Episode 53: By Being Almost Murdered

Dr. Maeve Kane joins Kathryn Gehred to explore Konwatsi'tsiaienni Molly Brant's life during the American Revolution. Brant was a member of the Wolf Clan of the Mohawk Nation, one of the Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Kane and Gerhred discuss Brant's pivotal diplomatic efforts to maintain the Mohawk's alliance with the British during the American War for Independence, and the turmoil Indigenous women like her faced during Sullivan's Campaign in the late 1770s, as they read two letters from Brant to her step-son-in-law, Daniel Claus. 

Kane is an Associate Professor of History and the Director of Graduate Studies at the University of Albany. She is the author of Shirts, Powdered Red: Haudenosaunee Gender, Trade, and Exchange (Cornell University Press, 2023).  

Molly Brant to Daniel Claus, Carleton Island, 5 October 1779. Daniel Claus Papers, Library and  Archives Canada. MG19 F1 vol2:135-136 https://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_reel_c1478 

Sir Frederick Haldimand: Unpublished Papers and Correspondence. London: Microfilm Publications. 1977.  Reel H-1450, Series B-114. MS 21774:180-181. Original at the British Library https://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_reel_h1450 

Find the official transcript here. 

Your Most Obedient & Humble Servant is a production of R2 Studios part of the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.