Native Americans in the American Revolution
Oconostota
Oconostota, a chief of the Cherokee,
was one of the more tragic figures of the American Revolution. As a
young warrior, he had fought against the Choctaw in the 1750s.
Some idea of the complexity of the native Americans and their
relationships with the warring groups during the Seven Years
War can be gleaned from
a letter from Governor James Glen of South Carolina to Britain.
By the time of the Revolution Oconostota was a great chief in his tribe,
and according to Cherokee agent Alexander Cameron, the formidable
warrior commanded "not only a vast sway with his own people,
but with other tribes." In 1773 he even became a member of the
Saint Andrew's Club of Charleston!
His portrait (140K jpg) indeed shows a regal
warrior, but the Revolution placed him in an impossible position.
As the Anglo-American crisis escalated, Oconostota struggled
to avoid open warfare with the Americans. Younger chiefs of the
tribe, however, angered at continued pressure
on their lands, urged warfare, and the American Revolution gave them
an opportunity.
While the great chief continually applied to Virginia and Continental
officials to negotiate, his people, led by the younger chiefs, were
defeated. William Christian,
in a letter of 1782, described the plight of the survivors on their way
to Richmond.
In both textual and visual sources from the period, we can see
conflicting images of Indians as potential allies or enemies of the
American cause. The Iroquois Confederacy was actively courted by the
British and their Loyalist allies, and by the Congress. In
particular, whites sought to receive the "Covenant Chain" from the
individual member nations of the Confederacy. A belt made
up of twenty-one rows of wampum, the Covenant Chain represented the
bond of peace and friendship between nations, and was often the basis
for a military alliance. Even as they sought Indian allies, however,
white mistrust of Indians ran deep. The success of the British army in
recruiting Indian allies provoked
fearful reactions in the American press.
During the summer of 1776, the Continental Army was pursuing a fierce
band of Loyalists--mostly Scots Highlanders led by the relatives of Sir
William Johnson--and their Indian allies. In his
war diary, Captain Joseph Bloomfield recorded his participation in
a negotiation with the Mohawk Indians of upper New York.
