Clan Mother

The Clandestine Challenge

The difficulty with any espionage study is the lack of unclassified sources — since clandestine work must remain secret by nature. This is especially true when looking back to the time of the Yankee Doodle spies, when nearly all espionage activity was "off the books," with few reports or records kept. Spies operated in all theaters throughout the war, but identifying who they were and what they did is difficult, requiring lots of "fill in the blank" and connect-the-dots analysis.

Spying on the Spies

Savage War of Peace

The American Revolution in the Mohawk Valley involved years of internecine conflict and small-scale combat that often reached a fever pitch. Patriot Whigs and Loyalist Tories went head to head in battles ranging from a few dozen to a few hundred fighters, rarely involving large-scale clashes with thousands. Add six Iroquois tribes, Canadians, Continentals, and British regulars into the mix, and you get a stew of conflict and chaos. But unlike many other areas of the war, the central New York region was never quiet. Instead, a relentless savage war of peace raged on. 

The Mohawk Valley

The role of the native tribes added an objective layer of complexity to the struggle in New York. The powerful Iroquois Confederacy was mostly aligned with the British, thanks to the outstanding efforts of the Crown's Indian Agent, Sir William Johnson, and his son. 

Sir William Johnson

Of the Iroquois nations, the most powerful, warlike, and pro-British were the Mohawks, who controlled the easternmost part of the territory. Our subject is one of those Mohawks, a woman born Konwatsi'tsiaiénni, but now known as Mary or Molly Brant, older sister to Joseph Brant, who became a Mohawk War Chief and British officer during the war for independence. 

Youth in Two Worlds

Molly Brant was born around 1736 in the Ohio Valley, although her family's ancestral home was the village of Canajoharie, on the upper Mohawk near Little Falls, New York. Her parents were Margaret (Onagsakearat) and Peter (Tehowaghwengaraghkwin), who were Anglicans. When Peter died while the family lived on the Ohio River, Molly's mother returned to Canajoharie with her and her brother Joseph.

Iroquois Village

Both Brant children grew up in two worlds, becoming fluent in English and comfortable with English culture. Molly was educated in the Mohawk Valley, and because she spoke English well, she accompanied twelve Mohawk tribal elders on a delegation to Philadelphia in 1755. After that trip, Molly met the most powerful man in these two worlds, the renowned British Indian Agent Sir William Johnson — her beauty and grace deeply affected him. Johnson handled all the deals involving the tribes and was known to be an honest broker who cared for both the Iroquois and the white settlers in central New York. He was also quite wealthy.

Lady of the Manor

By 1759, the twenty-three-year-old Molly was officially listed in Johnson's records as his "housekeeper," but she was, in fact, his common-law wife—possibly married under Iroquois customs. She would have seven children with him and served in all respects as the powerful Johnson's partner. 

Molly Brant was the Lady of Johnson Hall

Anglo visitors who visited Johnson's estate, Johnson Hall, remarked on her beauty, delicate features, olive skin, excellent manners, and understated but commanding presence. In all but name, Brant was the Lady of the  Johnson Hall estate.

The Clan Mother

During her time with Johnson, she also rose to become a Clan Mother, receiving the Mohawk name Tekonwatonti (Many Opposed to One). Molly led a society of Six Nations (Iroquois Confederacy) matrons. In the matriarchal hierarchy of the Iroquois, Clan Mothers held great power and influence, traditionally choosing and dismissing leaders. They also had the authority to veto their decisions.

Clan Mothers wielded significant influence

Sir William died the year before Lexington and Concord erupted and plunged the colonies into open war with the Crown. 

Loyal to the Crown

Molly Brant and her brother Joseph remained loyalists, dedicated to the British cause. Joseph became a well-known Loyalist commander and Mohawk War Chief whose actions frustrated the patriots. 

Chief Joseph Brant

His sister's role was more ambiguous but equally important. She provided food and ammunition to nearby Loyalist units. Most importantly, she passed valuable intelligence to her brother and other Loyalist and British leaders in central New York. 

Spymaster

Although there's little recorded about this (for reasons mentioned above), she probably heard reports on American movements in the Mohawk Valley from travelers, hunters, and traders passing through her village.

Molly Brant: Mother Clan, Mother.Spy

The best example of this occurred in August 1777. British Lieutenant-Colonel Barry St. Leger's force, composed of British troops, Loyalists, Canadians, and Indians, had besieged the American garrison at Fort Stanwix (located in today5s Rome, NY). When the Tryon County militia learned of the siege, a brigade-sized force marched west along the river to relieve the post.

Battle of Oriskany

When Molly learned of their movement, she sent word to St. Leger, who dispatched a force of Loyalists and Indian allies that set a well-planned ambush in the dense cypress forests near Oriskany. The relief column was pushed back with heavy losses, and its commander, Colonel Nikolas Herkimer, was mortally wounded.

Fort Stanwix

In retaliation, the American-Allied Oneidas attacked her village of Canajoharie, destroying it and nearby Fort Hunter. 

On the Road

Molly moved her family through various Loyal Iroquois villages. Brant and her family lost most of their belongings. They sought refuge at Onondaga near Syracuse, New York, the capital of the Six Nations Confederacy, first going to Syracuse, then Cayuga, and finally Niagara.

Iroquois Village along the Mohawk River

At each of these, she proved to be a strong and effective supporter of the Loyalist cause, helping to keep most of the Iroquois aligned with the British. As a result, the British were able to use the Iroquois war bands to strengthen their diminishing Loyalist and British forces in New York.

Iroquois War Band

Resilient Leader

As the war continued in New York, the British and their Indian allies were gradually pushed westward. The British asked Molly Brant to help lead the thousands of starving refugees fleeing the Americans to the safety of Fort Niagara — the last stronghold in the area. She proved to be a capable leader, organizer, and spokesperson for the tribes. Her influence and power grew among both the tribes and the British authorities.

Fort Niagra: last bastion of British 

power in New York

One British officer remarked that her influence on the tribes was such that "their uncommon good behaviour in great measure to be ascribed to Miss Molly Brant's influence over them, which [was] far superior to that of all their Chiefs put together."

A Separate Peace

But when the Treaty of Paris was signed, the rug was pulled out from under the Iroquois and Loyalists in New York. The British made little effort to protect their ancestral lands, leaving the Iroquois to face their enemies alone — and it did not go well. Many of the Iroquois and all the Loyalists fled to Canada. 

Treaty of Paris signing

A Bitter Nation

The Iroquois who stayed behind became bitter toward Molly and her British masters. Molly left the home the British built for her on Carleton Island, as it was now on the American side of the border. The Clan Mother moved to a village called Cataraqui and, with other Loyalists, founded what later became Kingston, Ontario.

A Grateful Crown

The grateful British awarded her land and a pension large enough to turn down the Americans' offers to return to New York. They recognized her leadership's importance. But she was dismissive of the people who had destroyed the Iroquois lands during eight years of bloody warfare.

Founding Canadian

Molly Brant's family became well-known in Upper Canada. Five of her six daughters married Canadian men. George, her surviving son, got a position in the Indian department. Her older son died fighting for the British. 

At age sixty, the Clan Mother died in Brantford, Ontario, in 1796. Her exact burial site is unknown, but many believe the good, lifelong Anglican rests somewhere beneath St. Paul's Church in today's Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Her legacy is that of a remarkable woman who cared for her family, clan, tribe, and nation in both peace and war.

St. Paul's Church and Burial Ground

The Queen’s Ranger

A Bad Rap

This profile is genuinely one of THE badasses of the American Revolution, a struggle that had more than its fair share of tough characters. But John Graves Simcoe wasn't your typical badass, driven by testosterone and a thirst for blood – even though the (very excellent) TV series TURN might make you think he was that and more – a psychopath comes to mind.    

                                                Simcoe, as played by actor Samuel Roukin
                                                   

But the real John Graves Simcoe was quite different. He was, in fact, a well-educated professional officer, liked by his troops and superiors, and respected, and sometimes feared, by his enemies. Born in Cotterstock, England, on February 25, 1752, he was the son of a Royal Navy officer who received a classical education at Eton and Oxford. However, in 1771, Simcoe left school at 19 and bought an ensign’s commission with the 35th Regiment. His education gave him an advantage over most of his peers, as he had a thorough knowledge of classical Greek and Roman military writings. He soon had the chance to apply his knowledge in the dark woods and green fields of America.

                                                          Simcoe took a commission at 19

Off to America

Simcoe was delayed in sailing to America and arrived after his 35th Regiment had been decimated at Breed’s Hill. During the subsequent American siege, he purchased a captaincy in the grenadier company of the 40th Regiment, where he fought in several battles in New York and New Jersey. Ambitious, he had sought command of the Queen's Rangers as early as the summer of 1776, when the army was on Staten Island. However, it was not offered to him.

                                                                            Brandywine

Simcoe fought valiantly at the Battle of Brandywine in September 1777, suffering serious wounds during the British victory. While recovering, events unfolded that would change the course of his career, pulling him from a typical line officer’s path. Simcoe was a vocal critic of military tactics and had told his superiors that the British needed a light infantry force to counter the American skirmishing tactics.                               

New Kind of Unit

He must have impressed his commander-in-chief, Lieutenant General William Howe, who promoted him to major in October and gave him command of the Queen’s Rangers. The Rangers were once a legendary unit formed by the even more legendary hero of the French and Indian War, Major Robert Rogers. The unit’s reputation had faded along with Rogers, who had left the army. Simcoe quickly began training it in the unorthodox tactics needed for the American war. Clad in green uniforms and rigorously drilled to fight as skirmishers in deep woods, patrol dense forests, and carry out raids and ambushes, they would eventually instill fear in all they encountered. He eventually expanded the unit to about 11 companies, each with roughly 30 men. One was a “hussar” (light cavalry) company. He also added a light infantry and a grenadier company. 

                                   Queens Rangers were trained for strength and skirmishing

New Kind of Action

With the arrival of the spring campaign in March 1778, Simcoe’s new unit saw its first action. The Queen’s Rangers engaged two American militia detachments at Quinton’s and Hancock’s bridges in New Jersey. The Americans were defeated by the aggressive tactics of Simcoe and his men. A few months later, the rangers handed a heavy defeat to General John Lacey’s forces at Crooked Billet, Pennsylvania, on May 1. An attempt to trap a reconnaissance detachment led by the Marquis de Lafayette at the end of May was less successful. But things were changing in the middle Atlantic. The new commander in chief, Sir Henry Clinton, was ordered to abandon the American capital, Philadelphia, and march his army to the safety of New York City. With the replenished and newly trained Continental Army nearby in Pennsylvania, Clinton knew the move carried risks. Therefore, he asked Simcoe to help cover the force.

                                                    Rare photo of Queens Rangers screening

The Queen's Rangers were in their element and performed well at their task, covering the withdrawal through the hot, humid fields and woods of New Jersey. In June 1778, Simcoe received word of his promotion to Lieutenant Colonel, a rapid rise for a British officer and a sign of more to come. The year 1779 saw Simcoe, the Queen’s Rangers, and the kind of warfare they were made for, come to the forefront. A series of small actions and skirmishes occurred throughout the New York region, mainly along the North (Hudson) River. On August 31, 1778, he led a massacre of forty members of the Stockbridge Militia, Indians allied with the Continental Army, in what is now the Bronx. His men were known to burn houses, barns, and stores—actions not unfamiliar to American units in a war that had become one of fire and smoke.

                                                  Simcoe employed his rangers aggressively

In June 1779, his rangers successfully led the capture of Stony Point and Verplank’s Point on the North River. Simcoe’s men soon joined Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton’s British Legion in a successful raid against rebels at Pound Ridge, New Jersey. With two of the top three British leaders in command, it was difficult for the defenders. A series of small actions followed, including raids, ambushes, skirmishes, and patrols. During one raid on October 17, 1779, Simcoe was ambushed and captured by the New Jersey militia. He was briefly imprisoned and eventually exchanged on December 31. The Queen’s Ranger returned just as General Clinton’s amphibious expedition against South Carolina was beginning.

Rangers go South

In the spring of 1780, Simcoe sailed south to support the British siege of Charleston. After a brief siege, the city surrendered in May. In what may have been a costly mistake, Simcoe was sent back north with Clinton and was soon dispatched to assist Hessian General von Knyphausen in conducting large-scale operations in the Jerseys. His skills and his rangers would likely have been more effective in helping to subdue the South, as would Clinton’s presence. Instead, after a promising start, the southern strategy began to fall apart in the kind of warfare that required Simcoe and his men.

                                                                Siege of Charleston

Traitor’s Partner

In an odd twist (sic), in December 1780, Simcoe was assigned to support traitor-in-chief British General Benedict Arnold’s heavily destructive raid through Virginia. He was partly placed at Arnold’s side to keep a close watch on him. However, the two skilled leaders and co-badasses actually got along well. Brigaded with Hessian Jaegers under Major Johann Ewald, Simcoe’s command defeated the unfortunate Virginia militia in several bold attacks around Richmond. At a place called Point of Forks, Simcoe tricked former General Wilhelm von Steuben and seized a stash of valuable supplies.

                                                    Benedict Arnold  as a British general

Climax in the Old Dominion

As luck would have it, Simcoe was in the right place but at the wrong time. Britain’s eight-year effort to hold onto the 13 colonies would, for all practical purposes, end in the Old Dominion. Frustrated at every turn in the Carolinas, British General Charles Cornwallis marched his worn-out and exhausted army north into Virginia. There, Simcoe and his Queen’s Rangers joined him as part of the vanguard. Although battle-hardened, the rangers, like many other British units, found the rebels closing the gap. Things were clearly “going south.” One example is the engagement at Spencer’s Ordinary on June 26, 1781. In an unlikely turn of events, the Queen's Rangers were fiercely engaged by Pennsylvania riflemen under Colonel Richard Butler — the very enemies they were created to defeat. The rangers abandoned the field and their wounded, then hurriedly marched to Yorktown and the main army. 

          

Colonel Richard Butler
               

When they arrived at Yorktown, Cornwallis sent them across the York River to secure Gloucester Point. During the summer, the rangers were on a quiet front. This worked well for Simcoe, who had suffered several bouts of illness during the war, worsened by his wounds. His health was deteriorating. 

                                                                Yorktown under Siege

While ill with a fever, the French blockaded the York River. A week later, the French Admiral Comte de Grasse defeated Simcoe's godfather, Admiral Thomas Graves, and the British fleet in the Chesapeake. Cornwallis's army was trapped. In September, the American-French army arrived at Yorktown. Not long after, about 1,000 French troops cut off Gloucester Point. The siege was underway.

                                                     Chesapeake: French fleet drives off 

                                                    British fleet under Simcoe's godfather

But Simcoe was too ill to be of service, and his rangers fell under Tarleton’s command. Simcoe was not expected to survive. Still, in mid-October, he asked for permission to escape with his men on boats to Maryland and fight his way through to New York. He worried that many of his men, being deserters, would be hanged if captured. But Cornwallis insisted that the entire army share its fate. Lieutenant Colonel John Graves Simcoe did not die but suffered the shame of surrender at Yorktown on 17 October 1781. He was soon paroled and sailed to New York with his unit. The Queen’s Rangers eventually went to New Brunswick, Canada, and disbanded in October 1783. 

                                                                Surrender at Yorktown

Convalescent and Cupid

In 1782, the still ailing Simcoe returned home to Devon, England, to convalesce. There, he met and married Elizabeth Posthuma Gwillim, a wealthy heiress. Her adopted mother, Margaret, had married Admiral Samuel Graves, Simcoe's godfather. So it was a family affair. They had four daughters and a son. By all accounts, he was a devoted family man. Venus, it turns out, was better to him than Mars.

                                                                       Elizabeth Simcoe

Author, Author

It is beyond this blog’s scope to detail Simcoe’s post-war life in England. He briefly entered Parliament and offered to raise a ranger unit to fight the French. Simcoe wrote a book about his experiences with the Rangers, titled "A Journal of the Operations of the Queen's Rangers," covering the period from late 1777 to the end of the American War. He self-published it in 1787 for his friends.

     Simcoe added Author to his 

other accomplishments

Lieutenant Governor

Simcoe returned to North America after resigning from Parliament in 1792 to accept the position of Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada (today’s Ontario) under Governor-General Guy Carleton. His resilient personality, well-suited for conflict, often put him at odds with London. However, Simcoe proved to be a highly effective and visionary leader. His ideas were considered progressive for his time. While he valued and supported British institutions, he also advocated for American-style economics and self-reliance. He supported agriculture, property rights, and settlement of what was then the Canadian frontier. He also built roads.

                                                        As Lieut. Gov. Simcoe was a builder

He was fair with the Indians, supported the loyalists, and promoted education and culture. He was anti-slavery even when slavery was still widespread in the British Empire. Fearing a war with America, he moved the capital from Newark to York on the north shore of Lake Ontario—today's Toronto. To help defend Upper Canada from possible American attacks or invasion, Simcoe created a Canadian version of the Queen's Rangers, with himself as its colonel. However, illness struck again. In 1796, neuralgia and gout forced him to take a leave of absence to England. Simcoe resigned from his position in 1798 and never returned to Canada.

                                          Simcoe as colonel of the Queen's Rangers in Canada

War with France

By 1797, war with France resumed, and Simcoe was appointed governor of Santo Domingo. He faced a slave revolt supported by French Republicans and Spaniards. Simcoe was also promoted to Lieutenant General, the highest rank in the army at that time. Illness again shortened his tenure. He returned to England to prepare Plymouth’s defenses against a possible French invasion. Although Simcoe accepted command of the Western District, he did not receive another active field command from the Pitt government. When Britain assembled a coalition against Napoleon in 1806, General Simcoe traveled to Portugal as part of a military mission. However, his old illnesses struck again, forcing him to return home, where he learned of his appointment as commander in chief of British forces in India. 

                                                            Governor of Santo Domingo

                                             

Lost Opportunity

India was arguably the most prestigious and challenging overseas appointment for any British military officer or administrator. And Simcoe excelled at both. There is no telling how the future of the subcontinent might have turned out with him in charge. But it was not to be. He succumbed to his illness on October 26, 1806, in Devonshire. Lieutenant General John Graves Simcoe was only 54. Simcoe was not the crazy character often shown on television. Quite the opposite, Simcoe proved himself to be a learned and scholarly warrior and a forceful leader of partisan forces, among the best serving in the Revolutionary War. He was also a sincere man of peace who helped make Canada one of the best-governed provinces, and nations, on earth. And he might have done the same for India.

                                                            Simcoe monument in Toronto