Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant)

For many Native Americans, it wasn’t their fight. But they were dragged into it, anyway. Tribes were forced to choose between the British, who promised to protect their lands, and the Americans, who wanted to expand westward. Some joined the British. Some sided with the Americans. Most simply tried to survive.

Joseph Brant was a Mohawk war chief, and a highly educated man who had studied at a colonial school in Connecticut and translated the Book of Common Prayer into Mohawk.

When the war broke out, Brant sided with the British, believing they were more likely to respect tribal boundaries. He led Mohawk warriors in a series of battles across New York and Pennsylvania. His forces fought at Oriskany, Cherry Valley, and Wyoming Valley—sometimes alongside British troops, sometimes independently.

After the war, he traveled to London to argue for Native land rights. He met with King George III and lobbied the British government to fulfill its promises to the Iroquois. Though he didn’t win every battle, he fought fiercely for his people.

“The Indians are not to blame,” Brant once said. “They have only followed the white man’s example.”