"His Majesty’s Indian Allies: 10 Notables" Topic
2 Posts
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Tango01 | 26 Nov 2015 3:57 p.m. PST |
"In many respects it was a sobering testament to Britain's mounting resolve to suppress the Revolution at all costs. "It is his Majesty's resolution," explained Lord George Germain, "that the most vigorous Effort should be made, and every means employed that Providence has put into His Majesty's Hands, for crushing the Rebellion." The vigorous effort to which Germain referred was the employment of Indian auxiliaries, a grim war measure adopted for the purpose of "exciting an alarm" upon the American frontier."[1] From the outset of the war both British and American authorities recognized the inestimable value of forging alliances with the Indians, or, at the very least, securing guarantees of neutrality. A number of native communities were rent by such decisions, but ultimately the majority of the tribes sided with Great Britain. Such Indian nations were not signatories to formal alliances in the European sense, but, in elaborate ceremonies often attended by British representatives, would both figuratively and literally "take up the hatchet" on behalf of the British. The Delaware chief Pipe later explained the ritual; the British, he said, "put a war hatchet into my hands, saying: Take this weapon and try it on the heads of my enemies … and let me afterwards know if it was sharp and good."[2] The tribes, whose very survival depended on the skills of a robust warrior class, would prove to be formidable opponents. Although the disparate Indian nations, even with British coordination, could never entirely settle intertribal rivalries and present unified opposition to the Americans, their undeniable skills at carrying out desultory guerilla actions essentially opened a devastating second front to the war. Such raids were frustratingly difficult to counter; George Washington observed that defending an extensive backcountry was "next to impossible."[3] Despite the European traditions of warfare which were generally observed by British and American troops on the eastern seaboard, the conflict on the frontier was an exceedingly brutal war of reprisal that more often than not targeted civilian populations. While serving as Virginia's governor, Thomas Jefferson nonetheless acknowledged that the backcountry fighting was an integral part of the overall war effort. "We are all embarked in one bottom," he wrote, "the Western end of which cannot swim while the Eastern sinks. I am thoroughly satisfied that nothing can keep us up but the keeping off the Indians from our Western quarter; that this cannot be done, but by pushing the war into their Country…" See here link Amicalement Armand |
Rudysnelson | 27 Nov 2015 11:20 a.m. PST |
We did a long article/ special edition for 'Time Portal Passages' back 15 years ago. A lot of combined operations with British troops like Butler's Rangers out of Canada. We listed all of the battles that we could verify. |
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