmon applied to fight in the

Siege of Louisbourg (1745) The siege of Louisbourg took place in 1745 when a New England colonial force aided by a British fleet captured Louisbourg, the capital of the French province of Île-Royale (present-day Cape Breton Island) during the War of the Austrian S ...

. While Harmon did not fight in the Siege, Moulton and Jacques did.

References

External links

Harmon's Snowshoemen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harmon, Johnson 1670s births 1751 deaths History of Maine People in Father Rale's War People from York County, Maine British America army officers