Native Americans in the American Revolution : how the war divided, devastated, and transformed the early American Indian world

Title:

Author:

Schmidt, Ethan A.

ISBN:

9780313359316

Personal Author:

Schmidt, Ethan A.

Publication Information:

Santa Barbara, California : Praeger, an imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC, [2014]

Physical Description:

xxx, 225 pages ; 25 cm

Contents:

Guide to the principal Native American groups during the Revolutionary Era, grouped by religion -- Timeline of the major events of the American Revolution, including those relating to Native Americans -- Introduction : the Great War for Empire and the end of triangular native diplomacy -- 1. Pontiac's Rebellion, the proclamation of 1763 and the new British Indian policy -- 2. The collapse of British Indian policy in the South -- 3. The collapse of British Indian policy in the North -- 4. The collapse of British Indian policy in the West -- 5. The Revolutionary War in the South -- 6. The Revolutionary War in the North -- 7. The Revolutionary War in the West -- 8. "Like we should soon become no people" : the assault on Indian land in the immediate aftermath of the American Revolution -- Conclusion: The struggle continues.

Abstract:

For many colonists, the American Revolution provided the opportunity to continue displacing Native Americans. This book provides an account of the role of Native Americans in the Revolution's outbreak, progress, and conclusion. It provides full coverage of the Revolution's effects on Native Americans, and details how Native Americans were critical to the Revolution's outbreak, its progress, and its conclusion. The work covers the experiences of specific Native American groups such as the Abenaki, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Delaware, Iroquois, Seminole, and Shawnee peoples with information presented by chronological period and geographic area. The first part of the book examines the effects of the Imperial Crisis of the 1760s and early 1770s on Native peoples in the Northern colonies, Southern colonies, and Ohio Valley respectively. The second section focuses on the effects of the Revolutionary War itself on these three regions during the years of ongoing conflict, and the final section concentrates on the postwar years. It adds the Native American perspective to reader's understanding of the American Revolution, a critical aspect of this period in history ; supplies a synthesis of the best current and past work on the topic of Native Americans in the American Revolution ; and shows how the struggle over the definition and utilization of Native American identity, an issue that was initiated with the American Revolution, is still ongoing for American Indians.--From publisher's website.

Language:

English

Subject Term:

Indians of North America -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783.

Indians of North America -- Government relations.

British -- North America -- History -- 18th century.

Indians of North America -- Wars -- 1775-1783.

Geographic Term:

United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Participation, Indian.

United States -- Relations -- Great Britain.

Great Britain -- Relations -- United States.

Genre:

History.

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Summary

This valuable book provides a succinct, readable account of an oft-neglected topic in the historiography of the American Revolution: the role of Native Americans in the Revolution's outbreak, progress, and conclusion.

There has not been an all-encompassing narrative of the Native American experience during the American Revolutionary War period--until now. Native Americans in the American Revolution: How the War Divided, Devastated, and Transformed the Early American Indian World fills that gap in the literature, provides full coverage of the Revolution's effects on Native Americans, and details how Native Americans were critical to the Revolution's outbreak, its progress, and its conclusion.

The work covers the experiences of specific Native American groups such as the Abenaki, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Delaware, Iroquois, Seminole, and Shawnee peoples with information presented by chronological period and geographic area. The first part of the book examines the effects of the Imperial Crisis of the 1760s and early 1770s on Native peoples in the Northern colonies, Southern colonies, and Ohio Valley respectively. The second section focuses on the effects of the Revolutionary War itself on these three regions during the years of ongoing conflict, and the final section concentrates on the postwar years.

Reviews (1)

Choice Review

Inspired by the writings of Colin Galloway and Gary Nash on the Revolution, Schmidt (Delta State Univ.) has ambitiously attempted to write a synthesis about Native peoples' involvement in the war. As have others before him, he insists that they played a pivotal role. Because the author attempts breadth, his treatment of individual communities is full of generalizations. Moreover, Schmidt spends merely 70 pages on Native military involvement in the war and fails to mention the Battle of Monmouth, where more Native American nations fought than in any other battle in the East. In treating the Hodinöhsö:ni' nations, he tends to exaggerate Kirkland's influence among the Oneidas and never mentions George Klock and his influence. He never cites the important diary of Joseph Bloomfield, or the scholarly writings on the Mohawks and Oneidas by Karim Tiro, David Preston, and Joseph Glatthaar and James Kirby Martin. Although Schmidt provides a helpful time line, the work would have been of greater value had the author supplied a clearer map or added others that showed more areas of Native American involvement. --Laurence M. Hauptman, State University of New York at New Paltz