THE PINE-TREE TOTTERS
It came to pass before long that the Indians wished to
dispose of some of the land granted to them on Grand
River. The United Empire Loyalists and others, lured by
the prospect of cheap land, kept crossing into Canada
from the United States; accessions to the population of
the Great Lakes region had come by immigration from the
British Isles, and the country was making forward strides.
Straggling settlers and speculators were often anxious
to purchase land in the richer districts when they could
get it at a low price. It happened, however, that after
the redskins had sold and leased bits of their territory
to such persons, the provincial government began to
interfere. The land, it said, belonged to the Indians
only so long as they remained upon it. They could not,
therefore, sell any of it, as they had no direct ownership
of the soil.
This decision shed a new light upon the proprietary rights
of the Six Nations in Canada and the Indians were sorely
perplexed. All along they thought that they held their
lands like other settlers who had proved their loyalty.
Brant vigorously took up their case, made several able
speeches on their behalf, and freely corresponded with
the authorities of the province regarding the matter. In
1793 Governor Simcoe issued a new proclamation respecting
the grant, but this did not end the dispute. The province
still claimed the right of pre-emption with respect to
the whole of their reserve. Later on the matter was
carried to England, and the British government tended to
favour the Indians' claims. But nothing was done, owing
to contentions among the redskins themselves. It was
only, indeed, after Brant's death that the affair was
finally settled. The sale of large tracts of Indian land
was then authorized, and the money received was safely
invested for the benefit of the Mohawks and others of
the Six Nations in Canada. In connection with this
difficult question Brant had intended making a trip to
England, but was forced to abandon the idea.
During the latter part of his life Brant visited different
parts of America and twice journeyed as far as the Atlantic
seaboard. On these occasions he had the opportunity of
talking over old campaigns with officers who had fought
against him in the war, and he delighted his listeners
with stirring stories of his experiences in the field.
On one occasion, when in Philadelphia, he was entertained
in sumptuous fashion by Colonel Aaron Burr. A dinner
party was held in his honour, and among the guests were
Talleyrand and Volney. Early in the evening the War Chief
was rather taciturn, and the other guests were somewhat
disappointed. But this was only a passing mood, from
which Brant soon freed himself. Launching into the
conversation, he was soon the centre of attraction.
Though Captain Brant was able to pass his later years in
comparative ease, his life was marred by the occurrence
of two untoward events. His eldest son, Isaac, was a
reprobate over whom the father exercised little influence.
Isaac had been guilty of acts of violence and had begun
to threaten Joseph Brant himself. He was jealous of the
numerous children of Catherine Brant and took occasion
to offer her various insults. In 1795 both father and
son were at Burlington Heights, at a time when the Indians
were receiving supplies from the provincial government.
Isaac, crazed with liquor, tried to assault his father
in one of the lower rooms of an inn, but he was held in
check by several of his youthful companions.
Captain Brant drew a dirk which he usually carried with
him, and in the excitement of the moment inflicted a
slight wound on Isaac's hand. The cut was not serious,
but Isaac would not allow it to be properly treated, and
subsequently died from an attack of brain fever. The War
Chief was sorely grieved at the result of his hasty
action, and fretted about it until the end of his days.
He is said to have hung the dirk up in his room and to
have often wept as he gazed upon it. The other source of
trouble to Brant was the revolt against his rule of a
small minority among the tribes. This movement was led
by Brant's old adversary, Red Jacket, and another chief,
the Farmer's Brother. A council was held by the dissenters
at Buffalo Creek in 1803, and Joseph Brant was formally
deposed as head of the confederacy of the Six Nations.
But as this meeting had not been legally convoked, its
decisions were of no validity among the Nations. The
following year, at another council, legitimately assembled,
the tribesmen openly declared their confidence in the
War Chief's rule.
Because of Brant's many services to the crown, the British
government gave him a fine stretch of land on the north-west
shore of Lake Ontario, near the entrance to Burlington
Bay. On his estate, known as Wellington Square, he erected
a large two-storey house, in which he might spend the
remaining years of his life. A number of black slaves
whom he had captured in the war were his servants and
gave him every attention. Brant is said to have subjected
these negroes to a rigid discipline and to have been more
or less of a taskmaster in his treatment of them. In his
declining years he was wont to gaze over the waters of
Lake Ontario, remembering the country stretching from
the southern shore where once he had struggled, and the
valley of the Mohawk, where had been the lodges of his
people.
But the giant pine-tree of the forest was now beginning
to bend. Tall and erect, it had out-topped and outrivalled
every other tree of the woodland. Men knew that that
pine-tree was tottering. In the autumn of 1807 the Captain
of the Six Nations was in the grip of a serious illness.
Friends and neighbours came to bring solace and comfort,
for he was widely revered. Racked with pain, but
uncomplaining, he passed the few weary hours of life
which were left. On November 24, 1807, the long trail
came to an end. Close by Brant's bedside. John Norton,
[Footnote: Norton was a Scotsman who, coming to Canada
early in life, settled among the Mohawks and won a chief's
rank among them. He played an important part in the War
of 1812.] a chieftain of his tribe, leaned to catch the
last faltering word.
'Have pity on the poor Indians,' whispered the dying War
Chief; 'if you can get any influence with the great,
endeavour to do them all the good you can.'
The body of Captain Brant was taken to Grand River and
buried beside the walls of the church he had helped to
rear. In the centre of the busy city of Brantford--whose
name, as well as that of the county, commemorates his
--stands a beautiful monument, picturesque and massive,
to his worth and valour; in the hearts of the people of
Canada he is enshrined as a loyal subject, a man of noble
action, and a dauntless hero. Seldom in the annals of
Canada do we find a character so many-sided as the Captain
of the Mohawks. He was a child of nature, and she endowed
him with many gifts--a stout and hardy frame, a deportment
pleasing and attractive, and an eloquent tongue. It was
these natural endowments that gave him endurance in the
conflict, pre-eminence in council, and that won for him
the admiration of his contemporaries.
The education which Brant received was meagre, but he
could hardly have put what knowledge he had to better
advantage. After he had been relieved from the arduous
life of the camp, he began to satisfy again his desires
for self-culture. His correspondence towards the close
of his life shows a marked improvement in style over that
of his earlier years. There is no lack of convincing
evidence that Brant had a penetrating and well-balanced
intellect; but his chief glory is the constant efforts
he put forth for the moral and religious uplift of his
people.
With respect to Brant's abilities as a military leader,
there will continue to exist differences of opinion. That
he possessed the craftiness of his race in a superlative
degree, and that he used this to baffle his opponents on
the field of battle, cannot be denied. Some will go
further and assert that he had a remarkable genius in
the art of stratagem. Whatever powers he had he used,
from his boyhood days, in the interests of British rule
in America, and the services rendered by this last great
leader of the Six Nations in the War of the Revolution
were not among the least of the influences that enabled
Great Britain to maintain a foothold on the North American
continent. Joseph Brant in the War of the Revolution and
his descendants in the War of 1812 played essential parts
in firmly basing British institutions and British rule
in Canada.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
The principal authority for material on Joseph Brant is
William L. Stone's _Life of Joseph Brant_ (Thayendanegea),
2 vols. (1838). This includes an account of the border
wars of the American Revolution and sketches of the Indian
campaigns of Generals Harmar, St Clair, and Wayne. A
brief biography entitled _Memoir of Captain Joseph Brant_,
'compiled from authentic records,' was published anonymously
in Brantford in 1872. _History of Brant County_ (1883),
Part II, pages 85-149, is devoted almost exclusively to
Brant and his family. Samuel G. Drake's _Biography and
History of the Indians of North America from its First
Discovery_ has one chapter (pp. 577-93) given exclusively
to Brant. The chapter in the same work dealing with Red
Jacket will also be found of interest to the student of
Brant's career. William L. Stone, Jr.'s _Life and Times
of Sir William Johnson_, 2 vols. (1865), contains much
valuable information regarding the events which shaped
the early career of Brant. B. B. Thatcher in his _Indian
Biography_, 2 vols., dismisses Brant with an unsympathetic
and prejudiced paragraph, but several of his chapters,
particularly the one dealing with Red Jacket, throw much
light on the struggles in which Brant took part.
Other works which contain much material relating to Joseph
Brant are Mrs Holden's _The Brant Family_; Eleazar
Wheelock's _Narrative of the Original Design, Rise,
Progress and Present State of the Indian Charity-School
at Lebanon, In Connecticut_ (1763); William V. Moore's
_Indian Wars of the United States_; Jean N. McIlwraith's
_Sir Frederick Haldimand_, and A. G. Bradley's _Lord
Dorchester_ in the 'Makers of Canada' series; Lewis H.
Morgan's _League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee, or Iroquois_;
E. M. Chadwick's _The People of the Long House_; _Documents
relating to the Constitutional History of Canada,
1759-1791_, selected and edited by Adam Shortt and Arthur
G. Doughty; _Haldimand Papers_, January 1779 to March
1783, copies of which are in the Dominion Archives;
_Handbook of Canadian Indians_, edited by James White,
F.R.G.S.
See also in this Series: _The Dawn of Canadian History_;
_The Father of British Canada_; _The War Chief of the
Ottawas_; _Tecumseh_.
END