Impending struggle, and by common consent Brant assumed

the leadership of the Iroquois in war.

Two things favoured Brant in any appeal he might make in

the interests of the British to the loyalty of the Six

Nations. For over a hundred years they had taken from

the colonial agents who represented the crown wampum

belts as a sign of treaty obligations. Treaties had been

made with the king; the word of the red man had been

given to the king. Promises made to them by the king's

agents had always been performed. Why, therefore, should

they now plight their faith to any other than their Great

Father the King, who dwelt far over the waters? Besides,

by recent actions of the colonists, the resentment of

the Indians had been fanned to a fury. In 1774 some

colonial land-hunters were scouring the country of the

Shawnees. Without any real cause they fell upon some

redskins and butchered several in an inhuman way. Not

satisfied with this act of cruelty, they seized two brave

chiefs, Bald Eagle and Silver Heels, and killed them in

cold blood. The anger of the Indians was aroused and they

rallied under the banner of the noble Logan, 'Mingo Chief'

of the Shawnees. Against him the Virginians sent a large

force of more than two thousand men. A fierce battle took

place at the Great Kanawha river, at the point where that

stream flows into the Ohio. For a time Logan and his

Indian ally Cornstalk and their followers fought

desperately, but in the end they were forced to flee

across the Ohio. This war was short, indeed, but it had

no just warrant, and the Indians could not forget the

outrage that had been committed. The memory of it rankled

with the Six Nations, especially among the Cayugas, to

whom Logan was bound by ties of blood.

While Joseph was doing his utmost to keep the Indians

loyal and was keeping watch upon those who were plotting

to win them from their allegiance to the crown, Sir John

Johnson was growing anxious for his own life. So great

was his, fear of being killed or abducted that he increased

his body-guard to five hundred men. At the same time,

he placed swivel-guns about his house, in order to

withstand a sudden attack. He energetically organized

the settlers on his domains into a protecting force. In

particular the Highland loyalists in his district rallied

to his aid, and soon a hundred and fifty brawny clansmen

were ready to take the field at the shortest notice.

But the Six Nations were by no means united in their

loyalty to the crown. Brant saw that the tribe most

wavering in its support was the Oneidas. He found that

their missionary, Samuel Kirkland, was in league with

the rebels, and sought to have this clergyman removed.

Failing in this, he wrote to the Oneida chiefs, urging

them to remain loyal to the king. A letter that an Oneida

runner let fall at this time on an Indian path is the

earliest bit of handwriting that we have from Joseph

Brant's pen. In it he warns the Oneidas against the subtle

work which the colonists were carrying on. 'Guy Johnson

Is in great fear of being taken prisoner by the Bostonians,'

he says. 'We Mohawks are obliged to watch him constantly.

Guy Johnson assures himself, and depends upon your coming

to his assistance... He believes not that you will assent

to let him suffer.' The appeal thus made seems, however,

to have met with little response from the Oneidas, and

Brant was rebuffed. Even before this they had sent a

letter to the governor of Connecticut expressing in,

plain terms their desire to remain neutral when hostilities

should commence. 'We cannot intermeddle in this dispute

between two brothers,' was their decision. 'The quarrel

seems to be unnatural.' The Oneidas had the right to

their opinion, but their conduct must have stung the

heart of the chief of the Mohawks. Yet never for a moment

did his courage fail. He knew that the bulk of the Six

Nations were willing to give their life's blood in the

service of the king. He and they would be true to the

old and binding covenant which their forefathers had made

as allies of the crown. 'It will not do for us to break