The British–Iroquois Alliance and the Fractured Confederacy

Portrait of Samuel Kirkland by Augustus Rockwell

Internal disputes weren’t limited to the Green Mountains on the Province of New York’s eastern edge. But what unfolded there would pale in comparison to what was about to erupt on the western frontier.

Here, in the wild, untamed forests, far beyond the reach of authority, conflict took on a different character. Courts gave way to violence. Diplomacy gave way to force. Far from the centers of power, restraint disappeared. Local actors dictated events, and alliances, long maintained, began to crack.

The conflict did not simply reach the frontier. It entered the Confederacy itself.

Once inside, it would tear it apart.

Samuel Kirkland became that inside man. Ironically, long-time British Superintendent of Indian Affairs Sir William Johnson encouraged the young student to spend time with the Mohawk to learn the tribe’s language.¹ After graduating from the College of New Jersey (later renamed “Princeton University”), Kirkland spent a year with the Seneca before being assigned to Oneida Castle.² The young minister’s calm and sincere manner quickly built deep and lasting trust, particularly among the Oneida.³

And that sowed the seeds of trouble for the Confederacy.

Sir William Johnson had deftly handled the British-Iroquois alliance, balancing the needs of the British fur trade economy with the diplomatic demands of the Iroquois Confederacy.⁴ By the time of his death in 1774, “a greater personal influence over the Iroquois than was ever possessed by any other individual, or even by any government.”⁵ He was forced to constrain the ambitions of colonial settlers pushing west, particularly in the area claimed by the Mohawks. As early as 1763, he recognized, “The thirst of making distant settlements is very impolitic, as such frontiers are too weak and remote to oppose even an ordinary scalping party.”⁶

To solidify his connection with the Mohawk Nation, he adopted Joseph Brant, a young Mohawk destined to be Chief of that Nation. The same age as Samuel Kirkland, Johnson sent Brant to Dr. Eleazar Wheelock’s Moor’s Charity School in Connecticut (the school would later be moved to New Hampshire and renamed “Dartmouth”).⁷ Brant may have encountered Kirkland there, as Johnson referred Wheelock to Kirkland should there be any question on the “Indian Boys” (including Brant).⁸

Sometimes those settlers pushed Johnson to his limits, but he always managed to appease all sides. Johnson, however, always prioritized keeping the Iroquois on the King’s side. He maintained that confidence even as colonial conflict seemed probable.⁹

On July 14, 1774, the Chiefs of the Six Nations met to mourn the passing of William Johnson. His successor (and nephew) Guy Johnson was also present. Tyerhansera, Chief of the Mohawks, warned:

“Another thing, Brother, we have to say, is, to remind you that at the Fort Stanwix Treaty in 1768, we gave up a great deal of land which we did not expect wou’d be suddenly overspread with people, but we now see with concern that they do not even confine themselves within their limits, which must end in troubles. We therefore beg that they may be restrained, and brought under some Government. These things, Brother, and particularly the murders and robberies your people commit have kindled a flame which is as yet small, but unless quenched in time, it will overspread the country so that we can’t stop it, We therefore hope for your vigorous Endeavors to put it out.”¹⁰

A year later, the Revolutionary War began. William Johnson’s absence was sorely felt. Guy did not possess William’s gravitas.¹¹ The Confederacy maintained its neutrality,¹² in part because of Kirkland’s convincing the Oneida to advocate for it.¹³ Still, Guy persisted. Between gifts and greater promises, he made headway.¹⁴ The Seneca (with the apparent exception of Red Jacket) and the Mohawk agreed to side with the Loyalists.¹⁵ The Oneida (and to some extent the Tuscarora) voted to remain neutral (eventually siding with the Americans).¹⁶ The Cayuga and Onondaga were mixed.¹⁷

In January 1777, the Iroquois Confederacy effectively dissolved.¹⁸ It fractured along lines of trust, influence, and inducement, with each Nation taking its own course.¹⁹

The split was anything but amicable. The Battle of Oriskany marks a turning point in the history of the now former Iroquois Confederacy. Oriskany was, in one sense, a skirmish between British and American forces. But for the first time in centuries, the Six Nations also fought among themselves. The Oneida stood by the Colonists,²⁰ while (primarily) the Seneca, led by Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant, aligned with the British.²¹

The fracture within the Confederacy had now become irreversible. The difference was no longer political; it was now military. Violence replaced the diplomacy of the Council Fire.

And the Oneida would pay dearly for their transgression. They were quite familiar with the rules of Iroquois warfare.

The settlers on the western edge of New York’s frontier were not.

And what happened next was so savage that even contemporary accounts strain to convey it.

¹ Stone, William Leete, The Life and Times of Sir William Johnson, Bart, Volume II, Munsell, Albany, 1865, p. 174.
² Broadhead, John Romeyn, Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York, Vol. VIII, E.B. O’Callaghan, ed, Weed, Parsons & Co, 1857, p. 631.
³ Barber, John W., and Howe, Henry, Historical Collections of the State of New York, S. Tuttle, New York, 1842, p. 362.
⁴ Turner, Orsamus, Pioneer History of the Phelps and Gorham’s Purchase and Morris Reserve (Monroe), William Alling, Rochester, 1851, p. 70-71, [from the 1755 London Gentleman’s Magazine].
⁵ Morgan, Lewis H., League of the Ho-de-no sau-nee or Iroquois, Human Relations Area Files, 1954 (reprint), p. 84.
⁶ Broadhead, John Romeyn, Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York, Vol. VII, E.B. O’Callaghan, ed, Weed, Parsons & Co, 1853, p. 578.
⁷ Barber, p. 276.
⁸ O’Callaghan, E.B., Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York, Vol. IV, Charles Van Benthuysen, Albany, 1851, p. 198,
⁹ The Documentary History of the State of New York, Vol. II, Christopher Morgan, Weed Parsons & Co., Albany, 1849, p. 983.
¹⁰ Broadhead, Vol. VIII, p. 61.
¹¹ Dawson, S. E., Report Concerning Canadian Archives for the Year 1904, Ottawa, 1905, p. 345, [In letter to Thomas Gage dated December 14, 1774, Guy Johnson writes “[I]ndeed I apprehend that no one will ever have that Influence with, or ever again that confidence from them that he had.”.
¹² Broadhead, Vol. VIII, pp. 524-526.
¹³ Turner, Orsamus, Pioneer History of the Holland Purchase of Western New York, Jewett, Thomas & Co., 1849, p. 259.
¹⁴ Broadhead, Vol. VIII, p. 636.
¹⁵ Stone, William L., The Life and Times of Sa-Go-Ye-Wat-Ha, or Red Jacket, New York: Wiley and Putnam, 1841, pp. 54-55, [Red Jacket is recorded saying: “This quarrel does not belong to us… If they let us alone, we had better keep still.”].
¹⁶ Force, Peter, American Archives, Fourth Series, Vol. 2, Washington, 1839, p. 1116, [“Oneida Declaration of Neutrality,” June 19, 1775].
¹⁷ Morgan, p. 195.
¹⁸ Ibid.
¹⁹ Morgan, p. 108.
²⁰ Morgan, p. 195.
²¹ Hubbard, J. Niles, An Account of Sa-go-ye-wat-ha Or Red Jacket and his People, Joel Munsell’s Sons, Albany, NY, 1886, p. 47.