How were Native Americans and the French involved in the war?

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Figure false: Death of Jane McCrea
Figure false: Jane McCrea, a patriot’s daughter in love with a loyalist in Burgoyne’s army, gained fame as a martyr in 1777. She met death on her way to join her fiancé — either shot in the crossfire of battle (the British claim) or murdered by Indians (the patriots’ version). American leaders used the story of the vulnerable young woman as propaganda to inspire the American drive for victory at Saratoga. Wadsworth Athenaeum Museum of Art, Hartford/Art Resource, NY.

IN EARLY 1777, the Continental army faced bleak choices. General Washington had skillfully avoided defeat, but the minor victories in New Jersey lent only faint optimism to the American side. Meanwhile, British troops moved south from Quebec, aiming to isolate New England by taking control of the Hudson River. Their presence drew the Continental army up into central New York, polarizing tribes of the Iroquois Nation and turning the Mohawk Valley into a bloody war zone. By 1779, tribes in western New York and in Indian country in the Ohio Valley were fully involved in the Revolutionary War. Despite an important patriot victory at Saratoga, the involvement of Indians and the continuing strength of the British forced the American government to look to France for help.

CHRONOLOGY

1777

  • – Ambush at Oriskany; Americans hold Fort Stanwix.

1777–1778

  • – Continental army winters at Valley Forge.

1778

  • – France signs treaty with America.

1779

  • – Americans destroy Iroquois villages in New York.
  • – Militias attack Cherokee settlements in North Carolina.
  • – Americans take Forts Kaskaskia and Vincennes.