History of Brant resumed—Advanced to the chieftaincy of the Confederacy—Mode of appointing chiefs and sachems—Embarks for England—Arrives in London—Received with marked consideration—Becomes acquainted with James Boswell and others—Agrees to espouse the Royal cause, and returns to America—Steals through the country to Canada—Curious supposed letter to President Wheelock—Battle of the Cedars—Cowardice of Major Butterfield—Outrages of the Indians—Story of Capt. McKinstry, who was saved from the stake by Brant—Indignation of Washington, the people, and Congress—Resolutions of retaliation—Mutual complaints of treatment of prisoners—Murder of Gen. Gordon—Indignation at the outrage—Indian deputation at Philadelphia—Speech to them—Congress resolves upon the employment of an Indian force—Schuyler opposed—Review of the incidents of the war elsewhere—Destitution of the Army—Evacuation of Boston by the English—Disastrous termination of the Canadian campaign—Deplorable condition of the army—Humanity of Sir Guy Carleton—Glance at the South—Declaration of Independence—Spirit of Tryon County—Cherry Valley—Fortifications at Fort Stanwix—American army moves to New-York—Arrival of the British fleet and army—Battle of Long-Island—Washington evacuates New-York—Battle of White Plains—Retreats across New-Jersey—Followed by Cornwallis—Defeat of Arnold on Lake Champlain—Fall of Rhode Island—Battle of Trenton.
The progress of events renders it necessary again to introduce the Indian hero of the war of the Revolution more prominently upon the stage of action. Thayendanegea had now been advanced to the situation of principal war-chief of the confederacy [FN-1]—an officer, according to the ancient usages of the Six Nations, uniformly taken from the Mohawks. [FN-2] How, or in what manner. Brant arrived at that dignity, history does not inform us. Hendrick, the last of the Mohawk chiefs who bore the royal title of King, fell under Sir William Johnson at Lake George twenty years before. He was succeeded by Little Abraham, whose name has frequently occurred in the preceding pages, and who has been designated by some writers as the brother of Hendrick. But whether such was the fact or not, no farther mention of his name occurs in the history of the war. He was uniformly friendly to the Colonists; and as he refused to leave the valley with Thayendanegea and the majority of the nation who accompanied Guy Johnson in his flight—preferring to remain with the tribe at the Lower Castle—it is not improbable that Brant assumed the superior chieftaincy from the force of circumstances. Sir William Johnson informs us, that the sachems of each tribe of the Six Nations were usually chosen in a public assembly of the chiefs and warriors, whenever a vacancy happened by death or otherwise. They were selected from among the oldest warriors for their sense and bravery, and approved of by all the tribe—after which they were selected as sachems. Military services were the chief recommendations to this rank; but in some instances a kind of inheritance in the office was recognized. [FN-3] We have seen that Thayendanegea was descended from a family of chiefs, and his birth may have contributed to his elevation. His family and official connexion with the Johnsons, whose name continued so potent with the Indians, likewise, without doubt, facilitated his advancement. But Mr. Stewart, denying that the family of Thayendanegea was remarkable for any preeminence in their village, represents his influence to have been acquired by his uncommon talents and address as a counselor and politician; by which means he subdued all opposition and jealousy, and at length acquired such an ascendancy that, even in the hour of action and danger, he was enabled to rule and direct his warriors as absolutely as if he had been born their General.
[FN-1] I am aware that the dignity of "Principal Chief" has been denied to Captain Brant by several writers, and expressly by the Rev. Mr. Stewart, who says he was not a war-chief by birth, and not so often in command as has been supposed. It will be seen, however, toward the close of this work, from the speech of a Seneca chief, that Thayendanegea was the head chief of the confederacy—Mr. S. to the contrary notwithstanding.
[FN-2] David Cusick's sketches of the Ancient History of the Six Nations. Cusick was himself an Indian of the Tuscarora tribe.
[FN-3] Letters of Sir William Johnson to Arthur Lee—vide London Philosophical Transactions.
This inquiry, however, is of no great importance. The fact that he had now become the chief sachem is unquestionable; and from this point of the present history, Joseph Thayendanegea becomes one of the principal personages engaged in its progress. He was ordinarily called by his other name of Joseph Brant, or "Captain Brant"—the title of "Captain" being the highest military distinction known to the Indians; and that, moreover, being the military rank actually conferred upon him in the army of the Crown. In much of his correspondence, when wishing to be formal and writing to distinguished men, he was accustomed to write his name "Joseph Brant—Thayendanegea;" the latter being his legitimate Indian name.
It has been seen, in a preceding chapter, that Thayendanegea had accompanied Guy Johnson from the Mohawk Valley, first, westwardly to Ontario, thence back to Oswego, and thence to Montreal, where his services, and those of his warriors, were courted by Generals Carleton and Haldimand, and an agreement was speedily made that they were to take up the hatchet in the cause of the King. For the prosecution of a border warfare, the officers of the Crown could scarcely have engaged a more valuable auxiliary. Distinguished alike for his address, his activity, and his courage—possessing, in point of stature and symmetry of person, the advantage of most men even among his own well-formed race—tall, erect, and majestic, with the air and mien of one born to command,[FN-1]—having, as it were, been a man of war from his boyhood,[FN-2]—his name was a tower of strength among the warriors of the wilderness. Still more extensive was his influence rendered, by the circumstance that he had been much employed in the civil service of the Indian department, under Sir William Johnson, by whom he was often deputed upon embassies among the tribes of the confederacy, and to those yet more distant, upon the great lakes and rivers of the north-west, by reason of which his knowledge of the whole country and people was accurate and extensive.
[FN-1] Letter of General P. B. Porter to the author.