



Produced by Roger Burch with scans from the Internet Archive.




[ILLUSTRATION: Cover]




{Transcriber's Note: Quotation marks have been standardized to modern
usage. Footnotes have been placed to immediately follow the paragraphs
referencing them.}




                          LIFE OF BRANDT




                              Life
                               of

                   JOSEPH BRANT--THAYENDANEGEA:
                            INCLUDING
                          THE BORDER WARS
                              OF THE
                      AMERICAN REVOLUTION,
                                AND
             SKETCHES OF THE INDIAN CAMPAIGNS OF GENERALS
                    HARMAR, ST. CLAIR, AND WAYNE.
                         AND OTHER MATTERS
      CONNECTED WITH THE INDIAN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES
             AND GREAT BRITAIN FROM THE PEACE OF 1783 TO
                     THE INDIAN PEACE OF 1795.


                        BY WILLIAM L. STONE.


                          IN TWO VOLUMES.
                              VOL. I.


                             NEW-YORK:
                 ALEXANDER V. BLAKE, 38 GOLD STREET.
                               1838.




 [Entered according to Act of Congress of the United States of America
  in the year 1838, by George Dearborn & co., in the Clerk's Office of
  the District Court for the Southern District of New-York.]


                               New-York:
                    Printed by Scatcherd & Adams.
                         No. 38 Gold Street.




                           TO THE HONORABLE

                        STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER,

                              OF ALBANY,

These volumes are most respectfully inscribed. If the efforts of the
writer to illustrate more fully and minutely than has hitherto been done,
the most interesting portion of American history, in its immediate
connection with the large and populous State of which The Patroon has
so long been one of the most distinguished citizens, shall be so
fortunate as to merit the regard, and receive the approbation, of one
so excellently qualified to judge of its interest and value, there will
be nothing left unsatisfied to the ambition and the hopes of

                                          His friend and servant,
                                                          THE AUTHOR.




                          CONTENTS.

                          * * * * *

                          CHAPTER I.

 Birth and parentage--Discussion of the doubts cast upon his origin--Visit
  of Mohawk chiefs to Queen Anne--Evidence of Brant's descent from one
  of those--Digression from the main subject, and Extracts from the
  private and official journals of Sir William Johnson--Connexion between
  Sir William and the family of Brant--Incidental references to the old
  French war--Illustrations of Indian proceedings, speeches, &c.--Brant's
  parentage satisfactorily established--Takes the field in the Campaign
  of Lake George (1765.)--Is engaged at the conquest of Niagara
  (1759.)--Efforts of Sir William Johnson to civilize the Indians--Brant
  is sent, with other Indian youths, to the Moor Charity School, at
  Lebanon--Leaves school--Anecdote--Is engaged on public business by Sir
  William--As an Interpreter for the Missionaries--Again takes the field,
  in the wars against Pontiac--Intended massacre at Detroit--Ultimate
  overthrow of Pontiac--First marriage of Brant--Entertains the
  Missionaries--Again employed on public business--Death of his
  wife--Engages with Mr. Stewart in translating the Scriptures--Marries
  again--Has serious religious impressions--Selects a bosom friend and
  confidant, after the Indian custom--Death of his friend--His grief, and
  refusal to choose another friend.
                                                                 Page 1

                          CHAPTER II.

 Early symptoms of disaffection at Boston--Origin of the Revolutionary
  War--First blood shed in 1770--Stirring eloquence of Joseph
  Warren--Feelings of Sir William Johnson--His influence with the Indians
  and Germans, and his unpleasant position--Last visit of Sir William to
  England--His death--Mysterious circumstances attending it--Suspicions
  of suicide unjust--His son, Sir John Johnson, succeeds to his title and
  estates--His son-in-law, Col. Guy Johnson, to his office as
  superintendent General of the Indians--Early life of Sir John--Joseph
  Brant appointed Secretary to Guy Johnson--Influence of the Johnson
  family--Revolutionary symptoms in  County, fomented by the
  proceedings in New England--First meeting of Tryon County
  Whigs--Declaration of Rights--First meeting of Congress--Effect of its
  proceedings--in England--Tardiness of Provincial legislature of
  New-York--Spirit of the people--Notes of preparation in Massachusetts,
  &c.--Overt acts of rebellion in several States--Indians exasperated by
  the Virginia borderers in 1774--Melancholy story of Logan--Campaign
  of Lord Dunmore and Colonel Lewis--Battle of the Kanhawa--Speech of
  Logan--Its authenticity questioned--Peace of Chilicothe--Unhappy feeling
  of the Indians.
                                                                       29

                          CHAPTER III.

 Unyielding course of the parent Government--Efforts of the Earl of Chatham
  unavailing--Address to the Crown from New-York--Leslie's Expedition to
  Salem--Affair of Lexington--Unwise movements of Tryon County
  loyalists--Reaction--Public meetings--The Sammons family--Interference
  of the Johnsons--Quarrel at Caughnawaga--Spirited indications at Cherry
  Valley--Counteracting efforts of the Johnsons among their
  retainers--Intrigues with the Indians--Massachusetts attempts the
  same--Correspondence with the Stockbridge Indians--Letter to Mr.
  Kirkland--His removal by Guy Johnson--Neutrality of the
  Oneidas--Intercepted despatch from Brant to the Oneidas--Apprehensions
  of Guy Johnson--Correspondence--Farther precautions of the
  Committees--Reverence for the Laws--Letter of Guy Johnson to the
  Committees of Albany and Schenectady--Substance of the reply.
                                                                       49

                            CHAPTER IV.

 Council of the Mohawk chiefs at Guy Park--A second council called by
  Johnson at Cosby's Manor--Proceeds thither with his retinue--First full
  meeting of Tryon County Committee--Correspondence with Guy Johnson--No
  council held--Johnson proceeds farther West, accompanied by his family
  and most of the Indians--Consequent apprehensions of the
  people--Communication from Massachusetts Congress--Ticonderoga and Crown
  Point taken by Ethan Allen--Skenesborough and St. Johns
  surprised--Farther proceedings in Massachusetts--Battle of Bunker
  Hill--Death of Warren--Council with the Oneidas and Tuscaroras at German
  Flats--Speech to the Indians--Subsequent council with the
  Oneidas--Conduct of the people toward Guy Johnson--Speech to, and reply
  of Oneidas--Guy Johnson moves westwardly to Ontario--His letter to the
  Provincial Congress of New-York--Holds a great Indian council at the
  West--Unfavourable influence upon the dispositions of the
  Indians--Causes of their partiality for the English--Great, but
  groundless alarm of the people--Guy Johnson, with Brant and the Indian
  warriors, descends the St. Lawrence to Montreal--Council there--Sir Guy
  Carleton and Gen. Haldimand complete the work of winning the Indians
  over to the cause of the Crown.
                                                                  Page 71

                          CHAPTER V.

 Meeting of the second Continental Congress--Measures of
  defence--Declaration--National fast--Organization of an Indian
  department--Address to the Six Nations--Council called at
  Albany--Preliminary consultation at German Flats--Speeches of the
  Oneidas and others--Adjourn to Albany--Brief interview with the
  commissioners--Conference and interchange of speeches with the
  Albanians--Proceedings of the grand council--Speeches of the
  commissioners--Replies of the Indians--Conclusion of the grand
  council--Resumption of the conference with the Albanians--Speech of
  the Albany Committee--Reply of the Indians--Disclosures of Guy