The Oriskany Battle of
Oneida Hanyery and Mohawk Joseph Brant


About Brant

A Mohawk of the Wolf clan (1743-1807), his Indian name was Thayendanegea, "two sticks of wood bound together," Mohawk of the Wolf clan (Kelsay 1984:43). His older sister, Molly, was the common-law wife of Sir William Johnson, Royal Indian Superintendent of the Northern Department. This family connection afforded Joseph opportunities for education and advancement in the British Indian service before the war.

Brant's ties to the British cause, through his sister and his patron Sir William, were strong. But his family connections to the Oneidas were also close. His first wife, Neggen Aoghyatonghsera (Peggie), was an Oneida (married 1765 and died 1771)(ibid.:99-100,133). Brant accidentally killed his Oneida son by that marriage in 1795 (ibid.:564,754). A second wife, Peggie's half-sister Susannah, probably was Oneida also. Married about 1773, Susannah is said to have died shortly after (Kelsay 1984:134,671-72 at note 52). According to Oneida tradition, Joseph had a third Oneida wife (Margaret, daughter of Skenandoah) sometime during the war (Draper 11:193-94,243).