The correspondence between Doctor Wheelock and Sir William was quite active at this period upon the subject of the school, and Joseph was himself employed as an agent to procure recruits for it. Thus, in a letter from the Baronet to the Doctor, dated November 17, 1761, he says—"I have given in charge to Joseph, to speak in my name to any good boys he may see, and encourage to accept the generous offers now made to them; which he promised to do, and return as soon as possible, and that without horses." The probability, however, is, that he went to the school immediately after his return from the Niagara campaign in 1759. No doubt he had left it before Sir William wrote the letter just cited, and, being engaged upon some Indian mission, had been instructed to interest himself among the people of the forest in behalf of that institution. That he did not, himself, remain long at the school, is conceded. According to Dr. Stewart, moreover, he made but little proficiency in his studies at this seminary, having "learned to read but very indifferently in the New Testament, and to write but very little." The fact, however, that the Rev. Charles Jeffrey Smith, a missionary to the Mohawks, took Thayendanegea as an interpreter in the year following, (1762,) and gave him an excellent character, presents a much more favourable idea of his progress in learning while at the school; as also does the following passage from the memoirs of his teacher:—"Sir William Johnson, superintendent of Indian affairs in North America, was very friendly to the design of Mr. Wheelock, and at his request sent to the school, at various times, several boys of the Mohawks to be instructed. [FN-1] One of them was the since celebrated Joseph Brant; who, after receiving his education, was particularly noticed by Sir William Johnson, and employed by him in public business. He has been very useful in advancing the civilization of his countrymen, and for a long time past has been a military officer of extensive influence among the Indians in Upper Canada." [FN-2] Accompanying Thayendanegea to the "Moor School," [FN-3] were several other Mohawk youths, and two Delawares had entered the school before him. The name of one of Thayendanegea's companions was William, a half-breed, who was supposed to be the son of his patron. Only two of the number remained to receive the honours of the future college. The others, impatient of the restraints of a school, and delighting more in the chase of game than of literary honours, loving their native forests better than sunny fields, and preferring to string the bow and speed the arrow, rather than turn over the pages of Livy or Corderius, returned to their hunter state in about two years. Thayendanegea probably left the school at the same time. He used, when speaking of the school, to relate with much pleasantry an anecdote of "William," who, as he affirmed, was one day ordered by Mr. Wheelock's son to saddle his horse. The lad refused, alleging that, as he was a gentleman's son, the performance of such a menial office would be out of character. "Do yon know," inquired the younger Wheelock, "what a gentleman is?" "I do," replied William; "a gentleman is a person who keeps race-horses, and drinks Madeira wine, and that is what neither you nor your father do,—therefore saddle the horse yourself!" [FN-4]
[FN-1] When the foundation of the school was enlarged by the liberality of the Earl of Dartmouth and others, in England, and the same was removed from Connecticut, it contained 24 pupils, 6 of whom were Indians. There is among the Johnson papers a letter from President Wheelock, written to Sir William in 1772, introducing two of his Indian pupils to the acquaintance of the Baronet.—Author.
[FN-2] McClare's Life of Wheelock, page 27.
[FN-3] So called from the name of its founder, Mr. Joshua Moor, of Mansfield, Connecticut.
[FN-4] Christian Recorder. This anecdote reminds the author of another, which he has heard a distinguished Kentucky member of Congress relate with great glee of himself. When first elected, he said he had never crossed the Alleghenies, and he feared greatly that his ignorance and rusticity would be but too manifest when he came to associate with gentlemen. He had heard that gentlemen were fond of Champagne, of which he had never tasted. But he said, that at the first dinner party after his arrival at the seat of government, he was relieved of his embarrassment. At the first taste of the sparkling liquor, he found that he loved it. He knew, therefore, that he was made for a gentleman! And a very agreeable and accomplished gentleman he became.
The exigencies of the frontier country did not allow Thayendanegea to remain long associated in the mission with Mr. Smith. He was again called out upon the war-path, as appears by the following paragraph in one of the Rev. Mr. Kirkland's [FN] earliest reports to the Rev. Dr. Wheelock, in regard to the Christian missionaries and teachers employed among the Six Nations:—
[FN] The Rev. Samuel Kirkland, father of President Kirkland, late of Harvard University, and for more than forty years a missionary among the Six Nations—chiefly the Oneidas. He was the son of the Rev. Daniel Kirkland, of Norwich (Conn.) where he was born in 1742. His education was commenced at Dr. Wheelock's school, and his collegiate course performed at Princeton, where he was graduated in 1765. He first commenced his labours among the Senecas, in 1766, having learned the Mohawk language while in college. He was often employed by the Government in various Indian transactions, and died at Paris, Oneida County, in March, 1808.
"Joseph Brant, a Mohawk Indian, and of a family of distinction in that nation, was educated by Mr. Wheelock, and was so well accomplished that the Rev. Charles Jeffrey Smith, (a young gentleman who, out of love to Christ and the souls of men, devotes his life, and such a fortune as is sufficient to support himself and an interpreter, wholly to this glorious service,) took him for his interpreter when he went on his mission to the Mohawks, now three years ago. But the war breaking out at that time between the back Indians and the English, Mr. Smith was obliged to return; but Joseph tarried, and went out with a company against the Indians, and was useful in the war; in which he behaved so much like the Christian and the soldier, that he gained great esteem. He now lives in a decent manner, and endeavours to teach his poor brethren the things of God, in which his own heart seems much engaged. His house is an asylum for the missionaries in that wilderness." [FN]