The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-07-25

| bells poem, Gertrude of Wyoming, 81
/ to the contrary Notwithstanding. But
I while he did not actually take part in
/ the Wyoming horror, there is no doubt
| he2 displayed all the instincts Of the
/ savage at Springfield and at Cherry
| Valley. At CobleskfIl, however, he
| stopped the scalping of women and
| children and expressed the greatest soT-
row over the conduct of Buffers white
/ troops.
/ All the while Brant was ravaging the
/ border settlements, scalping and muir
/ dering, or making raids on unprotect-
/ ed towns further in, he carried on a
/ voluminous correspondence with his
! sister Molly, and with Sir John johnson
and Guy Johnson. From the tone of
these letters you would think the writer
was an earnest, Christian gentleman,
/ who was battling in a great cause, but
/ whose heart bled when he thought Of
/ the terrible consequences of war.
/ For two years Brant had been the
master of the Mohawk country. He had
overrun that rich and fertile valley and
I had spread terror throughout northern
| and western New York. But a day Of
! reckoning was coming, The Cont
nentals sent a strong force under COM
mand Of General Sullivan, and at the
battle of NewtOwn (Elmira), where
Brant commanded the Indians and Col
onel Butler the regular troops and the
] Tory Rangers, Brant and Buffers COM
bined forces were routed and driven in
disorder from the field.
The battle was a long and bloody one.
Brant was everywhere in the thick Of
the fight. He was thus described. about
this time, by an American prisoner:
He was a likely fellow of fierce as
pect, tall and rather spare; weu-spoken
and apparently about 40 years of age
He wore mOccasins elegantly trimmed
with beads, leggins and a breechclout
a superfine blue shirt, a queer coat with
two silver blue eDaulets, and a small
laced round hat. By his side hung an
elegant silver-mounted cutlass, and his
blanket of blue cloth, purposely drop
ped on the chair on which he sat to
display his epaulets, was gorgeousIy
decorated with a border Of red
The battle of EImira broke the power
of the Six Nations and put an end to
Brant's activity for the remainder of
the Revolutionary war. Sullivan. to
teach BTant a lesson, ravaged the No
hawk land and turned that fertile dis
trict into a desert. I3rant was so hard
pressed by the patriot army that he
and the remainder of his band had to
flee to Canada, where he remained until
the close OF hostilities.
A Leader of His People.
The treaty Of peace, which was
signed in November, 1872, made no stip-
ulation regarding the Indian allies Of
the British. Their lands were in pos
session of the Americans The thou
sands Of OnOndagas, CayUgas. Senecas.
MOhawks. TuscarOras and Oneidas were
practically wanderers and outcasts. The
English did not want them-thev had
served their purpose. The Americans
regarded them with hostility and dis
trust. No greater evidence of Brant's
ability as a leader is afforded than at
this time when he had brought disaster
on rich, powerful and COntented peO-
pie. But in disaster he was able to
hold them together just as strongly as
In the days when he held them by the
power Of the sword.
His first step was to try to get Justice
from the British and a fulflment of the
lavish promises they had made him
when they begged him for his support.
After much effort he obtained from the
crown a formal grant Of land 100 miles
long and twelve miles wide in Canada.
on the Grand river, near Lake Erie. for