Birth and parentage--Discussion of the doubts cast upon his origin--Visit of Mohawk chiefs to Queen Anne--Evidence of Brant's descent from one of those--Digression from the main subject, and Extracts from the private and official journals of Sir William Johnson--Connexion between Sir William and the family of Brant--Incidental references to the old French war--Illustrations of Indian proceedings, speeches, &c.--Brant's parentage satisfactorily established--Takes the field in the Campaign of Lake George (1765.)--Is engaged at the conquest of Niagara (1759.)--Efforts of Sir William Johnson to civilize the Indians--Brant is sent, with other Indian youths, to the Moor Charity School, at Lebanon--Leaves school--Anecdote--Is engaged on public business by Sir William--As an Interpreter for the Missionaries--Again takes the field, in the wars against Pontiac--Intended massacre at Detroit--Ultimate overthrow of Pontiac--First marriage of Brant--Entertains the Missionaries--Again employed on public business--Death of his wife--Engages with Mr. Stewart in translating the Scriptures--Marries again--Has serious religious impressions--Selects a bosom friend and confidant, after the Indian custom--Death of his friend--His grief, and refusal to choose another friend. The birth and parentage of Joseph Brant, or, more correctly, of Thayendanegea--for such was his real name--have been involved in uncertainty, by the conflicting accounts that have been published concerning him. The Indians have no herald's college in which the lineage of their great men can be traced, or parish registers of marriages and births, by which a son can ascertain his paternity. Ancestral glory and shame are therefore only reflected darkly through the dim twilight of tradition. By some authors, Thayendanegea has been called a half-breed. By others he has been pronounced a Shawanese by parentage, and only a Mohawk by adoption. Some historians have spoken of him as a son of Sir William Johnson; [FN] while others again have allowed him the honour of Mohawk blood, but denied that he was descended from a chief. * * * * * [FN] Several authors have suggested that Brant was the son of the Baronet. Drake, in his useful compilation, "The Book of the Indians," states that he had been so informed by no less an authority than Jared Sparks. Drake himself calls him an _Onondaga_ of the Mohawk Tribe!