Joseph Brant (March 1743-24 November 1807), born Thayendaneaga, was a chief of the Mohawk tribe. Brant led the Mohawk during the American Revolutionary War, and he sided with the Tories and Great Britain against the rebellious patriots during the war.
Biography[]
Joseph Brant was born in March 1743 in the Ohio Country to two Protestant Mohawk parents, and Brant served alongside the British Army during the French and Indian War, being one of the 182 Indian soldiers to be awarded medals by Great Britain for their services during the war. In 1761, Sir William Johnson arranged for Brant to be educated at Moor's Indian Charity School (Dartmouth College) in New Hampshire, where he learned to speak and write in English. In March 1764, he took part in a war against the Lenape, and Willian Johnson secured his promotion to war chief. In 1775, he visited King George III of Britain in London and was given a ceremonial apron while being initiated ijnto the Freemasons. In August 1776, he accompanied Henry Clinton, Charles Cornwallis, and Hugh Percy at the Battle of Long Island, and in 1777 Brant and Barry St. Leger led an army to attack Fort Schuyler (Fort Stanwix). Throughout 1778 and 1779, Brant led raids against colonists on the frontier, including in the Wyoming Valley and Cherry Valley, leading to the Sullivan Expedition of 1779 being carried out against the Iroquois in the Mohawk Valley. From 1780 until the end of the war, Brant led raids from Detroit against the rebels, and after the war Brant decided to remain neutral during the Northwest Indian War. In 1802, John Graves Simcoe gave Brant an estate, and he died in 1807.