Marinus Willett Marinus Willett ( July 31 , 1740 – August 22 , 1830 ) was an American soldier and political leader from New York . He was characterized by historian Mark M . Boatner as " one of the truly outstanding American leaders of the Revolution . " Willett was born in Jamaica , New York , on Long Island , the son of Edward Willett a school teacher and tavern operator . Marinus Willett served in the militia during the French and Indian War . He received a commission as 2nd lieutenant in a New York regiment under the command of Oliver DeLancey Sr . which took part in General James Abercrombie ' s expedition to Fort Ticonderoga in 1758 . His regiment was part of John Bradstreet ' s army in the Battle of Fort Frontenac . He became ill and stayed at Fort Stanwix until he recovered . Tradition is between the wars he worked as a cabinetmaker . Sons of Liberty . During the early stages of the American Revolution , Willett became an informal leader of the Sons of Liberty in New York City . His main participation was as a rabble - rouser and street brawler . When news arrived on April 23 , 1775 of the battles at Lexington and Concord he and others broke into the New York City arsenal and seized the weapons . On June 6 , 1775 when the British soldiers in New York decided to evacuate the city , Willett stopped the soldiers from taking spare arms with them . On July 20 , 1775 he and other members of the Sons of Liberty procured a sloop , surprised the guard , and captured a British storehouse at Turtle Bay . 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 he was 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 successful 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 spontoon s 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 . Post - war years . After the war he aligned himself with George Clinton and the anti - federalist party . He and several other members of the Sons of Liberty were elected to the State Assembly in December 1783 . He was Sheriff of New York County from 1784 to 1787 and from 1791 to 1795 . He was now in charge of repressing the riotous behaviour he formerly committed . In 1787 , he took part in the putting down of Shays ' Rebellion . In 1788 , he helped George Clinton in his fight against the United States Constitution . Willett was a delegate from New York City to the state convention where he and other anti - federalist were defeated . As late as 1790 , he was still trying to repeal or amend the United States Constitution . In 1790 he was sent by President Washington to the Creek Indians to persuade their leader Alexander McGillivray to continue treaty efforts . Willett was successful and a delegation of Creeks under McGillvray visited New York City , then capital of the United States , resulting in the Treaty of New York . In 1791 , he was appointed by Clinton to another term as the sheriff of New York City . Willett acquired considerable land and part of the former DeLancey estate . In April 1792 , he was appointed a brigadier - general to serve in the Northwest Indian War , but he declined . He wrote to George Washington that he thought the United States should not engage in a war with these Indians . He was also offered the position of peace emissary to the Indians which he also declined . In 1801 , he was appointed superintendent of construction of the fortifications of New York . He was the 48th Mayor of New York City from 1807 to 1808 , after De Witt Clinton was removed from office . The state ' s lieutenant governor , John Broome , died in office in August 1810 . Willett ran unsuccessfully for that office in 1811 , losing to De Witt Clinton . He died August 22 , 1830 and was buried in the churchyard of Trinity Church , corner of Broadway and Wall Street , in New York City . His funeral had 10 , 000 mourners . Legacy . Willett Street in Manhattan ' s lower east side is named for the former sheriff and mayor of New York City . The northern course of Willett Street , above Delancey Street , is presently occupied by the Samuel Gompers Houses . A street in Albany , New York , bordering Washington Park is named for Willett . A memorial plaque commemorating Willett was fixed to a boulder in 1907 in the park . The boulder was struck many times by vehicles missing a sharp turn in the park along Henry Johnson Boulevard . The boulder and its plaque was moved from the traffic island to the corner of State and Willett Streets in 2006 to give the memorial a safer place in anticipation of the park ' s 200th anniversary . He is buried in the New York City Marble Cemetery . Novels . His role in the French and Indian war receives brief mention in the Newbery Award winning children ' s book " The Matchlock Gun " .