Following the Battle of Oriskany, British Lieutenant Colonel John Butler and Sayenqueraghta's Seneca warriors set their sights on the Wyoming Valley in New York. The settlers in the valley are recent emigrants from Connecticut. The Seneca believe the land belongs to them; the settlers have no right to occupy this territory. When word gets out that a white scouting party has killed three natives in the valley, the Seneca are ready to war.

On July 3, 1778, Lt. Col. Butler leads hundreds of British Rangers and native warriors on a brutal rampage of the Wyoming settlements. They kill 227 people, destroy eight forts, burn nearly a thousand houses, and slaughter or drive off a great number of cattle, sheep and swine. The settlers who manage to escape report the ruthless destruction and killing of innocent civilians. But, according to John Butler, "in the destruction of this settlement, not a single Person had been hurt of the Inhabitants[sic]."

As word of the atrocity gets out, Joseph Brant becomes attached to the event. He gains notoriety as "the Monster Brant." The assumption is that he is the only man capable of committing such a barbarian act -- or at least this is the consensus at the time. In fact, Brant is not even present at the Wyoming Massacre; he is in Oquaga recruiting men for the greater British Loyalist campaign.