Joseph Tayadaneega, called the Brant, the Great Captain of the Six Nations

The Mohawk chief Thayendanegea was probably the best known North American Native leader of the Revolutionary period and an important British ally. In 1775, he traveled to London to affirm his people’s land rights, met King George III, and proved to be a social sensation. Romney painted the insightful portrait (National Gallery of Canada) which this mezzotint reproduces during that visit. Public interest in Thayendanegea remained high when Smith completed this engraving in London three years later. His dress communicates how he moved between cultures, combining a European-style blouse and breeches with a feathered Native headdress and ritual pipe-tomahawk. The silver gorget around his neck, received from the king, signifies British military rank. Thayendanega left London in June 1776 and reached New York in time to join General William Howe’s taking of the city that September. He next led a band of Mohawk and Loyalist followers, known as Brant’s Volunteers, in battles across upstate New York, and participated in attempts to repulse patriot attacks on Detroit and in the Ohio Country. As a captain in the British government’s Indian Department, Thayendanegea represented Native concerns throughout the war and used his rank to press tribal claims after the peace of 1783.