Places: the Joseph Brant House, Burlington, Ontario

One can tell a lot about a person by the company they keep and the influences they choose to emulate.  Such is the case is with Joseph Brant's later home in Burlington, Ontario

Some have tried to make Joseph's story out to be a rags-to-riches tale of a young boy with little hope of status in his tribe rising to a life of wealth through the patronage of an English Indian Agent.  But that narrative doesn't do Joseph any justice.  He was not born in poverty and his mother was of sufficient status in their tribe to become the wife of a sachem.  Joseph's stepfather, whose last name he took, lived on a farm with a large farmhouse not indistinguishable from that of their White neighbors.  Members of John Sullivan's 1779 expedition commented on the prosperity of Iroquois farms.  The Brant home was respectable enough that Sir William Johnson, Superintendent of the British Indian Department, felt comfortable staying there.

In 1763 Sir William built Johnson Hall, in present-day Johnstown, New York.  Once he and Molly, Joseph's sister, began their relationship Joseph was a frequent guest at Johnson Hall.  He learned more than just how wealthy Whites lived.  He learned how a man of stature behaved, how he entertained his guests, and how he expected to be perceived in the world.  Joseph would one day try to recreate that world for himself.  After the Revolution, he built a home for himself near what is now Brantford, Ontario, but over time, as his power within his society waned, he decided on a home further away.  He settled in what is now Burlington, Ontario, and began work on a home that was a deliberate half-scale model of Johnson Hall.  His power as a leader may have been on the decline, but he wasn't about to let the world know it.  In that time, keeping up appearances was just as important in Native society as it was in the White world.  Unfortunately, Joseph would only have a few years to enjoy his new home.  He died in 1807 and the house is now a museum.

Natives versus Settlers: the Battle of Newtown, August 29, 1779

Although like many smaller Revolutionary War battles, this one was fought between Patriots on one side, and Loyalists with Native auxiliaries on the other, there was only two parties with any real stake in the matter.  The Natives fought for their homeland against Settlers who were trying to take it away.

After the battles in 1778 at Wyoming and Cherry Valley, public outcry against the Iroquois in general and the Seneca in particular became too great for Washington to ignore.  The only way to break the English Loyalist hold in New York, and maybe the British, too, was to penalize their allies, the Iroquois.  We've discussed the Sullivan/Clinton expedition of 1779-1780 in greater detail in another post.  Here, we'll talk about the Native response, particularly on the part of the Seneca and Mohawk, as villages and farms were laid waste and women, children and non-combatants were sent fleeing to British held territory, Montreal or Fort Niagara, were they faced a terrible winter with little in the way of shelter or provisions.

As Sullivan's scorched earth campaign progressed, John Butler, the leader of Butler's Rangers, and Joseph Brant favored a guerilla-type campaign of harassing and slowing down the enemy advance.  Seneca war leaders Sayenquaraghta (Old Smoke) and Cornplanter were tired of running and wanted a pitched battle.  In late August, 1779, Butler led 200-250 of his Rangers with a handful of British Regulars and over a thousand Iroquois warriors to what is now called Sullivan's Hill, near present-day Elmyra, New York.  The Rangers and Natives dug horseshoe shaped entrenchments about halfway up the hill.  On August 29, 1779, Sullivan's force approached, headed by Daniel Morgan's riflemen.  Seeing the breastworks and sensing an ambush, Morgan halted his forces and began scouting the area.  As more senior commanders came on the scene, they realized the danger of the situation, with an enemy entrenched on a hill and a swamp, Hoffman Hollow, below.  Sullivan's forces waited for the arrival of artillery and concocted a plan to assault the breastworks, surround and ultimately force the Loyalists and Natives from their advantageous position. 

The plan nearly worked, with Sullivan's forces almost able to encircle the breastwork positions and cut off escape.  Fortunately, some of his forces became bogged down in the swamp, throwing off the timing of the assault.  As most of the Rangers and warriors made their escape, Brant and his men led a counterattack that further slowed down the Patriot advance.  It was a gallant effort at a last stand but it was ultimately unsuccessful.  With the Native and Loyalist defense smashed, the rest of the Iroquois land in New York lay open to whatever Sullivan had in mind.  Novelist-historian Allan Eckert wrote that this battle broke the backs of the Iroquois League, and the hearts of the people of the Six Nations. 

Natives versus Settlers: Lochry's Defeat, Augut 24, 1781

As the Revolutionary War ground to a weary halt with the siege and surrender of Yorktown in October, 1781, things were far from quiet on the frontier.  The British at Fort Detroit continued to encourage attacks by their Native auxiliaries against American outposts and settlements.  As was discussed in an earlier post, George Rogers Clark, the leading American commander in the backcountry, nourished a dream of taking Fort Detroit, but could never get his pet project off the ground.  One reason was lack of men. 

With the British bottled up on the Virginia coast, Washington believed he could spare a few men to assist Clark.  He sent 100 men under Archibald Lochry marching toward Fort Pitt (Pittsburgh) and a rendezvous with Clark.  They hadn't counted on Joseph Brant and his volunteer force, made up mostly of Native but even of some Whites were who willing to fight under his command.  Brant teamed up with Simon and George Girty and Alexander McKee to meet Clark in August, 1781.  At the last minute, they realized that Clark had a far larger force then they expected.  Simon and Alexander missed an opportunity to ambush part of Clark's men in their camp on the banks of Ohio River due to lack of reinforcements coming up in time.  Through captured prisoners, Brant learned of Lochry's force on its way to join Clark.  He and George Girty put their heads together and came up with a plan. 

Lochry's party landed on the banks of the Ohio River near the Great Miami River, expecting to meet up with Clark.  They had seen injured Americans left on the bank by Brant and believed they were picking up survivors of a routine brush between Natives and Settlers.  As Lochry's men came ashore, started breakfast and began making camp, Brant and George sprung their trap.  As Brant's men descended on them, Lochry's men tried to go for their guns, but some had left their weapons behind in the canoes.  The Americans headed that way, before realizing that Brant had dispatched men to take possession of the canoes.  There was no escape and Lochry called for his men to surrender.  The totals were 37 Americans dead and 64 captured.  Some of the dead were executed after they had surrendered, including Lochry.  A Shawnee encounter him sitting on a log unawares and killed him with a tomahawk blow.  Brant intervened before more prisoners could be killed. 

Brant hurried his prisoners toward Fort Detroit, intending to rendezvous with McKee, Simon and units of Butler's Ranger to go after Clark.  They received word that Clark had turned back and, once again, given up on Fort Detroit.  He was fortunate.  Had Simon and McKee been able to spring their part of the trap, or had Clark continued further upriver, he and his men would have suffered ambush after ambush by prepared Native war parties, resulting in disaster.  Meanwhile, the men of Lochry's command who survived were divided up amongst the various tribes.  Some were adopted into the tribes, others ritually executed, others turned in to the British at Fort Detroit where they spent several months in a prison in Montreal.  About half the survivors eventually made it back to their families. 

Lochry's Defeat spread alarm and panic on the frontier.  Clark would try a few more times to float his scheme to capture Fort Detroit, which ultimately make sense in hindsight, but few if any state authorities, let alone Washington, were prepared to release more men.  Though Clark may not have realized it yet, his spectacular career as the Washington of the West was in decline.  Two other commanders were also locked in drama of their own.  Simon Girty and Joseph Brant had never liked each other.  Simon dismissed Brant as a drinker and bragger.  Brant just wished Simon would go away.  After the battle, they met up in Detroit and began drinking.  Simon heard Brant bragging about the victory over Lochry and felt incensed that Brant was shading George Girty by not giving him any of the credit.  The two had words and both drew swords.  Brant slashed Simon on the front of his head and down his face.  Simon wounded Brant in the leg so badly that it almost had to be amputated.  Both would take months to recover and neither voluntarily entered each other's presence again.