Chapter 11

The shot heard round the world

The American Indian Tribes in the War of the American Revolution

This final section of Part II of the story of "The 400 Year War" addresses the period of the American Revolution against the British rule. To the American Indian Tribes, the conflict between the colonizing powers of France and England and to a lesser degree Spain was easy to view as a struggle for dominance and power over a vast territory. The tribes were able to choose their "fathers" and freely exercised their natural tendency to warlike attitudes and the violent rule of survival of the "strong" will always win out over the "weak" in a vacuum of authority. As we discussed before the steady shifting numbers of population comparisons were decidedly in favor of the European Settlers and at the expense of a declining American Indian Tribe demographic. There were many factors that influenced this changing relationship and the effect of wars was high on the list.

At the beginning of the story in the year 1500, The relationship of the populations was roughly 450 to 1 in favor of the American Indian Tribes in the "lower 48".

By the time of the French and Indian Wars which was discussed in chapters 7 -10 the relationship of the American Indian Tribes to the European Settlers had adjusted to a ratio of 1.2 to 1 still slightly in favor of the American Indian Tribes.

During the period of the American Revolution which is discussed in chapters 11 – 13 of this story, the relationship dropped even lower with the European Settlers now outnumbering the American Indian Tribes by a ratio of 1.4 to 1.

This changing demographic was to change even more drastically in the remaining part III of this story covered in chapters 14 – 20. In the final years of the story at the end of part III the European Settlers will outnumber the American Indian Tribes on a scale of almost 80 to 1. In modern days, even while the numbers of the still resident American Indians have increased from 1892 levels, the ratio has further deteriorated to a scale of 295 to 1 in favor of non-Indian populations. It is difficult to derive true levels because of changing rules concerning degrees of pure blooded individuals. It is perhaps more telling to use the "Reservation" figures instead of the "Census" figures because of questionable census-taking policies and shifting analysis.

While the taking of sides was fairly easy for the American Indian Tribes during the French and Indian Wars, it was altogether difficult during the time of the American Revolution to choose sides. Most of the Indian Tribes were of a culture that always sought to choose the most powerful side in any conflict because their instinct to be on the winning side was tied closely to their instinct to survive. The Indians had seen the power of the Regular British Army in the field and respected the power of their magnificent cannon and the discipline of the troops with effective volleys of fire and ability to maneuver on the open field of battle. They also knew their weakness in wooded terrain and their inability to adjust to a more flexible kind of covert fighting. They knew the settlers were for the most part dedicated to their cause but often lacked the military skills necessary to kill and kill without compunction. The Indian tribes that were previously aligned with the English against the French choose the American Rebels in the conflict and the previously non-aligned tribes and the tribes that backed the French opted to assist the British regular army which paid well for Indian scouts to seek out the enemy positions. Unfortunately, that is an unbiased generalization and not a scientific fact and it is easily accepted that there are exceptions to that basic assumption.

The American Indian Tribes were perplexed with the creation of a new united colonies allied against their country of origin ... England. During the conflict the American Indian Tribes had to decide between the loyalist and the patriot cause. If they were too conflicted, then they had the option of remaining neutral. Some of them choose simply from a need to protect their own lands and their own people with little thought to the allegiance to a King in a far off land or to follow the American Settlers desire for Independence from British rule.

The roots of the Indian involvement started soon after the French and Indian Wars when the Indians became concerned at the expanding presence of the English Settlers on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains. Even the British parliament saw this as a threat and attempted to restrict the expansion of settlement.

The Indians were wise enough to understand that the American Revolution was as much a fight for control of the Indian lands as well as the struggle for the American Settlers to achieve liberty. One of the key tribes, the Cherokees had taken a neutral stance but their sub-chiefs disobeyed their orders and attacked the American Settlers in the Southern colonies. They laid waste to many farms and settlements but were eventually defeated and driven out of that territory by the American Militia raised to defend the Southern colonies. Several tribes in the Ohio River Valley Basin including the Shawnee and the Delaware at first tended to favor the settlers but that soon changed and they raided the isolated English Settler outposts with ferocious violence. Bands of formerly French-supporting Indian Tribes that had migrated into Canada came south to lay havoc in the exposed hinterlands with a swiftness that often escaped retribution.

Other Indian Tribes sided with the British Regular Army side thinking that by defeating the ever-increasing American Settlers it would act to slow down the flood of western expansion. One of the strange happenings was the splitting of the Iroquois Confederacy. Most of the Mohawks sided with the British and the more integrated Mohicans sided with the English Settlers in the New England Colonies. Some of the Indians were working with the American Patriots before the War officially started.

The American Revolution ran its course and resulted in the eventual defeat of the British crown and their departure from the Colonies. The new American nation was born and it was now an entirely different playing field for the American Indian Tribes. It was no longer them against a foreign conglomerate of colonial powers in a far-away land across the sea. Now they were facing an opponent that was based right in their midst and poised to expand into their lands like a relentless tide that knows no boundary.

The British turned over all of its territory east of the Mississippi River system from the Great Lakes to the southernmost port at New Orleans. It was formalized in the Treaty of Paris 1783 not to be confused with the Treaty of Paris 1763 which addressed the French and Indian Wars and the Seven Years Wars in Europe. Just as in the previous treaty, the Indian allies were not consulted and very little thought was given to their rights to land and property during the negotiations.

Suddenly, the American Indian Tribes were faced with a situation that was almost hopeless with an enemy that grew in size with every passing day as their own ranks became increasing reduced by pestilence, migration out of the "lower 48", transfer into slavery in other regions, and their own inter-tribal warfare. Many other European immigrants saw the American Nation as a shining beacon of hope for independence and liberty far away from the troubles of Monarchy and religious restrictions in Old Europe.

The British defeat led many of the Indian tribes to remove to Canada or to those lands still open in the west hoping to adapt to the new terrain of the open plains and the need to master drastic changes in food supplies, weaponry, and the need to gain skills in horse tending and riding. The tomahawk need to be replaced by longer range bows and acquired firearms to match their opponents on the field of battle. Without the dense forest areas to seek refuge, they needed to be more selective in their choice of locating villages and hunting grounds away from the beaten track and make it difficult for the new American military and settlers to locate and engage them in armed conflict.