[Brant, Joseph (Thayendanega)]

"Red Cardinal" woman's cloak, given by Joseph Brant to his second wife, Susanna.  [London, 1776]



Three-quarter length hooded cloak (length approx. 54 in./1373 mm; width at shoulder 19 in./482 mm ) scarlet wool broadcloath double-milled to heighten waterproof properties, finely stitched, the hood lined with fuschia China silk, collar lined in black velvet, finely engraved silver clasps, worn from use and with faint inscriptions ("Joseph" on the left clasp; "Brant 1776" on the right); few small pinholes and stains, silk lining perished near collar.    

By descent in the Brant family to Ken Woody, Thayendanega's great great great grandson

A remarkable relic of the most prominent American Indian of the eighteenth century, passed down in his family for over two hundred years.  Joseph Brant, or Thayendanega (c. 1742–1807), was a celebrated figure of his time, acquainted with both George Washington and George III.  A Mohawk leader and British military officer in the American Revolutionary War, he travelled to London in 1775 with the British Superintendent for Indian Affairs, Guy Johnson, in an attempt to influence the King concerning Mohawk land grievances.  Though largely unfruitful, the visit enhanced Brant's celebrity in Britain, and he was interviewed by James Boswell.  In addition he was accepted into the Masonry, receiving his apron from the King himself.  Brant preferred English-style clothing to Native American dress. The present cloak was purchased for his wife in London on this trip.  The style is one that was popular with fashionable women in late-18th century Britain.

Upon his return to America the following year, he joined Howe's forces in preparation to recapture New York.  He is said to have fought alongside Clinton, Cornwallis and Lord Percy in the flanking movement at Jamaica Pass in the Battle of Long Island in 1776, resulting in a life-long friendship with Lord Percy, the future Duke of Northumberland.  He was later invited to Philadelphia in both 1792 and 1797, by George Washington and Henry Knox, and continued his role as an advocate for the Native American tribal land claims.

Through his various roles as a warrior, student, farmer, leader and British Army officer, Anglican convert, and later, as a politician, negotiator and diplomat, Brant devoted his life to advocating Native American rights during one of the most volatile and dynamic periods of American history.