Thayendanegea's influence

[ahaugen]

Thayendanegea was a pretty intersting guy. He knew what he wanted and how he wanted it to happen. He knew that if he wanted to protect his people, he'd have to side with "One of the two evils" fighting and that's just what he did. Even though he didn't really trust either side of the fighting between America and England, he knew that the English would be the ones who were least likely to destroy his land. He went absolutley out of his way to ensure that. He saileed across the ocean, which in that time wouldn't have been an easy thing to do, just to meet with King George III. I also find it pretty cool that he was the cheif of his tribe and an English officer. Did his being a Mohawk influence the way the English fought? I know he was a major part of the raids they did, but was that all he helped out with, or did his vicious and fearless way of fighting change the way the English fought? Without his involvment, would the Americans have won quicker, or did he slow them down a bit?

[Mr. Delainey]

The man you refer to in your post was known by the English as Joseph Brandt. I think the English would've definitely benefitted from the involvement of Brandt. He knew the country and he knew the Americans. In the end, the English cause was perhaps destined to fail. I.e. There was no going back. The only way England could've possibly won this conflict was by deporting basically every American republican from the Thirteen Colonies or occupy the country with tens of thousands of soldiers indefinitely.

Consequently, the help offered by Brandt was in some respects pointless (if you're looking at what ultimately resulted). However, if you look at it in the long-term, Brandt's assistance ultimately meant the British would give the Iroquois land north of Lake Ontario and Erie. So there was some benefit there.