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Truth and Reconciliation in Eighteenth-Century Literature: The Case of the "Monster Brandt"

Abstract:Thomas Campbell's "Gertrude of Wyoming" (1809) plays an important and overlooked role in diplomacy between Indigenous peoples and Britain. The poem fictionalizes the Battle of Wyoming, a historical event in the American War of Independence, but includes a depiction of Joseph Brant, a real Mohawk leader. This depiction was contested by Brant's son John when he travelled to England in 1821–22, but scholarship on this event has not located John Brant's engagement with Campbell's poem within the wider diplomatic mission he was undertaking. This article argues that the poem should be read within the context of Campbell's understanding of Indigenous diplomacy, John Brant's role as a diplomat for Six Nations of the Grand River, and modern processes of Truth and Reconciliation in Canada. It concludes that Campbell's response to John Brant, which included a public letter of apology, connects with contemporary settler evasiveness about Indigenous sovereignty.