Mohawk Trilogy

The American Revolution (1776 - 1783) created English Upper Canada (Canada West, Ontario).

 

But, swayed by our ignorance via colonial propaganda, those of us who are interested in the life of Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant) ought to avoid making a grave mistake: The Mohawk Pine Tree Chief, though allied with the Crown, was not an English-loving loyalist (United Empire Loyalist/UEL).

 

Other members of the Haudenosaunee (post 1812–1815) may have declared their loyalty to the British Crown. Brant, who died in 1807, cannot be counted among them.

 

Like Pontiac, Tecumseh or even John Norton, the "controversial" Brant felt his people were caught between a rock and a hard place. 

 

There was no right answer. No right side to pick.

 

After European pathogens killed millions of the Indigenous, several foreign populations administered the coup de grâce: These strange populations swamped the extant First Nations (and to some extent, the Métis) and claimed their territories.

 

For over three hundred years (before the American Revolution), the North American continent witnessed nothing but war and death. The eighteenth-century turned the continent into a bloodland.

 

Brant (c 1743 -1807) was a European nation's Indigenous ally (for a time); nonetheless, if we are to believe John Norton (and not William Claus or C. M. Johnston), Brant remained "loyal" to his home and his people. From 1784 until he moved to Burlington (c 1802), Brant lived in the Grand River settlement, only to confront constant criticism. Why were the people not sovereign?

 

To protect the idea of the confederacy's sovereignty on the Grand River, Brant was relentless in seeking ways to increase critical mass.

Post revolution, the Indigenous population issue was especially salient because the Haudenosaunee's Upper Canadian territory (the Haldimand Tract) was far larger than a small number of displaced persons could control, or patrol.

 

Historian James Paxton describes Brant as a "Canajoharie Mohawk."

 

Arising from his leadership experience with the German Palatines of the Mohawk Valley during the revolutionary war, "Captain" Brant felt grateful to the non-Indigenous "volunteers," who fought with him. Brant was a visionary; Yes, the vision backfired. But in his day, Brant foresaw and tried to forestall the mess that awaited a fractured native diaspora. As a "Canajoharie Mohawk," Brant believed sovereign oversight might allow for a diverse but law-abiding citizenry – Black Americans included. *See Angela Files, African Hope Renewed.*  

 

In Canada West, trying socio-cultural events brought individuals and peoples into conflict and exacerbated many feuds.

 

How it's going: Except for citizens of the Grand River settlement (many of whom didn't/don't like Brant) and except for areas within or near the Haldimand Tract, the name Joseph Brant has fallen into an historical sinkhole.

 

Notwithstanding the war chief's alliance with the Crown, his vital contribution to the British side in the revolutionary war, and ultimately, his serving the cause of Canada rather than the United States, Thayendanegea is almost forgotten.

 

In twenty-one years of teaching at the University of Alberta, many of those years in Canadian Studies, I frequently asked about Brant but no one knew his name, let alone the enormous debt the nation of Canada owes him.

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And most of all, there are the little details that flavour an era – for instance, squirrel burgoo was a popular dish. Kerosene was not yet in use, and the telegraph was in its infancy. Steam engines had stared to come into their own.

 

Mid-nineteenth century, ancient First Nations' culture clubs were disintegrating and re-forming. Newly arrived, the most prestigious Anglo-Americans (UEL) sought to come together to create culture clubs with a common purpose (they were united in being anti-feminine, anti-"Indian," and anti-Black – aka, anti-coloured). With colonial help, including the courts, some entrepreneurial robber-baron settlers and some Indigenous opportunists claimed dominance. Nineteenth-century leaders in various Anglo-American and Haudenosaunee culture clubs attempted to gentrify their communities on the backs of two protocols: rabid English loyalism and territory surrenders with (oxymoronic) aggressive land acquisition. 

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Hope was the word. Always hoping to get the community's numbers up, Brant continuously claimed sovereignty for the people. The British Crown, of course, continuously denied it. More broken promises. More deception. More despair.

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But we must never forget. The Grand River Haudenosaunee were very wealthy, mostly thanks to land and timber sales. The British "banked" Six Nations' monies in general revenue – to be invested (1832 - 1845) in the disastrous Grand River Navigation Company. In deplorable outcome, the ensuing story of the Navigation rivals David Grann's Killers of the Flower Moon (Osage Nation oil head-rights' tragedy).