sh colonists between the Alleghany
Mountains and the sea. War had not been declared in
Europe, but the inhabitants of the Thirteen Colonies,
only too eager to stay the hand of France in America,
planned a series of blows against the enemy. Among other
things, they decided that an attempt should be made to
capture the French stronghold of Fort Frederic at Crown
Point on Lake Champlain. The officer selected to Command
the expedition to be sent on this enterprise was William
Johnson, now a major-general of the colony of New York.

It flashed at once across Johnson's mind that his redskin
friends could aid him in the undertaking; so he sent
messages with all speed to the tribes, asking them to
gather at his house. Eleven hundred hungry Indians answered
the summons. From all quarters they came in, taking up
their residence for the time being upon his broad domain.
Johnson's bright and genial face clouded as he looked
upon the multitude of guests and saw his food supplies
vanishing and every green thing that grew upon his fields
and meadows being plucked up. But he bore it all
good-naturedly, for he was determined to win their support.
Seated on the grass in squads, according to their tribes,
they listened while he addressed them and told them of
their duties to the English crown. With rising eloquence
he said that they were bound in their allegiance to the
English as though with a silver chain. 'The ends of this
silver chain,' he added, 'are fixed in the immovable
mountains, in so firm a manner that the hands of no mortal
enemy might be able to move it.' Then as he bade them
take the field, he held a war belt in his hands and
exclaimed with fervour:

'My war kettle is on the fire; my canoe is ready to put
into the water; my gun is loaded; my sword is by my side;
and my axe is sharpened.'

Little Abraham, sachem of the lower Mohawk valley, took
the belt from him, Red Head, a chief of the Onondagas,
made reply, telling him that from every castle warriors
would follow him to the north. A war dance followed, and
a large body of the Six Nations were ready for the fray.

No doubt young Joseph Brant was in this great audience,
listening to the speeches of his elders. He was only
thirteen years of age at the time, but the spirit of the
war-path was already upon him. The zealous appeals of
the major-general must have stirred him greatly, and it
may well be that this lad, with youthful frame and boyish
features, here recei