Brant's Volunteers also known as Joseph Brant's Volunteers were irregular British Loyalist volunteers, raised during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of ...

by pro-British Mohawk chief,

Joseph Brant Thayendanegea or Joseph Brant (March 1743 – November 24, 1807) was a Mohawk military and political leader, based in present-day New York, who was closely associated with Great Britain during and after the American Revolution. Perhaps th ...

(Mohawk: ''Thayendanegea''), who fought on the British side in the

Province of New York The Province of New York (1664–1776) was a British proprietary colony and later royal colony on the northeast coast of North America. As one of the Middle Colonies, New York achieved independence and worked with the others to found the ...

. Being military

associators Associators were members of 17th- and 18th-century volunteer military associations in the British American thirteen colonies and British Colony of Canada. These were more commonly known as Maryland Protestant, Pennsylvania, and Ameri ...

, they were not provided soldiers' uniforms, weapons, or pay by the British government, and survived by

foraging Foraging is searching for wild food resources. It affects an animal's fitness because it plays an important role in an animal's ability to survive and reproduce. Foraging theory is a branch of behavioral ecology that studies the foraging behavi ...

and

plundering Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...

of the battlefields.

Company formed

Joseph Brant painting by George Romney 1776 (2)

The initial size of Brant's guerrilla company was approximately 100 men, comprising 20% Mohawk allies of the British, and 80% white, New York Loyalists. The Loyalists were mostly of English, Scottish, and Irish descent recruited from the Province of New York. Although Brant himself received a captain's commission in the Six Nations Indian Department, other members of the group were Loyalist associators (volunteers). They were unpaid by the British, and relied upon plunder—and sometimes Joseph's credit—for their compensation. Eventually, Frederick Haldimand authorized provisioning, but no monetary payments. Since the unit had no official recognition, many members later transferred to Butler's Rangers and the King's Royal Regiment of New York. Later in the war, Brant was able to attract a larger number of Indians to his unit, which grew to over 300 members. Brant's Volunteers were at the 1777 Battle of Oriskany. They fought in 1778 at the

Battle of Cobleskill The Battle of Cobleskill (also known as the Cobleskill massacre) was an American Revolutionary War raid on the frontier settlement of Cobleskill, New York on May 30, 1778. The battle, having taken place in the modern-day hamlet of Warnerville, ...

, the Attack on German Flatts, and the Raid on Springfield. In 1779, they were engaged at the

Battle of Minisink The Battle of Minisink was a battle of the American Revolutionary War fought at Minisink Ford, New York, on July 22, 1779. It was the only major skirmish of the Revolutionary War fought in the northern Delaware Valley. The battle was a decisive ...

Uniforms

Joseph Brant's Volunteers usually wore civilian attire. In order to avoid confusion during battle, he had his men wear yellow lace on their hats so they could be easily identified as British Loyalists. Brant's men, on at least one occasion, dressed as Indians to disguise themselves while raiding their former Patriot neighbors.

Company disbanded and resettled in British Canada

A few of the white Loyalist members of the Brant company were still with the unit at the end of the war, and settled with Joseph Brant and his Mohawks along the Grand River in the

Province of Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, British Canada, which is now called Six Nations of the Grand River.

Legacy

There are three re-enactment groups of Brant's Volunteers: 1) Brant's Volunteers (Oquaga), based in Brant's home in the

Mohawk Valley The Mohawk Valley region of the U.S. state of New York is the area surrounding the Mohawk River, sandwiched between the Adirondack Mountains and Catskill Mountains, northwest of the Capital District. As of the 2010 United States Censu ...

of New York;''Oquaga Volunteers''
; webpage; accessed January 2017 2) The Northwest Territorial Alliance (NWTA) group based in Indiana; and 3) a group based out of Fort Niagara in western NY.

References

* Kelsey, Isabel. ''Joseph Brant 1743-1807 A Man of Two Worlds''. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1984. * Taylor, Alan. ''The Divided Ground: Indians, Settlers and the Northern Borderland of the American Revolution''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. {{ISBN, 0-679-45471-3 New York (state) in the American Revolution Loyalist military units in the American Revolution Native Americans in the American Revolution