Researching the American Revolution

Your source for information on the American War of Independence

Native Americans

Native American Memorial, Niagara Falls, NY

Native Americans fought for both the British and the Patriots.  However, most supported the British to enforce the Proclamation of 1763 to restrict European settlement east of the Appalachian Mountains.

Fort Niagara
Reenactor at Fort Niagara, NY

Notably the Oneida of the Iroquois Five Nations and the Stockbridge Nation supported the Patriots.  The Oneida did not gain any recognition of their contributions and the Stockbridge warriors were decimated in a meaningless battle outside of New York City.

In the Treaty of Paris, the British turned on their Native American Allies and  ceded control of all lands east of the Mississippi to the new United States.  This set the stage for 20 plus years of continued fighting in the Northwest Territories.

 

Books

Calloway, Colin G. The Indian World of George Washington: The First President, the First Americans, and the Birth of the Nation. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2018.

Colin Calloway’s unique contribution is describe the history of Native Americans through the prism of Washington’ life.  He explores under researched aspects of how Washington as a land speculator, general and a President intersected with Native Americans and the development of their societies.
Calloway’s central thesis is that Washington sought to assimilate Native Americans into his culture and Native Americans resisted seeking to create their own cultures.  He concludes that only by combining and recounting all these cultures can you tell the American story.

Calloway, Colin G. The American Revolution in Indian Country: Crisis and Diversity in Native American Communities. Cambridge Studies in North American Indian History. Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995.

Colden, Cadwallader, John M. Dixon, and Karim M. Tiro. The History of the Five Indian Nations Depending on the Province of New-York in America: A Critical Edition. Ithaca ; London: Cornell University Press, 2017.

Crytzer, Brady. Guyasuta and the Fall of Indian America. Yardley, Pennsylvania: Westholme, 2013.

Glatthaar, Joseph T., and James Kirby Martin. Forgotten Allies: The Oneida Indians and the American Revolution. 1st ed. New York: Hill and Wang, 2006.

Graymont, Barbara. The Iroquois in the American Revolution. 1st ed. A New York State Study. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1972.

Johansen, Bruce E. Forgotten Founders: Benjamin Franklin, the Iroquois, and the Rationale for the American Revolution. Ipswich, Mass: Gambit, 1982.

Mintz, Max M. Seeds of Empire: The American Revolutionary Conquest of the Iroquois. The World of War. New York: New York University, 1999.

Preston, David L. Texture of Contact: European and Indian Settler Communities on the Frontiers of Iroquoia, 1667-1783. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2013.

———. The Texture of Contact: European and Indian Settler Communities on the Frontiers of Iroquoia, 1667-1783. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2009.

Schmidt, Ethan A. Native Americans in the American Revolution: How the War Divided, Devastated, and Transformed the Early American Indian World. Santa Barbara, California: Praeger, an imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2014.

Stone, William L. The Life of Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea) Including the Border Wars of the American Revolution and Sketches of the Indian Campaign of Generals Harmar, St. Clair and Wayne and Other Matters Connected with the Indian Relations of the United States and Great Britain from the Peace of 1783 to the Indian Peace of 1795. 2 vols. Albany: J. Munsell, 1865.

Witgen, Michael. Infinity of Nations: How the Native New World Shaped Early North America. Place of publication not identified: Univ Of Pennsylvania Pr, 2013.

Articles

Native American Revolutions:  Introduction Age of Revolutions Web Site which includes a comprehensive bibliography.

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