 Several accounts indicate that during the Cherry Valley massacre or thereafter , Colonel Stacy was stripped naked and tied to a stake , and was about to be tortured and killed , as was the ritual for enemy warriors , but was spared by Joseph Brant . William Stacy was a Freemason ; Joseph Brant was an educated American Indian , and had also become a Freemason . It is reported that Stacy made an appeal as one Freemason to another , thus saving his life . Colonel Stacy was subsequently taken to Fort Niagara , the Loyalist base in New York and held prisoner under Colonel Butler during the summer of 1779 . At Fort Niagara , Molly Brant , the sister of Joseph Brant , was hostile toward Stacy , and wanted Colonel Butler to return custody of Stacy to the Indians . She proclaimed dreams of her and the Indians using Stacy 's head in an Indian football game . Colonel Butler placated Molly Brant with rum and protected his prisoner . Subsequently , from late @-@ 1779 through mid @-@ 1782 , Colonel Stacy was held prisoner at Fort Chambly near Montreal . 
