 Brant was a minor war chief when the war began, but his ability to speak English and his connections with British officials made him prominent in British eyes.When Brant traveled to London in 1775 to discuss Mohawk land grievances, Lord George Germain, the colonial secretary, vaguely promised him that if the Iroquois supported the Crown during the war, native land grievances would be redressed after the rebellion had been suppressed.Brant returned home and encouraged the Iroquois, who lived mostly in upstate New York, to enter the war as British allies.