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 Brant,
JOSEPH (Thay-en-da-ne-gea), Mohawk chief; born on the
banks of the Ohio River in 1742. In 1761 Sir William Johnson sent
him to Dr. Wheelock's school at Hanover,
New Hampshire, where he
translated portions of the New Testament into the Mohawk language.
Brant engaged in the war against Pontiac in 1763, and at the
beginning of the war for independence was secretary to Guy Johnson,
the Indian Superintendent. In the spring of 1776 he was in England;
and to the ministry he expressed his willingness, and that of
his people, to join in the chastisement of the rebellious colonists.
It was an unfavorable time for him to make such an offer with an
expectation of securing very favorable arrangements for his people,
for the ministry were elated with the news of the disasters to the
"rebels" at Quebec. Besides,
they had completed the bargain for a host of German mercenaries, a
part of whom were then on their way to America to crush the
rebellion. They concluded the next ship would bring news that the
Americans were willing to agree to unconditional submission, the
only terms which the imperial government would grant. Brant
returned, but to find the Americans successful in many places, and
determined to persevere. He took up arms for the British; and in the
raids of Tories and Indians in central
New York [SEE
CHERRY VALLEY
MASSACRE] upon the patriotic
inhabitants he was often a leader, holding the commission of colonel
from the King of England. He prevailed on the
Six Nations to make a
permanent peace after the war; and in 1786 he went to England the
second time, but then for the purpose of collecting funds to build a
church on the Indian reservation on the Grand River, in Canada.
 This
was the first church erected in the Upper Province. Brant did much
to induce his people to engage in the arts of peace. He died on his
estate at the head of Lake Ontario, Canada, November 24, 1807. The
remains of Brant rest beneath a handsome mausoleum near the church
on the reservation on the Grand River, Canada. It was erected by the
inhabitants of the vicinity in 1850. On the slab that surmounts it
is an inscription in commemoration of the chief and of his son John. |
