July 1776, Joseph Bryant and Colonel Guy Johnson returned to America from discussing alliance tems in Britain. Bryant was convinced that the British would win and therefore his brother Natives needed to join at once to the winning side. He immediately told them of his idea of joining the British side and 4 tribes out of the 6 agreed to do so. The division made the oh so powerful Nothern Nation tribe weaker. The two tribes who did not join were the Oneida and Tuscarora.

Their alliance was made official at the Congress at Irondequoit in July 1777.

IN July of 1775, the Continental Congress came up with (instead of only 2) three "superintendentencies" to keep the Natives out of the family scuffle, but this proved to fail.

IN the summer of 1776, the Americans and the British formally asked for Iriquois aide. Formally means that they had been, for a time, trying to get Native American aide informally. Only when they absolutely needed them, did it become formal. Both of the running candidates for the Iriquois to choose from, buttered them up with feast and tempting offers.

Indian support was the last resorts on the Loyalist and Patriot lists of whom to enlist for the war.

But both sides did stronlgy advise the Natives to stay out of the Family Scuffle and remain neutral no matter what the other side offered.

George Washington had a different list apparently. He was in desperate need for more men, if they were going to win this Revolution. He enlisted gunmen from the Eastern tribes during the winter of 1774-1775. The tribes were: Stockbridge Passamaquoddy, St. John's, and Penubscot.
The fall of 1775, the British General Gage justified using other Native recruits because Washington had.

Sir William Johnson was succeeded by his son Sir Guy Johnson (seen above). Johnson was given the task to finish what his father had started and successfully convinced the Iriquois not to fight. I am not sure who is the mysterious Native American behind Johnson but I am guessing it is the Mohawk leader, Joseph Bryant.

A year before Lord Dunmore's War of 1774, the arrangements between the seaboard colonists and the Native Americans of the interior were no longer in effect. They had agreed to leave each other alone.

Dunmore began moving into the tans-Alleghany are of the Natives. This was an awful idea. He trasgressed on Delaware and Shawnee lands. The Natives there started fighting against Dunmore and his possy.

The Iriquois did not like how the white men were disrespecting their Native brothers and were ready to help defend their brothers.

Johnson then had the task of persuading the Iriquois not to fight. When he got close to sealing the deal, he died.

THe British were not all that interested in dealing with angry Native Americans so the Proclamation of 1763 was put in effect. The Proclamation stated that the colonists were not to settle past the Appalachian mountains. The British were trying to reassert the crown's soveriegnity over the colonists.

The Proclamation was not heeded to by all the colonists.

The interior Native Americans had to difed themselves and their homeland with arms. The English tried to enforce their own control onto the Natives. This would somewhat lead to the idea of reservations, since the land behind the Appalachians was "reserved" for the Natives.

Native Americans in the Background of a Family Scuffle

In 1775, Sir William Johnson was appointed as the superintendent of Native American affairs for the Northern colonies; Sir Edmond Atkins was appointed for the Southern colonies. The colonial assemblies, therefore, had less control when it came to handle little arguments between them and the Native Americans.

Superintendents were the next rank under the commander-in-chief of the forces. They were needed because of the French and American threats. Not to forget that the Native Americans were an unpredictable force to be reckoned with.