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BRANT, Joseph (1742-1807), Mohawk Indian Chief. Autograph letter signed ("Jos. Brant"), to General Chapin, Niagara, 2 January 1795. 2 pages, folio, crease repaired, tipped to another sheet.
CHIEF BRANT DENOUNCES FRENCH "BUTCHERY" OF "THEIR KING, QUEEN, NOBLES AND OTHERS IN [AN] INHUMANE SHOCKING MANNER"
"INDIANS ARE NOT ENTIRELY DESTITUTE OF HUMANITY BUT FROM APPEARANCES IT HAS FLED FROM FRANCE." A scorching letter from Chief Joseph Brant discussing the 11 November 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua between the U.S. and the Six Nations of the Iroquois, and denouncing the French for their bloody regicide and reign of terror. Brant writes to General Israel Chapin, who served as Timothy Pickering's deputy at the treaty talks: "I have not as yet heard the particulars of the Treaty, therefore know not whether the transactions may be salutary or no. Your exertions Sir I verily believe ever have been owing to your wish to see the Indians done justice and Peace established on just and solid terms such as would be beneficial to both Whites & Indians. This desirable object I hope may yet be established and that without further bloodshed."
Turning to "Col. Pickering's speech to the Five Nations relative to Wm. Johnson," Brant tries to be diplomatic: "I could say much in answer to it but for the present think there is no necessity for so doing," but he cannot resist answering Pickering's likening the Jacobin revolutionaries to Indian savages. He hurls the definition back defiantly: "As to the comparison the French doing what the Indians do...the Indian Warriors are always ready to turn out to defend their just rights--but Indian Warriors would not be ready to turn out, to butcher their King, Queen, Nobles and others in the inhumane shocking manner the French have done. Indians are not entirely destitute of humanity, but from appearances it has fled from France. I must therefore say the French have not acted as Indians do." Returning to the treaty and Indian-white relations, he says: "As to the affairs of the White Nations, they are in my opinion like a lottery, which will be uppermost cannot be known untill drawn. The most powerful no doubt will be successful. Our situation will be the same as we still will have whites to deal with, whose aims are generally the same..."
Brant's experience with the "White nations" and their officials dated back to his service with Sir William Johnson against the French in 1755. A convert to Anglicanism and a translator of several Christian texts into Mohawk, he became secretary to Guy Johnson and even enjoyed a certain celebrity in London in the 1770s as an unofficial Mohawk "ambassador" to the crown. He met King George, dined with Boswell and sat for George Romney. Back in America he fought with St. Leger throughout the Mohawk Valley campaign, particularly at the Battle of Oriskany. Brant was touchy on the "savage" charge, since whites hurled the epithet at him for his role in the notorious Cherry Hill Massacre of 1778. More than once he reminded his Christian brethren--including in one instance George III--of their own innumerable departures from the example set by the Prince of Peace.
CHIEF BRANT DENOUNCES FRENCH "BUTCHERY" OF "THEIR KING, QUEEN, NOBLES AND OTHERS IN [AN] INHUMANE SHOCKING MANNER"
"INDIANS ARE NOT ENTIRELY DESTITUTE OF HUMANITY BUT FROM APPEARANCES IT HAS FLED FROM FRANCE." A scorching letter from Chief Joseph Brant discussing the 11 November 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua between the U.S. and the Six Nations of the Iroquois, and denouncing the French for their bloody regicide and reign of terror. Brant writes to General Israel Chapin, who served as Timothy Pickering's deputy at the treaty talks: "I have not as yet heard the particulars of the Treaty, therefore know not whether the transactions may be salutary or no. Your exertions Sir I verily believe ever have been owing to your wish to see the Indians done justice and Peace established on just and solid terms such as would be beneficial to both Whites & Indians. This desirable object I hope may yet be established and that without further bloodshed."
Turning to "Col. Pickering's speech to the Five Nations relative to Wm. Johnson," Brant tries to be diplomatic: "I could say much in answer to it but for the present think there is no necessity for so doing," but he cannot resist answering Pickering's likening the Jacobin revolutionaries to Indian savages. He hurls the definition back defiantly: "As to the comparison the French doing what the Indians do...the Indian Warriors are always ready to turn out to defend their just rights--but Indian Warriors would not be ready to turn out, to butcher their King, Queen, Nobles and others in the inhumane shocking manner the French have done. Indians are not entirely destitute of humanity, but from appearances it has fled from France. I must therefore say the French have not acted as Indians do." Returning to the treaty and Indian-white relations, he says: "As to the affairs of the White Nations, they are in my opinion like a lottery, which will be uppermost cannot be known untill drawn. The most powerful no doubt will be successful. Our situation will be the same as we still will have whites to deal with, whose aims are generally the same..."
Brant's experience with the "White nations" and their officials dated back to his service with Sir William Johnson against the French in 1755. A convert to Anglicanism and a translator of several Christian texts into Mohawk, he became secretary to Guy Johnson and even enjoyed a certain celebrity in London in the 1770s as an unofficial Mohawk "ambassador" to the crown. He met King George, dined with Boswell and sat for George Romney. Back in America he fought with St. Leger throughout the Mohawk Valley campaign, particularly at the Battle of Oriskany. Brant was touchy on the "savage" charge, since whites hurled the epithet at him for his role in the notorious Cherry Hill Massacre of 1778. More than once he reminded his Christian brethren--including in one instance George III--of their own innumerable departures from the example set by the Prince of Peace.