Background
De Graaff was born in Sint Eustatius, the son of Simon de Graaff", a member of the island council. After he returned to Sint Eustatius, he married Maria Heyliger, a daughter of the ruling Commander (Governor) Abraham Heyliger.
De Graaff was born in Sint Eustatius, the son of Simon de Graaff", a member of the island council. After he returned to Sint Eustatius, he married Maria Heyliger, a daughter of the ruling Commander (Governor) Abraham Heyliger.
De Graaff received his education in the Netherlands. De Graaff started his career as a military commander of Sint Maarten and, after his wife"s death, on 5 September 1776 he was made Commander (or Governor in every day parlance) of Sint Eustatius. "First Salute" to the American Flag
Sint Eustatius was the most important place for dealing or smuggling with Americans.
On 16 November 1776, at the beginning of the American Revolutionary War, the American navy ship United States Ship Andrew Doria, with the American Declaration of Independence on board, arrived in Saint Eustatius.
Its captain fired a salute to the Dutch flag on Fort Oranje and Johannes de Graaff decided to answer the salute with eleven gunshots. And so the United States of America were for the first time recognized as a nation by this salute of eleven guns.
The British were furious and De Graaff was recalled to the Netherlands following British protests to the Dutch government. He explained his deeds and was sent back to Sint Eustatius.
Loss of island
De Graaff held his position until admiral Rodney captured and subsequently raided the island in February 1781.
The island was plundered by Rodney and his crew. = Commentaries regarding the "First Salute" "White puffs of gun smoke over a turquoise sea followed by the boom of cannon rose from the unassuming port on the diminutive Dutch island of Saint Eustatius in the West Indies on 16 November 1776. The guns of Fort Orange on Saint Eustatius were returning the ritual salute on entering a foreign port of an American vessel, the Andrew Doria, as she came up the roadstead, flying at her mast the red-and-white-striped flag of the Continental Congress.
In its responding salute, the small voice of Saint Eustatius was the first to officially greet the largest event of the century – the entry into the society of nations of a new Atlantic state destined to change the direction of history".
In 1939, President Roosevelt presented a plaque to Saint Eustatius. Mounted on the flagpole inside the impressively restored Fort Oranje, it reads, "In commemoration of the salute to the flag of the United States fired in this fort on 16 November 1776 by order of Johannes de Graaff, Governor of Saint Eustatius in reply to a national gun salute fired by the United States. Brigadier-of-war Andrew Doria.() Here the sovereignty of the United States was first formally acknowledged to a national vessel by a foreign official".