The American Revolution split the Iroquois Confederacy of Native Americans, with the Oneidas and Tuscarora siding with the Americans and the other five tribes aligning themselves with the British.
The Oneida occupied land in central New York and were geographically closest to the eastern seaboard. They became the staunchest allies of the Patriot cause among the Iroquois Confederacy. The Tuscarora who were accepted into the six nations with the help of the Oneida had factions that supported both sides in the war and shared reservation land after the conflict with Oneidas before getting their own allotted spot.
Fact #2: Catawba Native Americans assisted militia and Patriot partisans in actions in North and South Carolina.
Although the Catawbas sided with the British during the French and Indian War, on the eve of the American Revolution, a reservation in South Carolina was formed for them. With the British presence in the area during 1780-1781, the Catawba saw many of their homesteads torched. This propelled them further into the American camp, where they served at places like Guilford Courthouse in March 1781, and with the famed militia commander General Thomas Sumter in South Carolina.
Fact #3: Stockbridge Native Americans assisted in the defining American victory at Saratoga and the last major engagement in the Northern Theater, at Monmouth in June 1778.
The first of many Native American tribes to side with the Americans, the Mohican, Wappinger, and Munsee Native Americans, all in the general area of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, cast their lot with the revolutionaries. In 1774, meeting in Stockbridge, the tribe issued the following statement:
“Wherever your armies go, there we will go; you shall always find us by your side; and if providence calls us to sacrifice our Lives in the field of battle, we will fall where you fall, and lay our bones by yours. Nor shall peace ever be made between our nation and the Red-Coats until our brothers -the white people- lead the way.”
Fact #4: Polly Cooper, an Oneida, traveled with male warriors to Valley Forge during the Continental Army winter encampment.
While there, she showed the Army how to make soup from corn husks, which helped ease some of the soldiery's hunger. This trek, through winter, covered hundreds of miles from New York to Pennsylvania and was part of the relief mission. Her companions, including her husband, brought hundreds of bushels of white corn to feed the Continental army. After the war, she refused any payment except a token of appreciation from Martha Washington.