Born c. 1736
New York
Died April 16, 1796
Kingston, Ontario

Mohawk tribal leader

Her influence over the Indians of the Mohawk Valley was "far superior to that of all the Chiefs put together."

British Colonel John Butler

Mary "Molly" Brant, a Mohawk Indian, was one of the most powerful women in the New World in the eighteenth century. She played a major role in helping her British husband maintain good relations with Native Americans in the Mohawk Valley region. After her husband's death, she influenced several tribes to unite around the cause of the British during the Revolutionary War (1775–83).

The time at which Brant lived—the middle of the eighteenth century—was a time of great upheaval for the Mowhawk people, who fiercely resisted European settlement of their land. The Mohawk was one of six tribes (Mohawk, Oneida [pronounced oh-NEYE-duh],...