The War Chief of the Six Nations | Page 7

teacher when they were together in the
Indian country, and to pay him something for his work as an interpreter.
This appealed to the young redskin. It appeared that his schooldays
were ended in any event, for his people were jealous of his prolonged
stay in the lodges of the stranger and he had received a message calling
him back to Canajoharie Castle.
In the month of June 1763, master and pupil set out together, but, as
fate would have it, Smith's quest among the tribes was to be quickly
ended. Hardly had he begun his pilgrimage when he found the Indians
in wild commotion. Again the hatchet had been unburied, and for the
sake of security he had to bring his mission to an abrupt end.
Pontiac, great chief of the Ottawas, had raised the standard of revolt
against English rule. This was an aftermath of the struggle just
concluded with France, and began when the Western Indians saw that
another race of pale-faces had come upon their lands. With skill and
adroitness Pontiac had gathered many tribes into a strong offensive
league. He declared that if they followed in his train he would drive the
feet of the intruder from the red man's territory. There was a savage
rising in May 1763. In a twinkling eight English posts in the interior
fell before the savages. Fort Ligonier and Fort Pitt, [Footnote: Formerly
Fort Duquesne.] at the head-waters of the Ohio, and Fort Detroit in the
west, were alone left standing of all the places attacked, and Detroit
was besieged by Pontiac with thirty-six chiefs at his back. The call to
arms in defence was urgent. A portion of the Six Nations joined their
old allies, the English, and among the warriors who went out was
Joseph Brant. 'Joseph tarried,' we are told, 'and went out with a
company against the Indians, and was useful in the war, in which he
behaved so much like the Christian and the soldier, that he gained great
esteem.'
A body of Mohawks were among the troops which brought succour to

Major Gladwyn in his resistance at Fort Detroit in 1763, and it is
possible that Brant was in the thick of the fight in this vicinity. It is
possible, too, that he was with Colonel Bouquet in August at the battle
of Bushy Run, near Fort Pitt. In this engagement, after two days of
strenuous backwoods fighting, the Indians were finally worsted.
Pontiac's star had begun to set. With hopeless odds against him, the
stubborn chief of the Ottawas kept up the struggle until the following
year, but at last he was compelled to sue for peace.
In the meantime Brant's reputation among his tribesmen was steadily
rising. In the spring of 1764, when the fighting was at an end, he
returned to Canajoharie Castle. There he built a comfortable house,
wedded the daughter of an Oneida chieftain, and dwelt for some years
in peace and quiet. Two children, Isaac and Christiana, were born to
him of this, his first, marriage. We may pass rapidly over these tranquil
years of Brant's life. He did his domestic duties as a man should; and
Sir William Johnson, finding him trustworthy, had constant work for
him, and sent him on many important missions to the Indians, even to
the far-western tribes. During this period Brant became a communicant
in the Anglican Church, and, knowing well what hardships the
missionaries had to endure, he gave them what help he could in their
work among the red people. He assisted the Rev. John Stuart, a
missionary to his tribe and afterwards a distinguished clergyman in
Upper Canada, in his translation of the Acts of the Apostles, in a
History of the Bible, and in a brief explanation of the Catechism, in the
dialect of the Mohawks. It is related that a belated missionary, footsore
and weary, crept one day to Brant's abode, where he was given food
and cared for in his sickness. 'Joseph Brant,' the missionary wrote in
grateful tribute, 'is exceeding kind.'
It was well that a man of judicious mind and fearless heart was coming
to the fore among the nation of the Mohawks. A cloud had begun to
fleck the horizon; soon would come the sound of the approaching
tempest. How would it fare with the Six Nations in the day of turmoil?
CHAPTER IV

THE WAYS DIVIDE
The happy ending, in 1763, of the war with France left the English
colonies in America with little to disturb them, except the discontented
red men beyond the Alleghany Mountains. The colonies grew larger;
they did more business and they gathered more wealth. But as they
prospered they became self-confident and with scarce an enemy at
home they became involved in a quarrel with the motherland across