Indian chief; son of
Joseph Brant; born in the
Mohawk village on the
Grand River, in Canada, Sept. 27, 1794; took up arms for the
British when the
War of 1812-15 broke out. and led a party of Indians at the battle of
Queenston (q. v.). He was then only eighteen years of age, and was conspicuous for his bravery.
He had received a good English education at Ancaster and
Niagara, and was a diligent student of English authors.
Young
Brant was an ardent lover of nature.
was manly and amiable, and was in every respect an accomplished gentleman.
On the death of his father, he became the principal chief of the Six Nations, although he was the fourth and youngest son.
Brant was engaged in most of the military events on the
Niagara frontier during the war; and at its close he and his young sister Elizabeth occupied
[
398]
the homestead at the head of
Lake Ontario, and there dispensed a generous hospitality.
He went to
England in 1821 on business for the Six Nations, and there took occasion to defend the character of his father from the aspersions contained in
Campbell's
Gertrude of Wyoming.
He proved that his father was not present at the massacre in
Wyoming; but the poet had not the generosity or manliness to strike out of the poem the calumnious words, and so it remains until this day. In 1827
Governor Dalhousie gave him the commission of captain, and as such he appeared as in the engraving.
In 1832 he was elected a member of the Provincial Parliament for the
county of Haldimand.
He died on the
Grand River reservation in September, 1832.
