Thayendanegea Joseph Brant Thayendanegea Joseph Brant (1743 - 1807) was a Mohawk Kanyen'kehà:ka military and political leader. Sovereign over the Mohawk Valley, the Mohawk were people of the Eastern Woodland, originally owners of what is present-day, upstate New York. In exchange for their help in the revolutionary war, England made promises to the Mohawk, and Brant and his volunteers allied themselves with Britain, during, and frustratingly, after the revolution. As illustra