When the New York Committee of Safety committed the colony to armed resistance following the Battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775, Johnson remained loyal to the Crown and worked to control the Tryon County courts, assisted by fellow loyalists Sir John Johnson (Sir William's son) and Colonel Daniel Claus (also a son-in-law of Sir William). These three also commanded three regiments of the Tryon County militia. But, American Patriots in the Mohawk Valley soon drove the three Loyalists out of power.