CHAPTER I._Life of Joseph Brant—Thayendanegea (Vol. I.) 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

[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

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.

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.

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 Johnson's

proceedings at Oswego--Close of the proceedings--Epidemic among the

Indians--Small benefit resulting from the council--Proceedings in Tryon

County resumed--Doubtful position of New-York--Symptoms of disaffection

to the cause of the people--Sir John Johnson--Sheriff White deposed by

the people--The royal authorities superseded by appointments from the

people--Affray at Johnstown--First gun fired at Sampson Sammons--White

recommissioned by Tryon--His flight--Labors of the Committee--Opposition

of the Tories--Designs of Sir John Johnson and Sir Guy Carleton--Letter

and deputation to Sir John--Prisoners for political offences sent to

gaol--Letter from Provincial Congress--Mohawks commence fighting at St.

Johns--Speech of the Canajoharies in explanation--Indians apply for

release of prisoners--Review of the progress of the Revolution in other

parts of the Colonies--Proceedings of Parliament--Burning of

Falmouth--Descent upon Canada--Ethan Allen taken--Arnold's

expedition--Siege of Quebec--Fall of Montgomery--Caughnawaga and

Delaware Indians.

CHAPTER VI.

Lord Dunmore--Glance at the South--Suspicious conduct of Sir John

Johnson--Conduct of the Tories in Tryon County--Gen. Schuyler directed

by Congress to march into that County and disarm the Tories--Preliminary

mission to the Lower Mohawks--Message to them--Their displeasure and

reply--March of Schuyler--Meets the Indians at Schenectady--Interview and

speeches--Advance of Schuyler--Letter to Sir John

Johnson--Interview--Negotiations of capitulation--Terms proposed--Schuyler

advances to Caughnawaga--Joined by Tryon County Militia--Farther

correspondence with Sir John--Interview with the Indian mediators--Terms

of surrender adjusted--Schuyler marches to Johnstown--Sir John, his

household, and the Highlanders, disarmed--Troops scour the country to

bring in the loyalists--Disappointment as to the supposed Tory Depot of

warlike munitions--Return of Schuyler to Albany--Resolution of

Congress--Additional trouble with Sir John--Preparations for his

seizure--Expedition of Col. Dayton--Flight of the Baronet and his

partisans to Canada--Their sufferings--And subsequent conduct--How the

violation of his parole was considered.

119

CHAPTER VII.

History of Brant resumed--Advanced to the chieftaincy of the

Confederacy--Mode of appointing chiefs and sachems--Embarks for

England--Arrives in London--Received with marked consideration--Becomes

acquainted with James Boswell and others--Agrees to espouse the Royal

cause, and returns to America--Steals through the country to

Canada--Curious supposed letter to President Wheelock--Battle of the

Cedars--Cowardice of Major Butterfield--Outrages of the Indians--Story

of Capt. McKinstry, who was saved from the stake by Brant--Indignation

of Washington, the people, and Congress--Resolutions of

retaliation--Mutual complaints of treatment of prisoners--Murder of

Gen. Gordon--Indignation at the outrage--Indian deputation at

Philadelphia--Speech to them--Congress resolves upon the employment

of an Indian force--Schuyler opposed--Review of the incidents of the

war elsewhere--Destitution of the Army--Evacuation of Boston by the

English--Disastrous termination of the Canadian campaign--Deplorable

condition of the army--Humanity of Sir Guy Carleton--Glance at the

South--Declaration of Independence--Spirit of Tryon County--Cherry

Valley--Fortifications at Fort Stanwix--American army moves to

New-York--Arrival of the British fleet and army--Battle of

Long-Island--Washington evacuates New-York--Battle of White

Plains--Retreats across New-Jersey--Followed by Cornwallis--Defeat of

Arnold on Lake Champlain--Fall of Rhode Island--Battle of Trenton.

Page 147

CHAPTER VIII.

Continuation of movements in New Jersey--Extinguishment of the

council-fire at Onondaga--Tryon County--Colonel Harper's mission to

Oghkwaga--The Harper family--Adventure at the Johnstone

settlement--Capture of Good Peter and his party--Thayendanegea crosses

from Canada to Oghkwaga--Interview with the Rev. Mr. Johnstone--Doubtful

course of Brant--Feverish situation of the people--Expedition of General

Herkimer to Unadilla--Remarkable meeting between Herkimer and

Brant--Meditated act of treachery--Wariness of the chief--Meeting

abruptly terminated--Ended in a storm--Brant draws off to Oswego--Grand

council there--The Indians generally join the Royal standard--Approach

of Brant upon Cherry Valley--How defeated--Death of Lieutenant Wormwood.

175

CHAPTER IX.

British preparations for the prosecution of the war--Indications at the

North--Doubtful position and conduct of General Howe--Embarrassing to

the Americans--Intercepted correspondence--General Howe sails to the

Chesapeake--Enters Philadelphia in triumph--Burgoyne approaches from

the North--Indian policy--Sir Guy Carleton--False estimates of the

strength of Ticonderoga--Burgoyne arrives at Crown Point--Feasts the

Indians--Invests Ticonderoga--Carries the outworks--Fortifies Sugar

Hill--The fortress evacuated by St. Clair--Retreat of the

Americans--Battles near Skenesborough and at Fort Ann--Burgoyne enters

the valley of the Hudson--Schuyler, without means, retreats from Fort

Edward--Terror of the people--Cruelties of the Indians--Story of Miss

McCrea--General flight of the population--Mrs. Ann Eliza

Bleecker--Heroism of Mrs. Schuyler--Attempted assassination of General

Schuyler.

195

CHAPTER X.

Expedition against the Mohawk Valley from Oswego--Despondency of the

people in Tryon County--Letter of John Jay--Arrest of several of the

disaffected--Flight of others to Canada--Schuyler's complaints of the

cowardice of the people--Great discouragements--Proclamation of General

Herkimer--Letter from Thomas Spencer--St. Leger's approach--Caution and

plan of his march--Diary of Lieut. Bird--Fort Stanwix invested--Colonel

Gansevoort takes command--Its deplorable condition--Gansevoort joined

by Willett--Story of Captain Gregg--Situation of the garrison--Arrival

of St. Leger--His proclamation--Burgoyne's affairs becoming

critical--Affair of Bennington--General Herkimer, with the Tryon County

militia, advances to the relief of Gansevoort--Battle of Oriskany--Bloody

upon both sides--Unexampled bravery of Captain Gardenier--Major

Watts--Dissatisfaction of the Indians--Sortie and success of Colonel

Willett--Death and character of General Herkimer.

209

CHAPTER XI.

Siege of Fort Schuyler continued--Forced letter from prisoners to Col.

Gansevoort--St. Leger summons the garrison to surrender--Refusal of

Gansevoort--Appeal of Sir John Johnson to the people of Tryon

County--Secret expedition of Colonel Willett and Major

Stockwell--Schuyler orders Arnold to the relief of Gansevoort--Willett

proceeds to Albany--Arrest of Walter Butler, and others, at German

Flats--Tried and convicted as a spy--Reprieved--Sent to

Albany--Escapes--Arnold's proclamation--Advance of the

besiegers--Uneasiness of the garrison--Sudden flight of St. Leger and

his forces--Stratagem of Arnold--Story of Hon-Yost Schuyler--Merriment

and mischief of the Indians--Arrival of Arnold at the Fort--The spoils

of victory--Public estimation of Gansevoort's services--Address to his

soldiers--His promotion--Address of his officers.

Page 249

CHAPTER XII.

Recurrence to the invasion of Burgoyne--General Schuyler again superseded

by Gates--Causes of this injustice--Battle of Stillwater--Both armies

entrench--Battle and victory of Behmus's Heights--Funeral of General

Frazer--Retreat of Burgoyne--Difficulties increasing upon him--His

capitulation--Meeting of Burgoyne and Gates--Deportment of Gates toward

Gen. Washington--Noble conduct of Gen. Schuyler.

265

CHAPTER XIII.

Sir Henry Clinton's attempt to co-operate with Burgoyne--Storming of Forts

Clinton and Montgomery--Burning of AEsopus--Review of military operations

elsewhere--Expedition to Peekskill--Of Gov. Tryon to Danbury--Progress

of Sir William Howe in Pennsylvania--Battle of Brandywine--Massacre of

the Paoli--Battle of Germantown--Death of Count Donop--Murder of Captain

Deitz and family at Berne--John Taylor--Lady Johnson ordered to leave

Albany--Exasperation of Sir John--Attempts to abduct Mr. Taylor--An

Indian and white man bribed to assassinate General Schuyler--Fresh

alarms in Tryon County--Address of Congress to the Six Nations--The

appeal produces no effect--Articles of confederation--Close of the year.

280

CHAPTER XIV.

Treaty of alliance with France--Policy of France--Incidents of the

Winter--Projected expedition against St Johns--Lafayette appointed to

the command of the North--Failure of the enterprise for lack of

means--Disappointment and chagrin of Lafayette--Unpleasant indications

respecting the Western Indians--Indian council at Johnstown--Attended

by Lafayette--Its proceedings--And result--Reward offered for Major

Carleton--Letter of Lafayette--He retires from the Northern

Department--Return of the loyalists for their families--Unopposed--Their

aggressions--Prisoners carried into Canada--Their fate--Re-appearance

of Brant at Oghkwaga and Unadilla--Anecdote of Brant--Comparative

cruelty of the Tories and Indians--Murder of a family--Exposed situation

of the people--Captain McKean--Sends a challenge to Brant--Burning of

Springfield--First battle in Schoharie.

298

CHAPTER XV.

The story of Wyoming--Glance at its history--Bloody battle between the

Shawanese and Delawares--Count Zinzendorf--Conflicting Indian claims

and titles--Rival land companies of Connecticut and Pennsylvania--Murder

of Tadeusund--The first Connecticut Colony destroyed by the

Indians--Controversy respecting their titles--Rival Colonies planted

in Wyoming--The civil wars of Wyoming--Bold adventure of Captain

Ogden--Fierce passions of the people--The Connecticut settlers

prevail--Growth of the settlements--Annexed to Connecticut--Breaking

out of the Revolution--The inhabitants, stimulated by previous hatred,

take sides--Arrest of suspected persons in January--Sent to

Hartford--Evil consequences--The enemy appear upon the outskirts of

the settlements in the Spring--Invasion by Colonel John Butler and the

Indians--Colonel Zebulon Butler prepares to oppose them--Two of the

forts taken--Colonel Z. Butler marches to encounter the enemy--Battle

of Wyoming--The Americans defeated--The flight and massacre--Fort

Wyoming besieged--Timidity of the garrison--Zebulon Butler's authority

not sustained--He escapes from the fort--Colonel Denniston forced to

capitulate--Destruction of the Valley--Barbarities of the Tories--Brant

not in the expedition--Catharine Montour--Flight of the

fugitives--Expedition of Colonel Hartley up the Susquehanna--Colonel

Zebulon Butler repossesses himself of Wyoming, and rebuilds the

fort--Indian skirmishes--Close of the history of Wyoming.

Page 318

CHAPTER XVI.

Evacuation of Philadelphia by Sir Henry Clinton--Followed through New

Jersey by Washington--Battle of Monmouth--Conduct and arrest of General

Lee--Retreat of the enemy--Arrival of the French fleet--Combined attack

of the Americans and French upon the British army of Rhode

Island--British fleet escapes from Count D'Estaing--Battle of Rhode

Island--Failure of the expedition-Projected campaigns against the

Indians--Captains Pipe and White-Eyes--McKee and Girty--General McIntosh

ordered against the Sandusky towns--Irruption of Brant into

Cobleskill--Of McDonald into the Schoharie settlements--Pusillanimity

of Colonel Vrooman--Bravery of Colonel Harper--His expedition to

Albany--Captivity of Mr. Sawyer--Slays six Indians and escapes--Colonel

William Butler sent to Schoharie--Morgan's rifle corps--Daring adventures

of Murphy and Elerson--Death of Service, a noted Tory--Murphy's

subsequent adventures--Affairs at Fort Schuyler--Alarming number of

desertions--Destruction of Andros-town by the Indians--Conflagration

of the German Flats--Expedition of Colonel William Butler from Schoharie

to Unadllla and Oghkwaga.

343

CHAPTER XVII.

Walter N. Butler--His flight from Albany, bent on revenge--The Great

Tree--Hostile indications among the Senecas and Cayugas--Premonitions

of an attack by Butler and Brant upon Cherry Valley--Discredited by

Colonel Alden--Scouts sent out and captured--Surprise of the

town--Massacre and burning--Death of Colonel Alden--Families of Mr.

Wells, Mr. Dunlop, and others--Brutality of the Tories--Family of Mr.

Mitchell--The monster Newberry--Departure of the enemy with their

captives--A night of gloom--Women and children sent back--Letter of

Butler to Gen. Schuyler--Murder of Mrs. Campbell's mother--Vindication

of Brant--Interesting incident--Brant's opinion of Capt. McKean--Colonel

John Butler laments the conduct of his son--Letter of General James

Clinton to Walter Butler--Letter of Butler in reply--Molly

Brant--Particulars of Mrs. Campbell's captivity--Feast of thanksgiving

for their victory--The great feast of the White Dogs--Return of Walter

Butler from Quebec--Col. Butler negotiates with the Indians for Mrs.

Campbell--She goes to Niagara--Catharine Montour and her sons--Mrs.

Campbell finds her children--Descends the St. Lawrence to Montreal--Meets

Mrs. Butler--Arrives at Albany, and is joined by her husband--Grand

campaign projected--Jacob Helmer and others sent privately to Johnstown

for the iron chest of Sir John--Execution of Helmer--Arrival of British

Commissioners--Not received--Exchange of Ministers with France--Incidents

of the war elsewhere for the year.

369

CHAPTER XVIII.

Indian siege of Fort Laurens--Successful stratagems--Flight of the

pack-horses--The fort abandoned--Projected enterprise from Detroit--Gov.

Hamilton captured at St. Vincent by Col. Clarke--Projects of

Brant--Uneasiness in the West of New-York--Deliberations of the Oneidas

and Onondagas--Brant's projects defeated--Treachery of the

Onondagas--Colonel Van Schaick marches to lay waste their

towns--Instructions of General Clinton--Passage of Wood Creek and

Oneida Lake--Advance upon the Indian towns--Their destruction--Return

of the expedition to Fort Schuyler--Mission of the Oneidas to Fort

Schuyler in behalf of the Onondagas--Speech of Good Peter--Reply of

Colonel Van Schaick--Irruption of Tories and Indians into the lower

Mohawk country--Stone Arabia--Defence of his house by Captain Richer--The

Indians in Schoharie--General Clinton traverses the Mohawk

valley--McClellan's expedition to Oswegatchie--Unsuccessful--Irruption

of the Onondagas into Cobleskill--Defeat of the Americans--The settlement

destroyed--Murders in the neighborhood of Fort Pitt--Irruptions of

Tories into Warwasing--Invasion of Minisink--Battle near the

Delaware--Massacre of the Orange County militia--Battle with the

Shawanese.

396

INTRODUCTION.

* * * * *

It is related by AEsop, that a forester once meeting with a lion, they

traveled together for a time, and conversed amicably without much

differing in opinion. At length a dispute happening to arise upon the

question of superiority between their respective races, the former, in

the absence of a better argument, pointed to a monument, on which was

sculptured, in marble, the statue of a man striding over the body of a

vanquished lion. "If this," said the lion, "is all you have to say, let

us be the sculptors, and you will see the lion striding over the

vanquished man."

The moral of this fable should ever be borne in mind when contemplating

the character of that brave and ill-used race of men, now melting away

before the Anglo-Saxons like the snow beneath a vertical sun--the

aboriginals of America. The Indians are no sculptors. No monuments of

their own art commend to future ages the events of the past. No Indian

pen traces the history of their tribes and nations, or records the deeds

of their warriors and chiefs--their prowess and their wrongs. Their

spoilers have been their historians; and although a reluctant assent has

been awarded to some of the nobler traits of their nature, yet, without

yielding a due allowance for the peculiarities of their situation, the

Indian character has been presented with singular uniformity as being

cold, cruel, morose, and revengeful; unrelieved by any of those varying

traits and characteristics, those lights and shadows, which are admitted

in respect to other people no less wild and uncivilized than they.

Without pausing to reflect that, even when most cruel, they have been

practising the trade of war--always dreadful--as much in conformity to

their own usages and laws, as have their more civilized antagonists, the

white historian has drawn them with the characteristics of demons.

Forgetting that the second of the Hebrew monarchs did not scruple to saw

his prisoners with saws, and harrow them with harrows of iron; forgetful,

likewise, of the scenes at Smithfield, under the direction of our own

British ancestors; the historians of the poor untutored Indians, almost

with one accord, have denounced them as monsters _sui generis_--of

unparalleled and unapproachable barbarity; as though the summary tomahawk

were worse than the iron tortures of the harrow, and the torch of the

Mohawk hotter than the faggots of Queen Mary.

Nor does it seem to have occurred to the "pale-faced" writers, that the

identical cruelties, the records and descriptions of which enter so

largely into the composition of the earlier volumes of American history,

were not barbarities in the estimation of those who practised them. The

scalp-lock was an emblem of chivalry. Every warrior, in shaving his head

for battle, was careful to leave the lock of defiance upon his crown, as

for the bravado, "Take it if you can." The stake and the torture were

identified with their rude notions of the power of endurance. They were

inflicted upon captives of their own race, as well as upon the whites;

and with their own braves these trials were courted, to enable the

sufferer to exhibit the courage and fortitude with which they could be

borne--the proud scorn with which all the pain that a foe might inflict,

could be endured.

But they fell upon slumbering hamlets in the night, and massacred

defenceless women and children! This, again, was their own mode of

warfare, as honourable in their estimation as the more courteous methods

of committing wholesale murder, laid down in the books.

But of one enormity they were ever innocent. Whatever degree of personal

hardship and suffering their female captives were compelled to endure,

their persons were never dishonoured by violence; a fact which can be

predicated, we apprehend, of no other victorious soldiery that ever lived.

In regard, moreover, to the countless acts of cruelty alleged to have been

perpetrated by the savages, it must still be borne in mind that the

Indians have not been the sculptors--the Indians have had no writer to

relate their own side of the story. There has been none "to weep for

Logan!" while his wrongs have been unrecorded. The annals of man,

probably, do not attest a more kindly reception of intruding foreigners,

than was given to the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth, by the faithful

Massassoit, and the tribes under his jurisdiction. Nor did the forest

kings take up arms until they but too clearly saw, that either their

visitors or themselves, must be driven from the soil which was their

own--the fee of which was derived from the Great Spirit. And the nation

is yet to be discovered that will not fight for their homes, the graves

of their fathers, and their family altars. Cruel they were, in the

prosecution of their contests; but it would require the aggregate of a

large number of predatory incursions and isolated burnings, to balance

the awful scene of conflagration and blood, which at once extinguished

the power of Sassacus, and the brave and indomitable Narragansets over

whom he reigned. No! until it is forgotten, that by some Christians in

infant Massachusetts it was held to be right to kill Indians as the agents

and familiars of Azazel; until the early records of even tolerant

Connecticut, which disclose the fact that the Indians were seized by the

Puritans, transported to the British West Indies, and sold as slaves, are

lost; until the Amazon and La Plata shall have washed away the bloody

history of the Spanish American conquest; and until the fact that Cortez

stretched the unhappy Guatimozin naked upon a bed of burning coals, is

proved to be a fiction, let not the American Indian be pronounced the

most cruel of men!

If, then, the moral of the fable is thus applicable to aboriginal history

in general, it is equally so in regard to very many of their chiefs, whose

names have been forgotten, or only known to be detested. Peculiar

circumstances have given prominence, and fame of a certain description,

to some few of the forest chieftains, as in the instances of Powhatan in

the south, the mighty Philip in the east, and the great Pontiac of the

north-west. But there have been many others, equal, perhaps, in courage,

and skill, and energy, to the distinguished chiefs just mentioned, whose

names have been steeped in infamy in their preservation, because "the

lions are no sculptors." They have been described as ruthless butchers

of women and children, without one redeeming quality save those of animal

courage and indifference to pain; while it is not unlikely, that were

the actual truth known, their characters, for all the high qualities of

the soldier, might sustain an advantageous comparison with those of half

the warriors of equal rank in Christendom. Of this class was a prominent

subject of the present volume, whose name was terrible in every American

ear during the war of Independence, and was long afterward associated with

every thing bloody, ferocious, and hateful. It is even within our own day,

that the name of Brant [FN-1] would chill the young blood by its very

sound, and cause the lisping child to cling closer to the knee of its

mother. As the master spirit of the Indians engaged in the British service

during the war of the Revolution, not only were all the border massacres

charged directly upon him, but upon his head fell the public maledictions

for every individual act of atrocity which marked that sanguinary contest,

whether committed by Indians, or Tories, or by the exasperated regular

soldiery of the foe. In many instances great injustice was done to him,

as in regard to the affair of Wyoming, in connexion with which his name

has been used by every preceding annalist who has written upon the

subject; while it has, moreover, for the same cause, been consigned to

infamy, deep and foul, in the deathless song of Campbell. In other cases

again, the Indians of the Six Nations, in common with their chief, were

loaded with execrations for atrocities of which all were alike

innocent--because the deeds recorded were never committed--it having been

the policy of the public writers, and those in authority, not only to

magnify actual occurrences, but sometimes, when these were wanting, to

draw upon their imaginations for accounts of such deeds of ferocity and

blood, as might best serve to keep alive the strongest feelings of

indignation against the parent country, and likewise induce the people

to take the field for revenge, if not driven thither by the nobler impulse

of patriotism. [FN-2]

* * * * *

[FN-1] Almost invariably written Brandt in the books, even in despite of

his own orthography, which was uniformly Brant.

[FN-2] See Appendix A--the well-known scalp-story of Dr. Franklin--long

believed, and recently revived and included in several works of authentic

history.

Such deliberate fictions, for political purposes, as that by Dr. Franklin,

just referred to, were probably rare; but the investigations into which

the author has been led, in the preparation of the present work, have

satisfied him, that from other causes, much of exaggeration and falsehood

has obtained a permanent footing in American history. Most historians of

that period, English and American, wrote too near the time when the events

they were describing occurred, for a dispassionate investigation of truth;

and other writers who have succeeded, have too often been content to

follow in the beaten track, without incurring the labour of diligent and

calm inquiry. Reference has been made above to the affair of Wyoming,

concerning which, to this day, the world has been abused with monstrous

fictions--with tales of horrors never enacted. The original causes of this

historical inaccuracy are very obvious. As already remarked, our histories

were written at too early a day; when the authors, or those supplying the

materials, had, as it were, but just emerged from the conflict. Their

passions had not yet become cooled, and they wrote under feelings and

prejudices which could not but influence minds governed even by the best

intentions. The crude, verbal reports of the day--tales of hear-say,

coloured by fancy and aggravated by fear,--not only found their way into

the newspapers, but into the journals of military officers. These, with

all the disadvantages incident to flying rumors, increasing in size and

enormity with every repetition, were used too often, it is apprehended,

without farther examination, as authentic materials for history. Of this

class of works was the Military Journal of Dr. James Thatcher, first

published in 1823, and immediately recognized as historical authority.

Now, so far as the author speaks of events occurring within his own

knowledge, and under his own personal observation, the authority is good.

None can be better. But the worthy army surgeon did not by any means

confine his diary to facts and occurrences of that description. On the

contrary, his journal is a general record of incidents and transactions

occurring in almost every camp, and at every point of hostilities, as the

reports floated from mouth to mouth through the division of the army where

the journalist happened to be engaged, or as they reached him through the

newspapers. Hence the present author has found the Doctor's journal a very

unsafe authority in regard to facts, of which the Doctor was not a

spectator or directly cognizant. Even the diligent care of Marshall did

not prevent his measurably falling into the same errors, in the first

edition of his Life of Washington, with regard to Wyoming; and it was not

until more than a quarter of a century afterward, when his late revised

edition of that great work was about to appear, that, by the assistance

of Mr. Charles Miner, an intelligent resident of Wilkesbarre, the readers

of that eminent historian were correctly informed touching the

revolutionary tragedy in that valley. Nor even then was the correction

entire, inasmuch as the name of Brant was still retained, as the leader

of the Indians on that fearful occasion. Nor were the exaggerations in

regard to the invasion of Wyoming greater than were those connected with

the irruption into, and destruction of, Cherry Valley, as the reader will

discover in the course of the ensuing pages. Indeed, the writer, in the

preparation of materials for this work, has encountered so much that is

false recorded in history as sober verity, that he has at times been

disposed almost to universal scepticism in regard to uninspired narration.

In conclusion of this Introduction, a short history of the origin of the

present work may not be impertinent. It was the fortune of the author to

spend several of his early years, and commence his public life, in the

valley of the Mohawk--than which the country scarce affords a more

beautiful region. The lower section of this valley was entered by the

Dutch traders, and settlements were commenced, originally at Schenectady,

very soon after the first fort was built at Albany, then called Fort

Orange, by Henry Christiaens in 1614. The Dutch gradually pushed their

settlements up the Mohawk on the rich bottom lands of the river, as far

as Caughnawaga. Beyond that line, and especially in the upper section of

the valley west of the Little Falls, and embracing the broad and beautiful

garden of the whole district known as the German Flats, the first white

settlers introduced were Germans--being a division of the Palatinates,

who emigrated to America early in the eighteenth century, under the

patronage of Queen Anne. Three thousand Germans came over at the time

referred to, about the year 1709, a portion of whom settled in

Pennsylvania. The residue ascended the Hudson to a place called East Camp,

now in the county of Columbia. From thence they found their way into the

rich valley of the Schoharie-kill, about the year 1713, and thence to the

German Flats, of which they were in possession as early as 1720. The

first colony, planting themselves in Schoharie, consisted of between

forty and fifty families. Some disagreements soon after arising among

them, twelve of these families separated from their companions; and,

pushing farther westward beyond the Little Falls, planted themselves down

upon the rich alluvial Flats at the confluence of the West Canada Creek

and the Mohawk.

At the time of its discovery, that valley was occupied by the Mohawk

Indians, the head of the extended confederacy of the Five Nations--the

Iroquois of the French, and the Romans, as Doctor Colden has denominated

them, of the New World. Of this confederacy, the Mohawks were the head or

leading nation, as they were also the fiercest. [FN] The Five Nations

early attached themselves to the English, and were consequently often

engaged in hostilities with the French of Canada, and especially with

the Hurons and Adirondacks or Algonquins--powerful nations in alliance

with the Canadians. Another consequence was, that the Mohawk valley, and

indeed the whole country inhabited by the Five Nations, were the theatre

of successive wars, from the discovery down to the close of the war of

the American Revolution. There is, therefore, no section of the United

States so rich in historical incident, as the valley of the Mohawk and

the contiguous territory at the west.

* * * * *

[FN] "I have been told by old men in New England, who remembered the time

when the Mohawks made war on their Indians (the Mohicans), that as soon

as a single Mohawk was discovered in their country, their Indians raised

a cry from hill to hill, _A Mohawk! A Mohawk!_ upon which they all fled,

like sheep before wolves, without attempting to make the least resistance

or defence on their side; and that the poor New England Indians

immediately ran to the Christian houses, and the Mohawks often pursued

them so closely, that they entered along with them, and knocked their

brains out in the presence of the people of the house." [_Colden's Six

Nations._] The excellent Heckewelder, in his paramount affection for the

Lenni Lenape, enters into a long argument to disprove Colden upon this

point; maintaining that the Mohawks were never of more terrific fame than

the Delawares. The authorities, however, are against the good Moravian

missionary, to which the writer may add the weight of the following

incident, of comparatively recent occurrence:--Some ten or twelve years

ago, a wandering Mohawk had straggled away from the ancient home of his

tribe, as far as the State of Maine, and presented himself, one day, in

the streets of a small town not far from the Penobscot river. Indian

forms and faces were not strangers in this little community, there being

a remnant of the Penobscots yet existing in the neighbourhood, who were

in the habit of visiting the place, four or five times a year, for the

purchase of such necessaries as their means could command. It happened

that a party of them had come in on the very day of the Mohawk's arrival;

and as he was lounging through the street, he came suddenly upon them in

turning a corner. The recognition, on their part, was instantaneous, and

was evidently accompanied by emotions of alarm and distrust. "Mohawk,

Mohawk," was muttered by one and another, and so long as he remained in

sight, their eyes were fixed upon him with an evident expression of

uneasiness. As for the Mohawk, he condescended only to give them a

passing glance, and went on his way with the same lounging, indifferent

step that he had exhibited from the first. He was a superb-looking fellow,

of about 25, full six feet in height, and could easily have demolished

three or four of the dwarfish and effeminate Penobscots.

At the time of the author's residence in the Mohawk country, the materials

of that history, especially that portion of them connected with events

subsequent to the conquest of Canada by Great Britain, were for the most

part ungathered. The events of the war of the Revolution, which nowhere

else raged so furiously, and was nowhere else marked with such bitter and

entire desolation, were then fresh in the recollections of the people;

and many a time and oft were the recitals listened to with thrilling

interest, and laid up in the store-house of memory, as among the richest

of its traditionary treasures. Nor was the interest of these verbal

narratives diminished by visiting the sites of the old fortifications,

strolling over the battle-fields, and noting the shot-holes in the walls

of such houses as had stood out the contest, and the marks of cannon balls

upon the trunks of trees yet remaining on fields which had been scenes of

bloody strife.

Several years afterward it occurred to the author to undertake a task

which he ought to have commenced years before, viz. the composition of a

historical memoir of the Mohawk Valley, which would embody those written

and unwritten materials of history, now fast disappearing by the death of

the actors in the scenes to be described, and the loss of papers and

manuscripts, of which such reckless destruction is allowed in this

country. In the progress of thought and investigation upon the subject,

it was soon determined to embrace in the proposed memoir some biographical

account of the Great Chief of the Six Nations, Joseph Brant--Thayendanegea;

but there was yet another distinguished name, whose history and fame were

intimately connected with the Mohawks, and whose character has neither

been justly described nor well understood. The reader will probably

anticipate the name, Sir William Johnson. By this time it was apparent

that the work, if executed, must be more extended than had originally been

contemplated; and a few slight preparations were made for its commencement

ten years ago.

It was some time in the year 1829 that the design was abandoned. Calling

upon his venerable friend Chancellor Kent, one morning, for the purpose

of borrowing a rare volume of a still rarer history of the old French war

of 1755-'63, the author was informed that his design had been anticipated

by William W. Campbell, Esq., a young gentleman of promise who was just

coming to the bar--a native of the country to be occupied as historic

ground--and whose work was then nearly ready for the press. Under these

circumstances, the project of the author was at once relinquished.

Mr. Campbell's book--"Annals of Tryon County,"--made its appearance in

1831; and was at once found valuable for its facts, and creditable alike

to the industry and talents of an author, who, although then so young,

possessed the enterprise to undertake the necessary labour, and the

ambition to inscribe his name upon the roll of American historians. Still,

the work was not a substitute for that which the author had proposed; its

object was a more limited history, both of time and territory, than had

been entertained in respect of the present work. Mr. Campbell's Annals,

with the exception of a very few brief and partial sketches, embraced the

history only of the war of the Revolution in that particular section of

country, and had little to do with biography. The design of the author,

enlarged by reflection and research, now began to comprehend a history of

the Six Nations, and their wars with the French, Hurons, or Wyandots, and

Adirondacks; the settlement of the country by the pale faces; a history

of the French War, so far as that memorable contest was connected with

the Indians and colony of New-York; together, or rather blended, with the

Lives of Sir William Johnson and Joseph Brant. A work of this description

seemed to be a desideratum in American history; and in the autumn of 1832,

preparations for the undertaking were resumed, with what success will in

part be seen in the sequel.

In the prosecution of the preliminary labour, efforts were made to procure

materials from the survivors of the family of Sir William Johnson,

residing in the Canadas. These efforts have thus far been attended with

but partial success. From one of the grandsons, however, Mr. Archibald

Johnson, a valuable manuscript volume has been procured, containing the

private diary of Sir William during the Niagara campaign of 1759, in which

General Prideaux fell, leaving the command of the army to the baronet,

whose efforts were crowned with brilliant success. From among the papers

of the late Lieut. Governor of New-York, John Taylor, in possession of his

daughter, Mrs. Cooper, the author has fortunately obtained the manuscript

of Sir William's official diary for the years 1757, 1758, and a part of

the year 1759, together with a small parcel of other papers and letters.

A few of the baronet's letters and papers are also yet extant, in the

archives of the state at Albany. All these will afford materials for his

proposed biography, and for other historical illustrations, of high value.

Many of the baronet's papers were destroyed in the war of the Revolution;

and many others, it is ascertained, are only to be found in England--to

which country a special visit will probably be necessary for their

consultation.

It will readily be perceived, that the proposed work embraces two epochs,

between which there is a very natural, and even necessary, division. The

first embraces the early history referred to, with a history of the French

war, and the country, to the death of Sir William Johnson. The second

division embraces the life of Joseph Brant, and the revolutionary, Indian,

and Tory wars of the northern and western part of the State of New-York;

and although anticipated, to a considerable extent, by Mr. Campbell, still

the author entered the field of investigation with as much spirit as

though it had not been historically traversed before. In the course of his

labours he has visited the Mohawk Valley three several times with no other

object. Ascertaining, moreover, that the venerable Major Thomas Sammons,

of Johnstown, himself, with his father and two brothers, an efficient

actor in the scenes of the Revolution, had for many years been collecting

historical materials in that region, the author applied to him; and was

so fortunate as not only to procure his collections, but to induce the old

gentleman to re-enter the field of inquiry. By his assistance a large body

of facts and statements, taken down in writing during the last thirty

years, from the lips of surviving officers and soldiers, has been obtained

for the present work. These documents have added largely to the most

authentic materials of history, enabling the author to bring out many new

and interesting facts, and to correct divers errors in the works of

preceding writers, who have superficially occupied the same ground. In

addition to these, the few remaining papers of the brave old General

Herkimer, who fell at Oriskany in 1777, have been placed at the disposal

of the author, by his nephew, John Herkimer, Esq. Still the work of Mr.

Campbell has been found of great use, and by consent has been liberally

drawn upon. In regard to some transactions, it was, indeed, almost the

only authority; as in the cases of Cherry Valley, some of the transactions

in the Schoharie Valley, and the exploits of Colonel Harper.

But this is not all. The author has visited Upper Canada, and Montreal

and Quebec, in search of materials. Most luckily for the cause of historic

truth, and the reputation of Joseph Brant, during his Canadian researches

he became apprised of the fact, that the old Mohawk chief, himself a man

of a pretty good English education, had left a large mass of manuscripts,

consisting of his own speeches, delivered on many and various occasions,

and a great number of letters addressed to him; together with copies of

his own letters in reply, which he had preserved with equal industry and

care. These papers were in the keeping of his youngest daughter, a lady

of high respectability, aboriginal though she be, and eligibly married

to William Johnson Kerr, Esq. of Wellington Square, Upper Canada. It was

obvious that those papers must prove a rich mine for exploration; and an

application from the author, through his friend the Hon. Marshall S.

Bidwell, of Toronto, was most readily responded to by Mr. and Mrs. Kerr.

The papers, it is true, were less connected than had been hoped; and by

hundreds of references and allusions contained therein, it is obvious that

large numbers of letters, journals, and speeches have been lost--past

recovery. Still, those which remain have proved of great assistance and

rare value.

To the kindness of Charles A. Clinton, Esq. the author has been indebted

for access to the private papers of General James Clinton, his grandfather.

In the composition of one portion of the present volume, these papers have

been found of vast importance. General James Clinton was the father of

the late illustrious De Witt Clinton, and the brother of Governor George

Clinton. He was much in command in the northern department, and it was

under his conduct that the celebrated descent of the Susquehanna was

performed in 1779. His own letters, and those of his correspondents, have

been of material assistance, not only in relation to that campaign, but

upon various other points of history. It was among these papers that the

letters of Walter N. Butler, respecting the affairs of Cherry Valley and

Wyoming, were discovered.

In connexion with the history of the expedition of Sullivan and Clinton,

just referred to, the author has likewise been favoured with the

manuscript diary of the venerable Captain Theodosius Fowler of this city,

who was an active officer during the whole campaign. In addition to the

valuable memoranda contained in this diary, Capt. Fowler has preserved a

drawing of the order of march adopted in ascending the Chemung, after the

junction of the two armies, and also a plan of the great battle fought

at Newtown by Sullivan, against the Indians and Tories commanded by Brant

and Sir John Johnson; both of which drawings have been engraved, and will

be found in the Appendix.

In the winter of 1775-'76, an expedition was conducted from Albany into

Tryon County, for the purpose of disarming the Tories and arresting Sir

John Johnson, of the particulars of which very little has hitherto been

known. On application to the family of General Schuyler, it was

ascertained that his letter books for that period were lost. After much

inquiry, the necessary documents were obtained from Peter Force, Esq. at

Washington.

The author has likewise been indebted to General Peter B. Porter, of Black

Rock, for some valuable information respecting the character and some of

the actions of Brant. General Porter was an early emigrant into the

western part of the State, as an agent for the great landholder, Oliver

Phelps; and the execution of his duties brought him into frequent

intercourse with many of the chiefs and sachems of the Indians. Among

these he became intimately acquainted with the Mohawk chief, between whom

and himself a written correspondence was occasionally maintained for

several years. Unfortunately, however, that correspondence, with other

communications in his hand-writing, which Gen. Porter had taken some pains

to preserve, was destroyed by one of the incursions of the enemy across

the Niagara during the last war. Still, the General has supplied the

author with several important reminiscences respecting the old chief, and

one transaction of thrilling interest, heretofore entirely unknown.

A friend of the author, a highly respectable and intelligent octogenarian,

Samuel Woodruff, Esq., of Windsor, Connecticut, made a visit to Brant at

the Grand River Settlement, in the summer of 1797, and remained with him

several days, in the enjoyment of frequent and full conversations upon

many subjects. Mr. Woodruff has obligingly furnished a dozen pages or more

of instructive notes and memoranda of those conversations, which have been

freely used. The author is likewise under obligations to Professor Marsh

of Burlington College, (Vt.) a connexion, by marriage, of the Wheelock

family, for several of Brant's original letters; and also to Thomas

Morris, Esq., of New-York, who knew the chief well, and was several years

in correspondence with him, for the same favour. Mr. Campbell has,

moreover, supplied several documents of value, obtained by him after the

publication of his own book.

Having, by the acquisition of these and other papers, procured all the

materials that appeared to remain, or, at least, all that were accessible,

while the documentary papers for the first division of the work were yet

very incomplete, the author, like Botta, in his promised complete history

of Italy, has been compelled to write the latter portion of the work

first. In the execution of this task, he had supposed that the bulk of his

labour would cease with the close of the war of the Revolution, or at

most, that some fifteen or twenty pages, sketching rapidly the latter

years of the life of Thayendanegea, would be all that was necessary. Far

otherwise was the fact. When the author came to examine the papers of

Brant, nearly all of which were connected with his career subsequent to

that contest, it was found that his life and actions had been intimately

associated with the Indian and Canadian politics of more than twenty years

after the treaty of peace; that a succession of Indian Congresses were

held by the nations of the great lakes, in all which he was one of the

master spirits; that he was directly or indirectly engaged in the wars

between the United States and Indians from 1789 to 1795, during which the

bloody campaigns of Harmar, St. Clair, and Wayne, took place; and that he

acted an important part in the affair of the North-Western posts, so long

retained by Great Britain after the treaty of peace. This discovery

compelled the writer to enter upon a new and altogether unexpected field

of research. Many difficulties were encountered in the composition of this

branch of the work, arising from various causes and circumstances. The

conflicting relations of the United States, the Indians, and the Canadians,

together with the peculiar and sometimes apparently equivocal position in

which the Mohawk chief--the subject of the biography--stood in regard to

them all; the more than diplomatic caution with which the British officers

managed the double game which it suited their policy to play so long; the

broken character of the written materials obtained by the author; and the

necessity of supplying many links in the chain of events from

circumstantial evidence and the unwritten records of Indian diplomacy;

all combined to render the matters to be elucidated, exceedingly

complicated, intricate, and difficult of clear explanation. But tangled

as was the web, the author has endeavoured to unravel he materials, and

weave them into a narrative of consistency and truth. The result of these

labours is embodied in the second part of the present work; and unless

the author has over-estimated both the interest and the importance of this

portion of American history, the contribution now made will be most

acceptable to the reader.

In addition to the matters here indicated, a pretty full account of the

life of Brant, after the close of the Indian wars, is given, by no means

barren either of incident or anecdote; and the whole is concluded by some

interesting particulars respecting the family of the chief, giving their

personal history down to the present day.

It may possibly be objected by some--those especially who are apt to form

opinions without much reflection--that the author has indulged rather

liberally, not only in the use of public speeches and documents, but also

in the transcription of private letters. To this he would reply, that in

his view, his course in that respect adds essentially to the value of the

work; and had it not been for the unexpected size to which the volumes

have attained, those quotations would have been made with still greater

freedom. For instance, in regard to the interesting proceedings at the

last Grand Council of the Six Nations held in Albany, it was the original

intention of the author, long as they are, to insert them in the text; and

so the matter was at first arranged. The ancient Council Fire of the Six

Nations was always kept burning at Onondaga, the central nation of the

confederacy. But from the time of the alliance between the Six Nations and

the English, the fires of the united councils of the two powers were

kindled at Albany. There, according to the Indian figure of speech, the

big tree was planted, to which the chain of friendship was made fast. But

with the close of the Great Council held there in the summer of 1775, that

fire, which had so long been burning, was extinguished. It was the last

Indian congress ever held at the ancient Dutch capital. It took place at

a most important crisis, and its proceedings were both of an important and

an interesting character. Nor, until now, have those proceedings ever been

published entire. Indeed, it is believed that no part of them was ever in

print, until very recently a portion of the manuscript was discovered, and

inserted in that invaluable collection, the papers of the Massachusetts

Historical Society. That manuscript, however, was very defective and

incomplete, and chance alone has enabled the author to supply the

deficiency. It happened, during one of his visits to the office of the

Secretary of State last year, in search of documents, that he discovered,

among some ancient, loose, and neglected papers, several sheets of Indian

treaty proceedings, which were of themselves very imperfect. Supposing,

however, that they might possibly be of use at some time, he caused them

to be transcribed. Most luckily, on examining them in connexion with the

publication of the Massachusetts collection, they were found exactly to

supply the deficiencies of the latter. The result is, that the papers

appear now for the first time entire; a portion of them, however, from

their great length, having been transferred to the Appendix.

In regard to the use of speeches and letters, moreover, the author, after

much consideration, has adopted the plan, as far as possible, of allowing

the actors in the scenes described to tell their own stories. This is a

method of historical, and especially of biographical, writing, which is

coming more into favour than formerly. Marshall adopts it to a

considerable extent, and very effectively, in the Life of Washington. The

instructive and admirable life of that noblest of England's naval warriors,

Lord Collingwood, was constructed upon this plan. So, also, with Moore's

Life of Byron. Taylor's Life of Cowper, one of the most useful as well as

interesting lives that have been written of that most melancholy and yet

most delightful of English bards, is composed almost entirely from the

poet's own correspondence. Lockhart's captivating Memoirs of the peerless

Scott, now in course of publication, have been constructed upon the basis

of the mighty minstrel's own letters. And it is upon the same principle

that the author has quoted so largely from the letters and speeches of

Joseph Brant, and several of his distinguished correspondents; among whom,

the reader who has only heard of "the monster Brant" as a savage once

leading the Mohawks abroad upon scalping parties, will probably be

surprised to learn, were numbered many gentlemen of rank and standing in

Church and State, both in England and America.

An able English writer [FN] has recently opened a very interesting

discussion, upon the great advantages of thus using letters and

manuscripts in the composition of history. Speaking of the maxim that

"history is philosophy teaching by example," he remarks:--"In morals, all

depends upon circumstances. An example, whether real or fictitious, can

teach us nothing, if it contains only dry facts. The mischief of a great

many histories, and those of no mean account, is, that they are quite

contented with giving an agreeable narration of naked facts, from which we

can gather nothing beyond the facts themselves. To the chronicler, the

murder of Thomas A' Becket is the murder of Becket, and it is nothing

more. To what quarter, then, are we to look for the magic by which we may

make the dry bones live again? We answer, unhesitatingly, to the letters

of the day, if there be any. We say so, not because they will contain any

elaborate description of the feelings, or expose' of the views, of the age

to which they belong, but because they must be written, to a great extent,

in the spirit of the age in which their writers lived. The events of the

day--the writers' feelings toward their neighbours, and their neighbours'

feelings toward them--their comments on the ordinary course of things

around them; these are precious records for all who wish to study mankind

and morals in history; for these things, and these alone, can enable us

fully to appreciate the temper and spirit in which the acts commemorated

in history were done. . . . It is very true that some historians profess

to use letters, and that some have actually used them in a small degree;

but, considering their great value, they have never been used as they

deserved; and, in very many cases, their existence seems to be hardly

known to historians themselves." It is in accordance with these views,

that letters and speeches have been so copiously used in the present work;

although it is not supposed that the correspondence of a burly chieftain

of the forest, or the bluff partisan officers of a wilderness border, can

in any respect be compared with Cowper's polished models of epistolary

writing, or with those of Scott or Byron, or those of Lady Mary Wortley

Montague, of Peter of Blois or John of Salisbury. They are nevertheless

valuable in themselves, both as historical records and as illustrations

of character. Of the speeches, and sketches of speeches, embodied in this

work, together with the narratives given of the occasions which called

them forth, it may be added that they are all memorials of a people,--once

a noble race--numerous and powerful--now fast disappearing from the face

of the earth--a beautiful portion of the earth--once their own! These

memorials it was one of the chief purposes of the author to gather up and

preserve.

* * * * *

[FN] London Quarterly Review, No. cxvi.--Art. on Upcott's Collection of

Original Letters, Manuscripts, and State Papers.

The plan of the work, especially of the first and larger portion of it,

may perhaps in some respects disappoint the reader, though, it is hoped,

not unfavourably. It has been the object of the author to render it not

only a local, but, to a certain extent, a brief general history of the War

of the Revolution. Thus, while it is a particular history, ample in its

details, of the belligerent events occurring at the west of Albany, the

author has from time to time introduced brief sketches of contemporaneous

events occurring in other parts of the country. By this means, bird's-eye

glimpses have been presented, for the most part in the proper order of

time, of all the principal military operations of the whole contest. In

order, moreover, to the better understanding of the incipient

revolutionary movements in the Mohawk country, (then Tryon County,) a

rapid view is given of the same description of movements elsewhere. The

proceedings of that county were, of course, connected with, and dependent

upon, those of New England, especially of Boston--the head, and heart, and

soul of the rebellion, in its origin and its earlier stages. Hence a

summary review of the measures directly, though by degrees, leading to the

revolt of the Colonies, has not been deemed out of place, in its proper

chronological position. And as all the Indian history of the Revolutionary

war at the north, the west, and the south, has been written out in full,

by the incidental sketches of other events and campaigns marking the

contest, the work may be considered in the three-fold view of local,

general, and biographical; the whole somewhat relieved, from time to time,

if not enlivened, by individual narratives--tales of captivity and

suffering--of daring adventures and bold exploits.

Several weeks after the preceding pages had been stereotyped, but before

any considerable progress had been made in printing the body of the work,

the author was so fortunate as to obtain a large accession of valuable

materials from General Peter Gansevoort, of Albany, embracing the

extensive correspondence of his father, the late General Gansevoort,

better known in history as "the hero of Fort Stanwix." These papers,

embracing those captured by him from the British General St. Leger, have

been found of great importance in the progress of the work, and will add

materially to its completeness and its value.

A few words respecting the embellishments of these volumes. The

frontispiece of each volume presents an elegantly engraved portrait of the

brave and wary Mohawk, who forms the principal biographical figure of the

work, taken at different periods of his life. The Chief sat for his

picture several times in England; once, at the request of Boswell, in

1776, but to what artist is not mentioned. He likewise sat, during the

same visit, to the celebrated portrait and historical painter, George

Romney, for the Earl of Warwick. He was again painted in England, in 1786,

for the Duke of Northumberland; and a fourth time, during the same visit,

in order to present his likeness in miniature to his eldest daughter. His

last sitting was to the late Mr. Ezra Ames of Albany, at the request of

the late John Caldwell, Esq. of that city. This was about the year 1805,

and the likeness is pronounced the best ever taken of Captain Brant. The

author's valued friend Catlin has made a very faithful copy of this

portrait, which has been beautifully engraved by Mr. A. Dick, a well-known

and skillful artist of New-York. This picture, as latest in the order of

time, will be found at the head of the second volume. The inscription of

this plate is a _facsimile_ of the old chief's signature, from a letter

written by him to the Duke of Northumberland not long before his death.

The author has another picture of the elder Brant, of which he may be

pardoned for giving some account. Being at Catskill, in the Summer of

1833, the author discovered, in the possession of his friend, Mr. Van

Bergen, some odd volumes of the London Magazine of 1776, in one of which

he accidentally found an engraving of Brant, from the portrait taken for

Boswell, in the gala costume of the Chief as he appeared at Court. The

countenance of this picture, however, was dull, and comparatively

unmeaning. On his visit to Upper Canada, in September, 1836, the

chieftain's daughter, Mrs. Kerr, showed him a head of her father in a gold

locket, which was full of character and energy--with an eye like the

eagle's. Having procured this locket, and placed it, together with the

engraving referred to, in the hands of Mr. N. Rogers, that eminent artist

has produced a very spirited and beautiful picture, which was painted

expressly to be engraved for this work. Before it was placed in the hands

of the artist, however, Mr. Chapman, an artist of New-York, returning from

a visit to England, brought with him a superb print of Brant, taken from

the Earl of Warwick's picture by Romney. As this print not only presents

more of the figure of the chief than either of the others, and possesses

withal more character and spirit, it has been adopted for the work in lieu

of that painted by Mr. Rogers. The engraving has also been well executed

by Dick, and stands in front of the first volume. The picture by Catlin

is the war-chief of the forest in the full maturity of years. The other

is the Indian courtier in London. This first volume also contains a finely

engraved portrait of General Gansevoort, by Prudhomme, from a portrait by

Stuart. It is a fine specimen of the gentleman of the Revolutionary era.

But these are not all the pictorial illustrations. In the completion of

the life of Brant, it has been deemed proper to add some account of his

family subsequent to his decease. The law of official inheritance among

the Six Nations will be found peculiar to that people, the descent being

through the female line. Joseph Brant was himself the principal War-chief

of the Six Nations; and his third wife, who at his decease was left a

young widow, was, in her own right, the representative of the sovereignty

of the Confederacy, in whom alone was vested the power of naming, from

among her own children, or, in default of a child of her own, from the

next of kin, a principal civil and military chief. On the death of her

husband, therefore, she selected as his successor her youngest son, John

Brant, then a lad of seven years old. He grew up a noble fellow, both in

courage and character, as the reader will ascertain before he closes the

second volume. During the author's visit to the Brant House in Upper

Canada, he saw a portrait of the young chief, then recently deceased,

which, though painted by a country artist, and, as a whole, a very bad

picture, was nevertheless pronounced by Mr. and Mrs. Kerr to be very

correct, so far as the figure and likeness were concerned. Obtaining this

portrait from Canada last Autumn, it was placed in the hands of Mr. Hoxie,

who has produced the excellent picture which has been well engraved by Mr.

Parker, and will be found in the second volume. As the young chief went

first upon the war-path in the Niagara campaigns of 1812-15, the idea of

embodying a section of the great cataract in the back-ground of the

picture was exceedingly appropriate.

As the name of the celebrated Red Jacket appears frequently in the second

volume, a likeness of him has been added, from a painting by Weir,

beautifully engraved by Hatch. In addition to all which is the finely

engraved title-page, designed, engraved, and presented to the author, by

his estimable friend Mr. A. Rawdon.

In addition to these illustrations, another has been added, the character

of which is striking and its history curious. It is the sketch of a scene

at a conference with the Indians at Buffalo Creek, in the year 1793, held

by Beverley Randolph, General Benjamin Lincoln, and Colonel Timothy

Pickering, in the presence of a number of the British officers then

stationed upon that frontier. Messrs. Randolph, Lincoln, and Pickering

were on a pacific mission, accompanied, at the request of the Indians, by

a number of Quakers. The sketch of that conference was drawn by a British

officer, Col. Pilkington, and taken to Europe. In 1819 it was presented to

an American gentleman of the name of Henry, at Gibraltar, and by him given

to the Massachusetts Historical Society. The sketch is drawn with the

taste and science of a master of the art; the grouping is fine, and the

likenesses are excellent. As the history of the mission of those gentleman

forms an interesting chapter in the present work, this sketch has been

deemed an appropriate accompaniment.

In addition to the acknowledgments already made in the preceding pages,

the author is under obligations, to a greater or less extent, to many

other individuals, for hints, suggestions, and the collection of materials.

Among these he takes pleasure in naming the Hon. Lewis Cass, late

Secretary of War, and now Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary

near the Court of St. Cloud; General Dix, Secretary of the State of

New-York, and Mr. Archibald Campbell, his deputy; General Morgan Lewis;

Major James Cochran, of Oswego, and also his Lady, who was the youngest

daughter of General Schuyler; Major William Popham, who was an aid-de-camp

to General James Clinton; Samuel S. Lush, Esq., and S. De Witt Bloodgood,

Esq. of Albany; James D. Bemis, Esq. of Canandaigua; Lauren Ford and

George H. Feeter, Esquires, of Little Falls; Giles F. Yates, Esq. of

Schenectady; William Forsyth, Esq. of Quebec; and the Rev. Mr. Lape,

formerly of Johnstown, and now of Athens, N. Y.

With these preliminary explanations, the work is committed to the public,

in the belief that, although it might, of course, have been better

executed by an abler hand with a mind less distracted by other pressing

and important duties, it will, nevertheless, be found a substantial

addition to the stock of American history.

WILLIAM L. STONE.

_New-York, March,_ 1838.

LIFE OF BRANT.

LIFE

JOSEPH BRANT--THAYENDANEGEA, &c.

* * * * *

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