* Excerpted from “The Oriskany Battle of Oneida Hanyery and Mohawk Joseph Brant,” by Anthony Wonderly, Historian. Click here for the full text and end notes.

Before the Revolution people in the Mohawk Valley began sorting themselves out as for or against British rule as embodied by Sir William Johnson. Many ordinary citizens resented the wealth and power of Sir William, who:
• Controlled the land west of Albany by virtue of his government position (Indian Superintendent);
• Planned, and built, Tryon County, then named it for himself (Johnstown)
• Owned the county jail, courthouse, Anglican Church
• Determined both candidates and voters in local elections

As the colony’s biggest land owner, anyone hoping to get rich through land speculation in Indian land had to enjoy his favor.

Sir William was viewed favorably by Iroquois people who enjoyed his personal patronage, like the Mohawks of Canajoharie. Others living farther away were impressed by sir William’s promise, on behalf of the British Empire, to safeguard Indian land from depredations of American frontier settlers and squatters.

Oneidas had reason to be skeptical of such promises. Most land they lost went not to individual settlers but to Sir William in quasi-legal transactions.

In the 1768 Fort Stanwix treaty, intended to establish a permanent line (line of Property) between Indian and non-native territories, the Oneidas gave up a vast acreage that became the property of Sir William and other land speculators.

In wider context, the 1763 disagreement between Hanyery and Brant suggests they held different opinions about how Sir William wielded power and, perhaps, about rightful land ownership. Their positions in the Klock dispute would lead them in opposite directions as war approached.