To his subordinates, he was a generous and liberal superior. When appointed to take command of the expedition in question, and while negotiating with the authorities of New Hampshire and Massachusetts for the appointment of white officers for the Indian troops, he insisted that as the service would be very severe, they must receive the same compensation as the officers in the regular service, and required what he called “solid satisfaction” instead of a verbal agreement as a guarantee for the payment of the same. He was surrounded on his estate by many of his own countrymen, and lived in the same style, so far as it could be done, as those of his rank did in Ireland. It is fair to presume that the Gaelic tongue was not unknown in his family, for one of his daughters was alluded to as “Sheilia,” and Sir Guy Johnson, his nephew and successor, was credited with being the possessor of a “genuine rich Irish brogue.” His son John succeeded to his estate and title. As in the case of Colonel Dongan, Great Britain did not possess on the American continent a more loyal or devoted subject or a more faithful officer than it had in Sir William Johnson, and both, as the records show, in blood were Irish of the Irish. It was not his fortune to live when the struggle began between the colonies and Great Britain for he died on June 24, 1774. On Dec. 14, 1774, barely six months from the death of Johnson, the first rumble of the guns of the Revolution was heard. On that date an armed body of determined men, led by Major John Sullivan and Capt. John Langdon, stormed Fort William and Mary, at Newcastle, near Portsmouth, N. H. The garrison was captured, the munitions of war taken, and in broad daylight, the British flag was hauled down, and, so far as New Hampshire was concerned, remained down forever. This was the first overt act against the Royal government in the thirteen colonies. It was four months before the conflict at Concord and Lexington, and six months before the battle of Bunker Hill.