Kanawha Brant

“ He gave Brant a letter of introduction to his talented daughter, Theodosia, then but fourteen years old. Her father said of Brant in this letter: "Colonel Brant is a man of education—speaks and writes the English perfectly—and has seen much of Europe and America. Receive him with respect and hospitality. He is not one of those Indians who drink, but is quite a gentleman; not one who will make you fine bows, but one who understands and practices what belongs to propriety and good breeding. ”

“ But a new trial awaited the prisoners soon after they reached the Chemung. During his march from Niagara on this expedition, Brant had detached eleven of his warriors to fall once more upon the Minisink settlement for prisoners. This detachment, as it subsequently appeared, had succeeded in taking captive five athletic men, whom they secured and brought with them as far as Tioga Point. The Indians sleep very soundly, and the five prisoners had resolved at the first opportunity to make their escape. ”

“ On the 8th of May, the Fish-carrier, one of the principal Cayuga chiefs, and the right hand man of Captain Brant, declared in a speech that O'Bail had taken a course that was not approved by them—that more than one half of the Indians there, were not for peace, [FN-1] and that Captain Brant had been sent to the council-fire of the Miamis. "We must, therefore," he added, "see his face, for we can't determine until we know what they are about. So we beg you to grant our request, to keep your mind easy; for we, who do this business, look on you, and hold ourselves to be slaves in making of peace. ”

“ He proceeded with the other chiefs, and a large body of Indian warriors to Montreal, where he was commissioned as a captain in the British army. “In the fall of 1775, he sailed for England to hold personal conference with the officers of government. He was an object of much curiosity at London, and attracted the attention of persons of high rank and great celebrity.” Brant returned to America in the spring following, landed near New York, and made his way through his enemy’s country to Canada. He placed himself at the head of his warriors, and led them on to many a victory. ”

“ Young Brant had been seized around the waist by some of the Indians, at the instant he was leaping upon his father; while the latter, irritated by the wound, had also been seized in like manner by some white men, to prevent farther injury. The affray was the work of an instant, during which Captain Brant had drawn a large dirk, which he always carried upon his thigh, and with which he struck at his son. ”

“ The desolating scourge of India—the cholera—was introduced upon the American continent in the Summer of that year, commencing its ravages at Quebec; and among the thousands who fell before the plague, as it swept fearfully over the country of the great lakes, were John Brant—Ahyouwaeghs—and his competitor.
He was a man of fine figure and countenance, and great dignity of deportment, though by no means haughty—having the unassuming manners of a well-bred gentleman. ”

“ Another suggestion, under the supposition that the Mohawk chief was a Freemason himself, and would of course embark in any practicable scheme to prevent the disclosures of the secrets of Freemasonry, which Morgan was in the act of publishing when seized, was, that Brant should take charge of the prisoner, and cause his transfer by the Indians to the North-western Fur Company. But every device for the banishment of the unhappy man failed, and he was buried at the solemn hour of midnight in the rocky caverns of the Niagara. ”

“ Nobody will know that the Southern spy was the wife of the Northern general! You see, I have thought even of that!”
“And thinking of that,” said Brant slowly, “you have put yourself—I will not say in my power, for you are in the power of any man in this camp who may know you, or even hear you speak. Well, let us understand each other plainly. I do not know how great a sacrifice your devotion to your cause demands of you; I do know what it seems to demand of me. ”

“ A bitter smile came over Brant's face, but passed as quickly.
“Enough,” he said quietly, “I will meet you beside the Run, and cross the marsh with you until you are within hailing distance of your lines. I will be in plain clothes, Alice,” he went on slowly, “for it will not be the commander of this force who accompanies you, but your husband, and, without disgracing his uniform, he will drop to your level; for the instant he passes his own lines, in disguise, he will become, like you, a spy, and amenable to its penalties.” ”

“ Brant justified taking the lives of prisoners, but disapproved the practice, so common among savages, of torturing them; and he always maintained that he had himself at different times, by great efforts, saved several, not only from torture, but death. As to taking life, he thought (and with some truth,) that in this respect there was but little practical difference between the red and white men; for the death of an Indian prisoner was as certain a consequence of his capture, as that of a white man taken by the Indians. ”

“ Brant listened very patiently until it became his turn to speak, when he replied that there were customs in England, also, of which the Indians thought very strange. "And pray what are they?" inquired his Lordship. "Why," answered the chief, "the Indians have heard that it is a practice in England for men who are born chiefs to sell the virtue of their squaws for place, and for money to buy their venison!" The Mohawk occupied a position which enabled him to say what he pleased with impunity. ”

“ Every line of those strong, rustic features was relaxed under a burden which even the long, lank, angular figure—overgrown and unfinished as his own West—seemed to be distorted in its efforts to adjust itself to; while the dark, deep-set eyes were abstracted with the vague prescience of the prophet and the martyr. Shocked at that sudden change, Brant felt his cheek burn with shame. ”

“ As the younger family grew up, he became jealous of them, imagining that they received a larger share of parental favor than his sister and himself. Nothing could have been more groundless than were his suspicions, since from the concurrent testimony of the survivors of the family, and the aged contemporaries of the old Chief yet living at Grand River, no parent was ever more scrupulous in the impartial bestowment of his affection among all his children than Captain Brant. ”

“ Nothing could be more apparent than that the charge was either frivolous, or adduced as a pretext, or that the Attorney General had been remiss in the performance of his own official duty. The Indians still adhered to Mr. Phelps; and such was the strength of their attachment to him, that Captain Brant subsequently prepared a formal memorial to the Lord Bishop, setting forth his excellent qualities—his talents, his virtues, and his loyalty—and urging his ordination, "as their choice had been, and still was, fixed on him, in preference to any other." ”

“ This cannonade "was elegant," to adopt the phraseology of Sullivan himself in writing to a friend, and gave the Indians a great panic. Still, the battle was contested in front for a length of time with undiminished spirit But the severity of fighting was on the flank just described. As Poor gallantly approached the point which completely uncovered the enemy's rear, Brant, who had been the first to penetrate the design of the American commander, attempted once more to rally his forces, and with the assistance of a battalion of the rangers make a stand. ”

“ It was connected, however, with the pecuniary affairs of the Indians, in regard to which Brant was exonerated from censure at every scrutiny. Still, perfection cannot be predicated of the Mohawk Chief more than other men, and the author has not discovered a particle of evidence, going to inculpate the moral or official conduct of Colonel Claus—save that he appears to have connived at the unsuccessful machinations of Red Jacket and other enemies of Brant, to effect the chieftain's deposition. ”

“ In the course of his conversations with Major James Cochran and General Porter, long after the war, in regard to the alleged cruelty of his career, Brant assured those gentlemen that he had always spared in battle whenever it could be done without bringing upon himself the censure of his own people. In more instances than one, he said, he had been instrumental in preserving life when exposed to the fury of his warriors, and that he had winked at the escape of white prisoners, whose sufferings would not permit them to proceed on their march. ”

“ Brant's forces at Oquaga continued to increase; all believed he was preparing for a hostile movement. The people of the frontier were in terror; General Herkimer, who was an old neighbor and friend of Brant, determined to visit him, hoping to influence him to remain neutral, and, failing in this, to capture the chief if possible. He sent a messenger, inviting Brant to an interview with him at Unadilla, and marched to this place with over three hundred militia. Brant moved to meet him with some five hundred braves; he encamped within two miles of Herkimer and sent a messenger to the general. ”

“ The people were employed harvesting in the fields, but they turned out immediately, and joining Colonel Wemple, who advanced from below with the Schenectady and Albany militia, proceeded to the scene of conflagration. But their movements were not sufficiently expeditious to arrest the destroyer or to intercept his retreat. Indeed, it is intimated, by good authority, that although the Colonel's forces were superior to those of Brant, the former was, nevertheless, by no means anxious to arrive in the immediate vicinity of the Indians too soon. ”

“ Brant was not only trusted, consulted, and distinguished by several eminent British officers in America, but personally beloved by them. Now I could conceive men in power, for defensible reasons of state politics, to have officially trusted, and even publicly distinguished at courts or levees, an active and sagacious Indian chief, of whose private character they might nevertheless still entertain a very indifferent opinion. But I cannot imagine high-minded and high-bred British officers forming individual and fond friendships for a man of ferocious character. ”

“ In one of Brant's hostile incursions upon the settlements, during the war of the Revolution, Rose and his nephew, with others, were taken prisoners, and marched in the direction of Niagara. During the journey, Brant took Rose aside one morning, and admonished him not to move far away from himself (Brant,) but at all times on their march to keep within call. "I have reason to believe," said the Chief, "that that nephew of yours is plotting your death. He is endeavoring to bribe one of my Indians to kill you. ”

“ Brant is an Indian by birth. In the American war he fought under the English banner, and he has since been in England, where he was most graciously received by the King, and met with a kind reception from all classes of people. His manners are semi-European. He is attended by two Negroes; has established himself in the English way; has a garden and a farm; dresses after the European fashion; and nevertheless possesses much influence over the Indians. He assists at present (1795) at the Miami Treaty, which the United States are concluding with the western Indians. ”

“ It was a most unfortunate thing for the struggling colonists when Brant took up the hatchet in behalf of the king, for his arm was more to be dreaded than that of King George.
Joseph Brant was an Onondaga of the Mohawk tribe, whose Indian name was Thayendanega—signifying, literally, a brant, or wild-goose. The story that he was but a half-Indian, the son of a German, has been widely spread, but is denied by his son, and is now believed to be false. There are those, however, whose opinion is of weight, who assert that he was the son of Sir William Johnson ”

“ Two children, Isaac and Christiana, were born to him of this, his first, marriage. We may pass rapidly over these tranquil years of Brant's life. He did his domestic duties as a man should; and Sir William Johnson, finding him trustworthy, had constant work for him, and sent him on many important missions to the Indians, even to the far-western tribes. During this period Brant became a communicant in the Anglican Church, and, knowing well what hardships the missionaries had to endure, he gave them what help he could in their work among the red people. ”

“ In wading through a narrow brook that obstructed their advance, their ranks became disordered, and Brant made effective use of the situation. His voice rose in a war-whoop and his warriors sprang into motion. After delivering one sharp, destructive volley, they seized their tomahawks and surged into the midst of their foe. From an hour before noon until sundown, sheltered by trees and rocks, both sides fought stubbornly. At last the whites gave way, and the battle closed with appalling slaughter. ”

“ That the Seneca Indians, with some others residing within the territory of the United States, who have had the disposal of a considerable part of the Five Nations' lands, and have sold, and do actually receive annuities from the people of the United States annually for the same, have been the principal actors in deposing him. That after the death of my father I succeeded him in the office, as aforesaid, and during my own agency had frequent meetings with Captain Brant in Indian councils, &c. ”