Fort Hunter

Variant name of place

Lower Mohawk Castle; the Castle

Geographic position

42.9423° N, 74.2851° W

Sources

http://www.iroquoismuseum.org/mohawk.htm. http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/na/forthunter.html#spg. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nytryon/forthunter.html. Snow, Dean R. “Searching for Hendrick: Correction of a Historic Conflation.” New York History 88.3 (2007): 229-253. Web.

General note

Located in Montgomery County, and named after Governor Hunter of New York, Fort Hunter refers to the land located where the Mohawk River and the Schoharie Creek converge in Old Albany County, New York, as well as to the fort built on that land. Fort Hunter was also referred to as the Lower Mohawk Castle, while Upper Mohawk Castle referred to another Mohawk village located near present day Danube, New York. The Mohawk people, who originally occupied this land, referred to the village as Tionondoroge (also spelled Thienderego, Teantontalago, Tiononderoga, Tienonderoga, and Icanderoga). In 1686, the city charter gave Albany the right to the land that would comprise Fort Hunter. According to a European account, "Four Mohawk Kings," including Hendrick Peters Tejonihokarawa who hailed from the Fort Hunter area, met with Queen Anne in 1710 to request protection from the French and aid for the Anglican missionaries; she complied in 1711 and authorized the building of the actual fort. The following year, Anglican clerics, who were funded by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in England, built a mission on the land. Because the Mohawk tribe fought with the British against the American colonists, most Mohawks from Fort Hunter fled to Montreal after the American Revolution.