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More than two sides: Native Americans and the American Revolution

The American Revolution is typically remembered as a struggle between colonists seeking independence and the British government determined to keep them under its rule. But long before the first shots were fired, another conflict was already unfolding over who had the right to live on and control the land that would become the United States.

Native Americans were central to that conflict, and their involvement in the Revolution went far beyond choosing sides in the war.

Camden Elliott, assistant professor of history at Auburn University, explores these lesser-known connections.

“You can find Native Americans on every conceivable side of the Revolution,” Elliott said. “Not only did every tribe have to make decisions about whether to fight and which side to support, but those decisions came down to the village level, sometimes even the individual.”

The story begins in 1763, more than a decade before the colonies declared independence. Britain had just defeated France in the French and Indian War, gaining control of vast territories in North America. Much of that land, however, was already home to Native American communities.

To help prevent further conflict, the British government established a boundary limiting where colonists could settle, reserving large areas of land for Native Americans. The restrictions frustrated colonists who wanted to move west and claim more land.

“This is well before anybody had the idea of Manifest Destiny, but there is a sense that there isn't enough available arable land for all of the colonists,” Elliott said.

Although some settlers crossed the boundary anyway, the British government generally refused to protect them. The disagreement added to the colonists' growing resentment toward British rule.

As opposition to British authority grew, Native American identity became an unexpected symbol of rebellion. During the Boston Tea Party in 1773, some colonists disguised themselves as Native Americans before boarding British ships and dumping tea into Boston Harbor. Historical accounts often describe the protesters as dressed like Mohawks, a Native nation known to British colonists for its military strength. By adopting Native American imagery, the protesters symbolically rejected their British identity and presented themselves as distinctly American.

“The Mohawk had a reputation for being violent and dangerous. The colonists didn't choose merely to dress up as undifferentiated Indians. They chose to dress up as Indians who had threatened the British,” Elliott said.

Native Americans also figured into the Declaration of Independence itself, although in a very different way. While the document is best known for its statements about equality and individual rights, its final grievance against King George III accused him of encouraging Native American attacks on colonial settlements. The accusation reflected tensions along the frontier and the colonists' belief that Britain had failed to protect them.

Shortly after the Declaration of Independence was adopted in 1776, representatives of the Mi'kmaq and Maliseet peoples, whose homelands include parts of present-day Canada, entered into an agreement with the Americans known as the Treaty of Watertown.

Through the treaty, Native leaders promised to provide warriors to support the American cause. Although far fewer joined the fighting than originally promised, the agreement made these Native representatives among the new country's earliest foreign allies.

Those alliances could shift as circumstances changed. By 1779, some Native leaders who had supported the Americans had renewed their ties with Britain, reflecting the difficult choices they faced as the war progressed.

“The Penobscot Expedition, like much of the fighting that occurs in New England, is a crushing British victory,” Elliott said. “In the same year, some of the Indigenous signatories of the Treaty of Watertown formally renounced it. They're allies for about three years, but when the tide of war appeared to definitively turn, they decided the devil they knew might be better than the devil they didn’t.”

Elsewhere, the decision of which side to support divided Native nations themselves.

The Haudenosaunee Confederacy, also known as the Iroquois Confederacy, was a powerful alliance of six Native American nations living primarily in what is now New York. Four of the nations generally supported Britain, while the other two sided with the Americans. As fighting intensified along the frontier, those divisions brought Native communities into conflict with American forces.

In 1779, George Washington ordered American troops to attack the Haudenosaunee nations supporting Britain. The campaign destroyed dozens of villages and much of the year's harvest, demonstrating the devastating consequences the fight for American independence could have for Native communities.

The Revolution ultimately gave the 13 colonies the independence they sought, but the question of who would control the land that became the United States was far from settled. Native Americans' experiences during the Revolution reveal how the fight to establish one nation was closely connected to the futures of many others.

Learn more about America250 at Auburn University.

Tags: History