Overview
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.
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.
Blackhawk, Ned. The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2023.
For an excellent analysis of the impact on Indians in the Revolutionary Era, see Ned Blackhawk’s survey history of the United States from an Indian perspective. Blackhawk is a Professor of History at Yale University with Western Shoshone ancestry. His history is written from a Native American point of view, emphasizing the major impacts of Indians on United States history. Readers will learn stories of injustice, resilience, bravery, and contributions.
Diaries and Memoirs
Zeisberger, David. The Moravian Mission Diaries of David Zeisberger 1772-1781. ed. by Hermann Wellenreuther and Carola Wessel, Trans. by Julie T. Weber. State College, PA: Penn State University Press, 2012.
David Zeisberger (1721–1808) led the Moravian missionaries that settled in the Upper Ohio Valley in 1772 to minister to the Delaware Nation. For the next ten years, Zeisberger lived among the Delaware Indians, becoming a trusted adviser and involving himself not only in religious activities but also in political and social affairs. During his residency among the Delawares, he kept diaries recording the full range of his activities. The diaries have been translated from German to English and edited for twenty-first-century readers.
Other Primary Sources
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.
Secondary Sources
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.
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.
Kelsay, Isabel Thompson. Joseph Brant, 1743-1807, Man of Two Worlds. 1st ed. An Iroquois Book. Syracuse, N.Y: Syracuse University Press, 1984.
As the title indicates, Joseph Brant straddled the Native American and Euro-American worlds in the Revolutionary Era. Born in the Ohio region, Brant became a leader in the Six Nations Confederacy. He gained knowledge of the British world through his sister, Molly, who married Sir William Johnson, the British Indian Commissioner. During the American Revolution, Brant commanded loyalists and Native American forces in attacking Rebels in western New York State. He gained a solid reputation as an effective military commander with a reputation for brutality and cunning. After the war, Brant and his followers retreated to Upper Canada. The present day town of Brantford, Ontario is named after Joseph. Historians regard him as one of the most successful Native American leaders. Kelsay’s work leans heavily on William Johnson’s papers and numerous other primary sources.
Lennox, Jeffers. North of America: Loyalists, Indigenous Nations, and the Borders of the Long American Revolution. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2022.
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. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013.
Articles
Native American Revolutions: Introduction Age of Revolutions Web Site which includes a comprehensive bibliography.
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.
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.
Researching the American Revolution 