Before leaving Buffalo, however, according to an entry in his journal, Colonel Proctor seems to have been apprised of the fact, which will subsequently appear, that Captain Brant had not gone to the Miamis as a messenger, or an observer merely, but that he had actually gone to join them with his warriors:—
"May 21st. Being in private conversation this evening with Captain O'Bail, and sitting between him and the New-Arrow sachem, I hinted to Captain O'Bail that if he would go and join General St. Clair with thirty-five or forty of his warriors, as well equipped as he could make them, purely to counterbalance the force that Brant had taken with him to the unfriendly Indians, I would use endeavors with the Secretary of War to procure him a commission that should yield to him and his people a handsome stipend. He replied, that the Senecas had received a stroke from the bad Indians, by taking two prisoners, a woman and a boy, from Conyatt; and that, should the hatchet be struck into the head of any of his people hereafter, he would then inform me what he would undertake to do."
The natural import of this entry in Proctor's journal is, that Captain Brant had at that time actually joined the Miamis in hostile array against the United States. It is possible, however, that such was not at that time the fact; and it is certain that General Knox, the Secretary of War, after the return of Colonel Proctor to Philadelphia, did not so construe it. In writing to Colonel Pickering respecting the council which he was then preparing to hold at the Painted Post on the 13th of June, the Secretary speaks of Brant's journey to the western Indians as having probably been undertaken for pacific purposes, under the direction of the British officers, who were using him with a view to a peace, of which they intended to claim the merit at some future time. And this construction would comport with the idea of a British intervention, as heretofore suggested by Colonel Gordon and Sir John Johnson.
But it is, nevertheless, a curious fact, which speaks largely of the talents and address of Brant, and the high importance which was attached to his influence; that if the British authorities were then thus using his services, the American government was at the same time seeking his assistance for the same object. Colonel Pickering was instructed to treat him with "great kindness" if he could be persuaded to attend the council at the Painted Post; and on the 12th of April, the Secretary of War addressed a latter to Governor Clinton, from which the following is an extract:
"Aware of your Excellency's influence over Captain Joseph Brant, I have conceived the idea that you might induce him, by proper arrangements, to undertake to conciliate the western Indians to pacific measures, and bring them to hold a general treaty. This measure would be abundantly more compatible with the feelings and interest of the United States than to extirpate the Indians, which seems to be the inevitable consequence of a war of long continuance with them. You are entirely able to estimate Brant's talents, and the degree of confidence that might be placed in him on such an occasion. Perhaps Colonel Willett, of whose talents in managing the minds of men I have a high opinion, might accept of an agency on this occasion, as it might respect Brant. If your Excellency should entertain the opinion strongly that Brant might be employed with good effect, I earnestly request that you would take the necessary measures for the purpose, according to your own judgment."
Other topics were embraced in the Secretary's letter, to all of which Governor Clinton replied on the 27th of April. The following extract relates to the subject of this biography:—
"I have communicated to Colonel Willett your confidence in his talents and desire for the interposition of his influence with Brant, but have it not in my power to inform you of his explicit answer. . . . I had, in June last, appointed an interview with Brant, contemplating the danger you appear to apprehend from his address and his influence with several of the Indian nations, (which, I am persuaded, is very considerable,) and from different letters I have since received from him, I have reason to hope he will give me the opportunity of a personal conference with him at this place, (New York,) the beginning of the ensuing summer, if the proposed convention, to which I will not venture to say he may not be opposed, should not prevent it. But the good understanding between us, and the friendly and familiar intercourse I have successfully endeavored to preserve, will, I doubt not, predominate over any transient disgust that the measures of the Union may have heretofore excited in his mind, and enable me to procure an interview with him at any time and place not particularly inconvenient. To accomplish this, however, with certainty, it may require the personal application of some one expressly delegated, and in whom he will confide."
Captain Brant has been charged with great vanity, and with attaching undue importance to his position and influence. But how few are the men, Indians or whites, who would not have stood in danger of being somewhat inflated, on finding two such nations as Great Britain and the United States, apparently out-bidding each other for his services and friendship? Still, he was looked upon with no inconsiderable distrust by the American Secretary of War. In his letter of reply to Governor Clinton, dated May 11th, the Secretary, after speaking of the hostility of Brant to the Corn-planter, refers to the former design of the Mohawk chief to place himself at the head of the great Indian confederacy, so often spoken of, north-west of the Ohio, the Six Nations included; and cites a letter which he had just received from the Rev. Mr. Kirkland, the Indian missionary, intimating that he had not yet abandoned that project. Indeed, Brant himself had then just written to Mr. Kirkland that he should yet like to compass that measure, should he find it practicable. The United States could not, of course, be favorable to the formation of any confederacy, by which the whole of the then vast body of Indians might be moved by a single impulse; and with a view of diverting him from such a purpose, and of securing his friendship to the United States, Governor Clinton was requested, if possible, to effect the interview of which he had spoken, with Captain Brant. Authority was also given the Governor to enter into any pecuniary engagements which he should judge necessary, to make sure of his attachment to the United States.
It has already been observed that the council held with the Six Nations by Colonel Pickering, at the Painted Post, in June, had been to a great extent successful. Although the chiefs at Buffalo were for the most part under the influence of the British officers in Upper Canada, and of course not very friendly to the United States at that time, yet the warriors in general were more amicably disposed. The women, moreover, were anxious for peace, and addressed Colonel Proctor upon the subject. Before that officer left Buffalo, the Indians began to draw off to meet Colonel Pickering, and the council with him was well attended—serving, if no other good purpose, to divert the attention of the Indians, and by the distribution of presents to keep the young warriors from indulging their favorite propensity, by stealing away and joining the Miamis. Colonel Pickering had also induced Captain Hendrick Aupamut, the justly celebrated chief of the Muhheconnuck, [FN] to undertake the mission to the Miamis, which Colonel Proctor and Corn-planter had been prevented from performing. Captain Brant, it was also reported to the War Department, about the 1st of August, had returned to Niagara from the Miami town, accompanied by some of the western chiefs. The Indians at Pickering's treaty had asserted that, after all that had transpired, Brant's designs were still pacific; and since Lord Dorchester, as already stated, had expressed himself favorable to a pacification of the Indian tribes, and Sir John Johnson was about to assemble the Six Nations again at Buffalo, strong hopes were entertained by the American government, that the border difficulties would soon be adjusted without the necessity of another appeal to arms.