Marinus Willett - American Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War

On June 28, 1775, he joined the Continental Army with a commission of captain in the 1st New York Regiment, commanded by Alexander McDougall. Six weeks later the regiment took part in Richard Montgomery's Invasion of Canada (1775) and in December the Battle of Quebec (1775). In January, 1776 the enlistments in the regiment expired and the men started home. Willett arrived in New York City in March. In the defence of New York City later that year Willett lost a captain's commission in the 4th New York Regiment and participated as a militiaman.

In November, 1776 to has made Lieutenant Colonel of the 3rd New York Regiment which was commanded by Peter Gansevoort. He spent the winter recruiting. In March, 1777 he was given command of Fort Constitution in the New York Highlands. From this fort he engaged in a success attack on one hundred British soldiers burning a house. The fort was abandoned when other nearby forts fell. In May, he was transferred to Fort Stanwix to join the rest of his regiment, where he was second in command.

On August 6, 1777, during the Battle of Oriskany he led a sortie for the fort which plundered the nearly Indian and Sir John Johnson's Tories camp. His force suffered no casualties. He was presented with a sword from the Continental Congress for this exploit. After the American defeat at Oriskany, he and another officer slipped through British lines down the Mohawk to Fort Dayton for help. They only took spontoons as weapons and whiskey, cheese, and crackers for food. At Fort Dayton he learned that Major General Schuyler had already dispatched a second relief force under the command of Benedict Arnold. Willett proceeded to Albany where he meet with Arnold and then returned to Fort Dayton with Arnold's army.

On August 20, Willett presided as a judge of Walter Butler who had been captured and was being tried as a spy. Butler was found guilty and sentenced to death. Butler was sent to Albany to await execution. In September, he left to visit his wife. While the 3rd New York Regiment was idle spending the winter at Fort Stanwix, virtually all the officers petitioned to be transferred to the main army. Gansevoort gave Willett leave to visit George Washington in Philadelphia and the forts in Connecticut. In June, 1778 he was given leave to join Washington's' Main Army. He served as an aide to General Charles Scott and took part in the Battle of Monmouth. On March 15, 1779, he was given command of a new militia regiment, a position he neither accepted nor declined. He was second in command of the attack on Onondaga in April, 1779.

In the summer of 1779, he was with the 3rd New York Regiment as it took part in the Sullivan Campaign. Afterwards it was for a short time stationed in the New York Highlands before joining the main army at Morristown. In January, he took part in a raid on Staten Island. This raid appears to be a separate raid from that conducted by Lord Stirling.

In early 1780, he was given command of the 5th New York Regiment a regiment that was severely understrength because of battles in the New York Highlands. In September, he was one of three officers of the New York Line who presented their grievances to the New York legislator. The men had not been paid since January and they asked for compensation in the form of land. He was made a full colonel of the regiment on December 22, 1779. On January 1, 1781 the number of New York regiments was reduced to two and Willett lost his command. He went home to his wife in Danbury.

In April, 1781, he was made a colonel of the militia and given responsibility for the defence of the Mohawk Valley. Although the Tryon County militia was nominally 1,100 men, he did not believe that more than five hundred would turn out. His headquarters were at Fort Plain. He had about four hundred men which he split between Saratoga, Ballston, German Flatts, Canajoharie, Fort Hunter, Catskill, Johnstown, and Schoharie. By this time Fort Stanwix had been abandoned. Willett wrote of the militia that "I don't think I shall give a very wild account if I say, that one third have been killed, or carried captive by the enemy; one third removed to the interior places of the country; and one third deserted to the enemy"

In July 1781, he led the militia in the Battle of Sharon Springs where he ambushed a force of Indians and Loyalists under the command of John Doxtader. In October, he led the militia against a mixed force under the command of Major John Ross at the Battle of Johnstown. Afterwards, the Americans marched to German Flatts as their scouts tracked the retreating force, which had been reduced to eating its horses. A forced march through a heavy snowstorm brought Willet's force within two miles of the Loyalist camp by nightfall of October 29, but he eschewed a night attack in the storm. Attacking the next morning, he found that the Loyalists had already broken camp. Captain Walter Butler was killed in the pursuit but the Loyalist force dispersed in the forest.

In late 1781, several companies of New Hampshire troops were added to his command. In February, 1783, George Washington directed him to capture Fort Ontario, but Willet's force gave up the attempt when the possibility of surprise was lost.

Washington visited the Mohawk valley in 1783 and he instructed Willett to improve the roads and waterway to Lake Oneida. In October, Willett's troops went home after being disbanded without ceremony.