[FN-1] As a specimen of these bloody anecdotes, take the following, related many years since by a traveler named Weld, from whom it has been universally copied since. And yet there is not a syllable of truth in its composition:—"With a considerable body of his troops, he joined the forces under the command of Sir John Johnson. A skirmish took place with a body of American troops; the action was warm, and Brant was shot by a musket ball in his heel; but the Americans in the end were defeated and an officer and eighty men were taken prisoners. The officer, after having delivered up his sword, had entered into conversation with Sir John Johnson, who commanded the British troops, and they were talking to either in the most friendly manner, when Brant, having stolen slyly behind them, laid the American officer low with a blow of his tomahawk. The indignation of Sir John Johnson, as may be readily supposed, was roused by such an act of treachery, and he resented it in the warmest terms. Brant listened to him unconcernedly, and when he had finished, told him that he was sorry for his displeasure, but that indeed his heel was extremely painful at the moment, and he could not help revenging himself on the only chief of the party that he saw taken. Since he had killed the officer, he added, his heel was much less painful to him than it had been before."
[FN-2] This incident was mentioned to me by Colonel Kerr, his son-in-law. The occurrence was at the defeat of St. Clair.
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. He related one instance in particular, in which a young female prisoner had lagged behind, and whom he himself hid in the bushes that she might escape and return to her home. This account of himself was subsequently confirmed by Captain Philip Frey, son of Colonel Hendrick Frey, of Tryon county, of most respectable character and connexions, and an officer in the British army, who had served with Brant on several military expeditions, and shared with him the dangers of several battles. [FN]
[FN] Letter of Major Cochran to the author. In farther illustration of Brant's general desire to prevent the shedding of blood unnecessarily, the following incident has been communicated to the author while these sheets were passing through the press:—"The late Jonathan Maynard, Esq. of Framingham, (near Boston,) Massachusetts, formerly a member of the Senate of that State, was actively engaged in the war of the Revolution, and, as he was in the habit of relating to his friends, was taken prisoner at one time in the western part of New-York by a party of the enemy, composed chiefly of Indians, under the command of Brant. The savages were disposed to put him to death according to the exterminating mode of warfare practised in that section of the country by the combined Indians and Tories; and preparations were making to that effect, when, having been partially stripped, Brant discovered the symbols of Freemasonry marked upon the prisoner's arms, which led him to interpose and save his life. Mr. Maynard was then sent a prisoner to Canada, where, after remaining several months, he was finally exchanged, and returned home. He lived to an advanced age, universally respected in the town where he resided, as an upright man and faithful magistrate; and was favorably known throughout the county of Middlesex, which he represented in the Senate of the commonwealth."—Letter to the author by George Folsom, Esq.
Having thus disposed of the principal events in his career during the war of the Revolution, in respect to which his conduct was certainly the opposite of savage and blood-thirsty, this point of his vindication may be appropriately closed by the following extract from a letter addressed to him in February, 1792, by the Rev. Mr. Kirkland, than whom none was more intimately acquainted with his general character and disposition:—
"Rev. Mr. Kirkland to Captain Brant.—(Extract.)
"Genesee, February 17th, 1792.
"My Dear Friend,