Changes

However, there was one hope left: by fighting on perhaps the British forces could hold onto Canada, the Great Lakes, and New York City, and also chop off the most Loyalist, least developed part of the United States, the lower South. Then if the peace conference could confirm these holdings, the British Empire would emerge tattered but with honor intact, and a great deal of valuable territory as well. The US would be independent, but would be weak and not a threat. The downside to fighting on was that the alliance might win outright. France did send a large professional army which, combined with Washington's forces, had the potential to overwhelm the British. With control of the sea in doubt, the Royal Navy could no longer guarantee it could reinforce or evacuate a British land army that got in trouble. London realized that for all its corruption it was financially stronger than the allies; perhaps by holding out it could push the alliance into economic collapse. The new British strategy therefore called for a stronger navy, and an invasion of the American South. The navy was rebuilt successfully; the invasion was a disaster.

However, there was one hope left: by fighting on perhaps the British forces could hold onto Canada, the Great Lakes, and New York City, and also chop off the most Loyalist, least developed part of the United States, the lower South. Then if the peace conference could confirm these holdings, the British Empire would emerge tattered but with honor intact, and a great deal of valuable territory as well. The US would be independent, but would be weak and not a threat. The downside to fighting on was that the alliance might win outright. France did send a large professional army which, combined with Washington's forces, had the potential to overwhelm the British. With control of the sea in doubt, the Royal Navy could no longer guarantee it could reinforce or evacuate a British land army that got in trouble. London realized that for all its corruption it was financially stronger than the allies; perhaps by holding out it could push the alliance into economic collapse. The new British strategy therefore called for a stronger navy, and an invasion of the American South. The navy was rebuilt successfully; the invasion was a disaster.

===Ending the Indian threat===

===Native Americans===

The great majority of the 200,000 Native Americans east of the Mississippi distrusted the colonists and supported the British cause.<ref> Greene and Pole (2004) chapters 19, 46 and 51; Colin G. Calloway, ''The American Revolution in Indian Country: Crisis and Diversity in Native American Communities'' (1995)</ref> The British provided funding and guns to attack American outposts. Some Indians tried to remain neutral, seeing little value in participating yet again in a European conflict. A few supported the American cause.<ref>  The Oneida Indians split, with many supporting the American cause. Joseph T. Glatthaar and James Kirby Martin, '' Forgotten Allies: The Oneida Indians and the American Revolution'' (2007)  </ref> 

The great majority of the 200,000 Native Americans east of the Mississippi distrusted the colonists and supported the British cause.<ref> Greene and Pole (2004) chapters 19, 46 and 51; Colin G. Calloway, ''The American Revolution in Indian Country: Crisis and Diversity in Native American Communities'' (1995)</ref> The British provided funding and guns to attack American outposts. Some Indians tried to remain neutral, seeing little value in participating yet again in a European conflict. A few supported the American cause.  

The British provided arms for the Indians, under Loyalist leadership, to raid frontier settlements from the Carolinas to New York, massacring the settlers, especially in Pennsylvania. The most prominent was Mohawk chief Joseph Brant, who led a band of 300 Indian warriors and 100 white loyalists.<ref>see Barbara Graymont, "Thayendanegea," [http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=36808&query=joseph%20AND%20brant ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online'']  </ref>   In 1779 Washington sent General John Sullivan with four brigades of Continental soldiers to drive the Iroquois out of New York. There was little combat but Sullivan systematically burned the (empty) Indian villages and, most important, destroyed about 600,000 bushels of grain that comprised the winter food supply. Facing starvation the Iroquois permanently fled to Canada, where the British fed them.<ref> Joseph R. Fischer, ''Well-Executed Failure: The Sullivan Campaign against the Iroquois, July-September 1779'' (1997) </ref> At the peace conference the British abandoned their Indian allies, and the Americans took possession of all the land west of the Mississippi and north of Florida. The British, however, did not give up their forts in the west until 1796 and kept alive the dream of one day forming a satellite Indian nation in what is now the Ohio to Wisconsin part of the Midwest.  That hostile goal was one of the causes of the [[War of 1812]].<ref> Dwight L. Smith, "A North American Neutral Indian Zone: Persistence of a British Idea" ''Northwest Ohio Quarterly'' 1989 61(2-4): 46-63</ref><ref> Francis M. Carroll,  [http://books.google.com/books?id=1AjlS20Q5J8C&pg=PA24&dq=barrier+intitle:Good+intitle:and+intitle:Wise+intitle:Measure+intitle:The+intitle:Search+intitle:for+intitle:the+intitle:Canadian-American+inauthor:Francis+inauthor:M+inauthor:Carroll&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=1&as_miny_is=2009&as_maxm_is=12&as_maxy_is=2009&num=30&as_brr=0&as_pt=ALLTYPES  ''A Good and Wise Measure: The Search for the Canadian-American Boundary, 1783-1842''], 2001, page 23 </ref>

The British provided arms for the Indians, under Loyalist leadership, to raid frontier settlements from the Carolinas to New York, threatening to massacre the settlers, especially in Pennsylvania. The most prominent was Mohawk chief Joseph Brant, who led a band of 300 Indian warriors and 100 white loyalists in 1778 and 1780 multiple attacks on small settlements in New York and Pennsylvania.<ref>see Barbara Graymont, "Thayendanegea," [http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=36808&query=joseph%20AND%20brant ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online'']  </ref> In 1776 Cherokee war parties attacked all along the southern frontier.<ref>Tom Hatley, ''The Dividing Paths: Cherokees and South

Carolinians through the Era of Revolution'' (1993); James H. O'Donnell, III, ''Southern Indians in the American Revolution'' (1973)</ref>  

 

At the peace conference the British abandoned their Indian allies, and the Americans took possession of all the land west of the Mississippi and north of Florida. Calloway concludes:

 

The British, however, did not give up their forts in the west until 1796 and kept alive the dream of one day forming a satellite Indian nation in what is now the Ohio to Wisconsin part of the Midwest.  That hostile goal was one of the causes of the [[War of 1812]].<ref> Dwight L. Smith, "A North American Neutral Indian Zone: Persistence of a British Idea" ''Northwest Ohio Quarterly'' 1989 61(2-4): 46-63</ref><ref> Francis M. Carroll,  [http://books.google.com/books?id=1AjlS20Q5J8C&pg=PA24&dq=barrier+intitle:Good+intitle:and+intitle:Wise+intitle:Measure+intitle:The+intitle:Search+intitle:for+intitle:the+intitle:Canadian-American+inauthor:Francis+inauthor:M+inauthor:Carroll&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=1&as_miny_is=2009&as_maxm_is=12&as_maxy_is=2009&num=30&as_brr=0&as_pt=ALLTYPES  ''A Good and Wise Measure: The Search for the Canadian-American Boundary, 1783-1842''], 2001, page 23 </ref>  

 

==The Southern Campaigns of 1778-81==

==The Southern Campaigns of 1778-81==