[FN] Narrative of the Indian Charity School, published by Dr. Wheelock in 1767, page 35.
Neither the particular war in which the young chief was then engaged, nor the time of the campaign, is noted in the foregoing extract. A passage contained in a letter from Sir William Johnson to Dr. Wheelock, however, dated April 25th, 1764, affords a clue to the desired information:—"J—— is just returned from an expedition against the enemy, who have abandoned their towns, of which three were burned, with four villages, consisting, in all, of about two hundred houses, built with squared logs, and vast quantities of corn, &c. Parties are now in pursuit of the enemy." It was therefore early in the Spring of 1764 that young Brant returned from the war—then brought to a close. The war itself could have been none else than that against the great Ottoway chief Pontiac, who, in 1763, undertook to dispossess the English of the country of the lakes, then recently acquired by conquest from the French. Pontiac was by far the most formidable chief with whom the English colonists had had to contend since the fall of Philip. He combined the great Indian tribes of the north-west almost as one man, and in 1763 led thirty-six chiefs, with their trains of warriors, against Detroit, after having carried several of the remote western posts. A well-concerted stratagem, timely discovered to the British commander by an Indian woman, had well nigh placed that important position within his power also. Foiled in the plan of obtaining admission by stratagem and putting the garrison to death, Pontiac laid siege to the fort, attacking it with great fury. It was besieged for a long time, as also were the fort at Niagara and Fort Pitt. It was not until the Autumn of 1763 that the English were able to throw succours into Detroit, in accomplishing which enterprise some of the Mohawk warriors were engaged. There had been several severe engagements with Pontiac's warriors in the course of that Summer, in which the Indians attached to the English cause had fought with great bravery. The vessel carrying the supplies to Detroit, was likewise furiously attacked by a force of 350 Indians, in boats on the lake, but they were bravely repulsed. In what particular battles, during this contest, Thayendanegea was engaged, does not appear. But he was in the war, and his courageous and enterprising spirit offered the best evidence, that he neither avoided the post of danger, nor failed to reach it for want of activity. Having invested Detroit for a twelvemonth, the French, moreover, with whom he was in alliance, having lost their power in America, Pontiac sued for peace on the approach of Gen. Bradstreet from Pittsburgh, at the head of 3000 men. [FN]
[FN] Pontiac was assassinated in 1779, during a war between the Ioways and Ottawas. He was a great man.
In 1765, Thayendanegea, having been previously married to the daughter of an Oneida chief, was settled at Canajoharie, as appears by a letter from the Rev. Theophilus Chamberlain, one of the missionaries to the Six Nations, to the Rev. Dr. Wheelock, written from Canajoharie, and dated July 17th of that year. After speaking of the encouraging condition of the Indian school, and the prospect of opening another, Mr. Chamberlain said:—"I am now at Joseph Brant's house, very poorly with the dysentery, which hath followed me near a week. Riding in the rain sometimes, wading through tracks to get along, and lodging on the cold ground the other night, have made me almost down sick; but my business keeps me alive. Joseph Brant is exceeding kind."
Three years afterward he was still leading a peaceful life at the same place, as we learn from the following entry in the journal of Mr. Ralph Wheelock, who had been sent to Oneida to relieve Mr. Kirkland, that gentleman being sick:
"March 18, 1768. At my old friend, Joseph Brant's, I met one of the chiefs of the Onondagas, (who is, by way of eminence, called the Wise-man,) on his return to his tribe, with his wife and child; and by Joseph Brant's help I was able to discourse with him, and delivered my message to his nation."
During the three years next ensuing, no certain information has been obtained respecting his course of life. As the country was at peace, however, he was probably leading a life of repose at home, save when acting, upon occasional business visits among the Indians, under the direction of Sir William Johnson. It is very probable, moreover, that he may at that time have been connected with the English Episcopal Missions to the Mohawks, commenced in the Mohawk Valley so early as 1702, and continued down to the beginning of the Revolutionary war. Having been employed as an interpreter by one of the missionaries, several years before; and as the Rev. Dr. John Ogilvie, the predecessor of Dr. Barclay in that mission, was engaged, in the year 1769, in revising, extending, and reprinting the Mohawk Prayer Book, embracing additional passages of Scripture, some occasional prayers, and Indian versifications of several psalms, it is highly probable that Thayendanegea may have been employed as an assistant in that labour, since he was partial to exercises of that description.
In the year 1771, the Rev. Mr. Stewart conducted a school at Fort Hunter, thirty miles below Canajoharie. A venerable friend of the author, yet living in Albany, [FN] states, that being a pupil in Doctor Stewart's school at about that time, he had opportunities of seeing Thayendanegea at that place frequently, and formed an acquaintance with him, which continued, interrupted only by the war of the Revolution, until the death of the warrior. He then formed an excellent opinion of the young chief in regard to talents and good disposition. It is believed, that from the shrewdness of his sister Molly and the influential position which she occupied in the family of Sir William, added to his own talents and sagacity, he was much employed at home by the Baronet, in the discharge of the multifarious duties incident to his important official station. He was also frequently engaged upon distant embassies among the western tribes, and his talents and tact as a diplomatist of the forest, were qualities pertaining to his character through life.