NATIVE AMERICA & THE GREAT WAR (The American Revolution)

NATIVE AMERICA & THE GREAT WAR (The American Revolution)

© 2025 Native American Composition & Performance, Limited

By Jamie K. Oxendine, Lumbee/Creek

Director,Black Swamp InterTribal Foundation

Most Native American Tribes sided with the British Empire against the American Colonists during the American Revolution.  They believed the conflict to be more of a “family quarrel” with England being the Father and the Colonists being the “bratty” Children.  As time passed and the war raged for 8 long years, Native Nations, regardless of a side to support or stay neutral, all referred to this as The Great War.

Both the British Empire and the American Colonists felt they could make friends and allies with the Native Peoples by offering gifts and trade.  This idea was done by both the British Empire and the French Empire during the French & Indian War, with England and France competing for the allegiance of the Native Peoples.   During the F&I War, gifts to Natives from both European Empires were quite elaborate, and trade was extremely productive. 

For the American Colonists, however, presenting gifts and trade to the Natives was vastly difficult, as the Colonists were quite poor when it came to Trade Goods.  They had no factories to make the items used for trade, and any goods the Colonists did offer were of inferior quality.

Native Tribes allied with the British Crown to preserve their culture and way of life, as England promised no further British settlements west of the Appalachian Mountains (the Proclamation Line of 1763).  Many American Colonists disregarded this and poured across the Appalachians into the Cumberland Gap and Ohio River areas.  This created great tension between Native Peoples and the American Colonists. 

Another reason Native American Tribes refused to side with the American Colonists is that they did not think highly of General George Washington.  During the F&I War, Washington was known by the name of “Conotocarious” (Town Destroyer) for his slash-and-burn campaigns on Native American villages and crops.  During the American Revolution, he continued these campaigns against Native Tribes that would not side with the American Colonists.

Washington referred to himself as “Conotocaurious” in a letter that he wrote to interpreter and negotiator Andrew Montour in October of 1755, expressing his desire that the Oneida resettle along the Potomac. Washington wrote, “Recommend me kindly to our good friend Monacatootha, and others; tell them how happy it would make Conotocarious to have an opportunity of taking them by the hand at Fort Cumberland, and how glad he would be to treat them as brothers of our Great King beyond the waters.”  Decades later, Washington evoked this title again in a communication with Seneca leaders in 1790 and ordered the military to continue the slash-and-burn campaigns against the Native Peoples during the American Revolution.

Some Native American Nations chose to support the Revolutionaries, whom they considered neighbors and friends. These Native Tribes believed that if the Revolutionaries were victorious, they would allow them to maintain control over their homelands. 

Most of the fighting in the American Revolution involving Native Nations was between them and American Loyalists and Rebel Militia.  Very few battles included Native Warriors alongside professional soldiers of either side.   

The American Revolutionary War cost Britain the Thirteen Colonies, but it cost Native Americans so much more.  The Great War created schisms in numerous Native Tribes and was the start of several Native Civil Wars.  It also created animosity between Tribes that continued into the 19^th and 20^th Centuries.  Sadly, some of this “hatred” between Native Peoples that harkens back to the American Revolution is still ongoing now in 2025.

Native Nations that did help the American Colonists were then forced off their lands, and Native Peoples west of the Appalachian Mountains saw American Settlers flooding onto their ancestral lands.  Now, without England as an ally, these Native Nations found themselves alone and at war with the new United States Of America. 

Native Americans played a significant role in the American Revolutionary War, a role that is often minimized or misunderstood. Including them in the history of the war is crucial to understanding the full story of the founding of the United States of America.

Bibliography:

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

“George Washington to Andrew Montour, 10 October 1755,” The Writings of George Washington, Vol. 1 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1931), 198.

“To George Washington from the Seneca chiefs, 1 December 1790,” Founders Online, National Archives. 

Hock, Holger. Scars of Independence:  America’s Violent Birth. Crown Publishing, 2017.

© 2025 Native American Composition & Performance, Limited

Jamie K. Oxendine, Lumbee/Creek

Native American Speaker

Director, Black Swamp InterTribal Foundation

A Non-Profit 501(c)(3) Native American Organization

perrysburgpowwow@hotmail.com