The War Chief of the Six Nations | Page 2

a forest mother; that she knew where the linden grew high
and where the brown-red sycamores clustered thick by the margin of

the stream. It may be supposed that when the sun mounted high she
would tie the picturesque, richly ornamented baby-frame containing her
boy to some drooping branch to swing from its leathern thong in the
cooling breeze. We may imagine her tuneful voice singing the mother's
Wa Wa song, the soft lullaby of the sylvan glades. Thayendanegea's
eyes blink and tremble; he forgets the floating canopy above him and
sleeps in his forest cradle.
The hunting excursion to the Ohio came at length to an end, and then
the Mohawks started for their lodges in the far north-east. Up the broad
river sped the strongest canoe-men of all the peoples of the forest, with
Thayendanegea stowed snugly in the bottom of some slender craft.
Over the long and weary portages trudged his mother, her child bound
loosely on her shoulders. Their route lay towards Lake Erie, then along
the well-trodden trail to the Mohawk river; and the baby was for the
first time among the fertile cornfields and the strange Long Houses of
his people. At this period the Mohawks lived farthest east of all the
tribes of the Six Nations. Their main settlements were along the
Mohawk river in what is now the state of New York, but they claimed
authority over the region stretching thence towards Montreal. They had
three settlements on the Mohawk, the central one of which, called
Canajoharie Castle, was the home of Thayendanegea's parents. Near by
lived the celebrated William Johnson, His Majesty's representative for
Indian Affairs in the colony of New York, who some years later
became sole superintendent of 'the six united nations, their allies and
dependents.'
When Thayendanegea grew stronger he began to romp with the other
boys of the village. With them he followed the women down to the
river's brink, picking up shiny pebbles from the sand, or watching the
minnows dart about in the sunlight. With them, when the days were
long, he crawled through the brambles, looking for luscious berries, or
ran with the wiry Indian dogs into copse and brushwood. Then he
learned to swim, to fish, and to dip his paddle noiselessly in the stream.
Like every red child, Thayendanegea listened rapt in wonder to the
tales that were told him. The Mohawks had a storehouse of fable, and
he soon became versed in the lore of the forest. Perhaps, too, he sat

beside his wrinkled grandfather, who was a sachem, [Footnote: That
Thayendanegea was the grandchild of one of these sachems who were
so honoured appears from information given in an article published in
the London Magazine; of July 1776. The material for this account of
him is supposed to have been supplied by the famous author James
Boswell, with whom, while on a visit to England in that year, he was
intimate.] or petty king, of the Six Nations, and heard the old man tell
the romantic story of his trip to England in the pear 1710, when Anne
was sovereign queen; heard how five sachems at this time had gone on
an embassy for their people and were right royally entertained in the
city of London; how, as they passed through the streets, the little
children flocked behind, marvelling at their odd appearance; how at the
palace they appeared in garments of black and scarlet and gold and
were gladly received by the queen, whom they promised to defend
against her foes; and how, after seeing the soldiers march, and after
riding in the queen's barge and enjoying various amusements, they
returned to their own country.
There is some obscurity surrounding the identity of Thayendanegea's
father, but it is generally agreed that he was a full-blooded Mohawk
and a chief of the Wolf clan. [Footnote: The Mohawks were divided
into three clans--the Tortoise, the Bear, and the Wolf.] By some writers
it is said that he bore the English name of Nickus Brant. Others say that
Thayendanegea's father died while the son was still an infant and that
the mother then married an Indian known to the English as Brant. By
and by, as Thayendanegea mingled with the English, he acquired the
name of Joseph, and so came down through history as Joseph Brant;
but whether he acquired this name from his father or from his
step-father we cannot tell, and it does not really matter. We shall know
him hereafter by his English name.
In the traditions of the Mohawk valley it is told how one day a
regimental muster was being held, in Tryon county, in the colony of
New York, at which William Johnson was present. Among the throng
of those who were out to see the sights was