John Leonard Hardenbergh

author

John Leonard Hardenbergh

1748–1806

A Revolutionary War officer and diarist, he left one of the firsthand accounts of the 1779 Sullivan campaign in New York. His journal has helped preserve the day-to-day experience of soldiers in the Continental Army.

1 Audiobook

The Journal of Lieut. John L. Hardenbergh of the Second New York Continental Regiment from May 1 to October 3, 1779, in General Sullivan's Campaign Against the Western Indians With an Introduction, Copious Historical Notes, and Maps of the Battle-field of Newtown and Groveland Ambuscade

The Journal of Lieut. John L. Hardenbergh of the Second New York Continental Regiment from May 1 to October 3, 1779, in General Sullivan's Campaign Against the Western Indians With an Introduction, Copious Historical Notes, and Maps of the Battle-field of Newtown and Groveland Ambuscade

by John Leonard Hardenbergh

About the author

Born in 1748 in Rosendale, Ulster County, New York, he was the youngest of seven children of Leonard and Rachel Hardenbergh. He came from an old Dutch New York family and later served in the Continental Army during the American Revolution.

He is best known for The Journal of Lieut. John L. Hardenbergh of the Second New York Continental Regiment, a record of his service from May to October 1779 during General Sullivan's campaign against western Indigenous nations. That journal remains the clearest reason he is remembered today, offering a vivid, practical view of military travel, camp life, and campaigning on the New York frontier.

Some later local histories also remember him as an early settler and mill builder connected with Auburn, New York. He died in 1806. Because surviving sources focus more on his military journal than on his private life, many personal details about him are not widely documented.