biography
| name: |
Brant, Joseph
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Mohawk name Thayendanegea
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1742–1807)
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| biography:
| Mohawk chief, born along the Ohio R in present-day Ohio, USA. As a young man, he sided with the British in their war against the French and was befriended by Sir William Johnson, who sent him to a school in Connecticut. He converted to Christianity, returned to his people as a missionary, and translated the Episcopal Prayer Book and part of the New Testament into Mohawk. During the American Revolution, now fighting with the British against the colonists, he participated in various raids in New York State's Mohawk Valley, including the infamous Cherry Valley Massacre (1778). He ended the war with the British rank of colonel and had to move with his people into Canada. In 1785 he went to England to obtain compensation for the Indians' losses in the war. He built one of the first Episcopalian churches in Canada and, although he became an advocate for peace in the 1790s, he was not afraid to stand up against those who tried to take away the Mohawks' land. |
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