Thursday, August 5, 2010
'Thayendangea' & 'Ahyouwaighs': allied to the British, ultimately betrayed by the British
Built by the Crown, it was given to those Mohawk Indians, led by 'Thayendangea" (Joseph Brant), who supported the British during the American Revolution. Their choice cost them their lands in New York.
Through the terms of the Haldimand Treaty of 1784, 'Thayendangea' (Joseph Brant) secured a land grant for the native loyalists which gave them 760,000 acres, six miles, on either side of the Grand River from its source to its mouth. Brant also negotiated for and received the church, now generally known as The Mohawk Chapel.
Mohawks, led by 'Thayendangea' (Joseph Brant), established a village of some 400 inhabitants by 1788. The community was situated at an important crossing point on the river ("Brant's Ford") and prospered as a resting place for travellers on the "Detroit Path", a trail linking the Niagara and Detroit rivers.
Increasingly, European settlers encroached on Six Nations' lands. In 1841 the government broke the treaty and took back the land, moving the Grand River Iroquois to a section of the land south of the river. Of the Mohawk Village, only the chapel remains.