Colonel John Rosenkrans Biography
as submitted from excerpts by John D. Rosenkrans, VI, presented at the
50th Anniversary Ceremony of the re-dedication of the
Col. John Rosenkrans Monument

 

Colonel John Rosenkrans was born in 1724 at Rochester, NY and died in 1786 at Walpack, NJ. In 1745, Col. John arrived in what is now known as Walpack, along the Old Mine Road, where he purchased Fort Shappanack, which overlooked the Delaware River. Fort Shappanack, which was also known as Fort Johns, was named for the old village in which it stood. The name Fort Johns has been linked to one of three men, its owner, Col. John Rosenkrans, or John Stevens who was responsible for its construction, or John Johnston, who designed forts along the Delaware River. Fort Shappanack, or Fort Johns, existed for about 27 years as a military post or until the end of the Revolutionary War.

After the American Revolution was declared in 1776, John Rosenkrans, on May 23, 1777, enlisted in the 3rd Regiment of the Sussex County Militia. John was commissioned to the rank of Colonel. In 1779 he fought at the Battle of Germantown, PA, accompanying General Sullivan in the campaign against the Indians of the upper Susquehanna and Genesee Valleys. Subsequently, Col. John had been shot in his shoulder, and from the results of this wound, never fully recovered. A physician in Morristown, in the treatment of his wound, scraped the bone of his shoulder, which then caused the wound to grow worse. Col. John died in 1786 and was buried in the old Shappanack Graveyard along the Old Mine Road.