4o6 Transactions of the Canadian Institute. [Vol. VII. 



he embarked in one of the armed vessels on Lake Ontario for that post 

 with about 200 warriors. 



At this time his relations with the officers of the Indian Department 

 do not seem to have been very satisfactory, as General Watson Powell 

 wrote a few days after his departure : — 



" I am sorry to say there have been frequent complaints since I 

 came here that Captain Brant was a great expense to the Government 

 and more difficult to please than any of the chiefs, and more particularly 

 since his return from Detroit." 



After Brant's arrival at Oswego there was practically a cessation of 

 hostilities all along the New York frontier and the garrison of that 

 place undertook no offensive operations. In September, 1782, he 

 accompanied Sir John Johnson and Colonel Hope in a tour of 

 inspection by way of the Ottawa and French rivers to Mackinac and 

 Detroit. From the latter post he went with Captain Potts of the 8th 

 Regiment to the mouth of the Miami river on Lake Erie to select a 

 site for a new military post and proceeded to Sandusky to meet 

 Captain McKee on his return from another raid into Kentucky which 

 had culminated in the battle of the Blue Licks. 



After his return to Niagara his dissatisfaction seems to have greatly 

 increased as he wrote to Sir John Johnson in the following terms on 

 Christmas Day, 1782 : — 



" I have been very uneasy since we had the news of the Shawanese' 

 misfortunes who fell into the hands of the white savages, the Virginians, 

 and did alarm the Five Nations greatly and made them to hold 

 councils about the matter and make speeches to the General but badly 

 translated into English. We, the Indians, wish to have the blow 

 returned on the enemy as soon as possible, but I am afraid it will again 

 be a trifling affair when our speech gets below, which is too often the 

 case, which will be a very vexatious affair, because we think the rebels 

 will ruin us at last if we go on as we do, one year after another, doing 

 nothing only destroying the government goods and they crying out all 

 the while for the great expenses, so we are, as it were, between two hells. 

 I am sure you will assist all you can to let us have an expedition early in 

 the spring, let it be a great or small one. Let us not hang our heads 

 between our knees and be looking there. I beg of you, don't tell us to go 

 hunt deer and find yourselves shoes because we shall soon forget the 

 war for we are gone too far that way already against the rebels to be 

 doing other things. I have changed my mind since my arrival here. 



