Native Americans in the American Revolution

Why they got involved

Many Native nations saw the war as a struggle that could affect their land, safety, and sovereignty. The British and Americans both sought Native allies because Native warriors knew the terrain well and had military experience from earlier frontier conflicts.

Sides they chose

Most Native communities leaned toward the British, largely because British officials were viewed as a better check on American expansion. At the same time, some nations and communities supported the Patriots, including the Oneida, Tuscarora, Stockbridge-Munsee, Mohican, and other allied groups.

How they fought

Native Americans served in many roles, including scouts, spies, raiders, soldiers, and diplomats. Some of the earliest Native fighters allied with the Patriots came from Stockbridge, Massachusetts, while others fought with British-led forces in Canada and along the frontier.

Divisions within nations

The war often split Native nations internally. The Iroquois Confederacy was divided, with the Oneida and Tuscarora supporting the Americans while the Mohawk and others backed the British; the Cherokee also split into competing factions. 

Long-term impact

The Revolution was disastrous for many Native peoples because it intensified violence on the frontier and helped open the way for rapid U.S. westward expansion after 1783. In many cases, Native nations gained little protection from the peace settlement, and the war weakened their position for the decades that followed.

Native Americans were deeply involved, fought on both sides, and were often trying to protect their lands and autonomy rather than simply choosing between “Patriot” and “British” causes.

In South Carolina

Native American involvement in the American Revolution in South Carolina was significant and varied: the Catawba generally supported the Patriot cause, while the Cherokee largely aligned with the British in hopes of protecting their lands from colonial expansion. Their choices reflected local pressures, long-running trade and land disputes, and different survival strategies in a rapidly changing frontier.

The Catawba

The Catawba are often remembered as South Carolina’s principal Native allies of the Patriots, and they were valued for their support, knowledge of the region, and military service. Their alliance also reflected existing relationships with nearby settlers and their rivalry with the Cherokee.

The Cherokee

The Cherokee saw the Revolution through the lens of land defense and mostly sided with the British, whom they viewed as more likely to restrain settler encroachment. That choice led to severe retaliation from Patriot forces, including attacks on Cherokee towns and crops that devastated their communities.

Wider impact

More broadly, Native peoples in South Carolina were caught between empires and settlers, with warfare bringing displacement, loss of land, and broken promises no matter which side they chose. The Revolution intensified older conflicts and helped set the stage for even greater pressure on Native lands after the war. The Catawba and Cherokee made opposite strategic choices in the Revolution because each saw land, trade, and survival differently. The Catawba leaned toward the Patriots, while the Cherokee leaned toward the British, and both decisions were shaped by repeated betrayal and fear of losing what remained of their homelands.

Land and survival

For the Cherokee, land loss was the central issue. Settler expansion into Cherokee territory had already produced illegal settlements and pressure for more cessions, so alliance with the British looked like a way to slow that advance and protect sovereignty. For the Catawba, land pressure also mattered, but they had a small reservation in South Carolina that they hoped could be preserved through political loyalty and alliance with the Patriots.

Trade and power

Trade tied both nations to colonial politics. Cherokee leaders had long depended on trade goods, including guns and ammunition, but that dependence also made them vulnerable when trade relationships became unstable and settlers kept pushing west. The Catawba, by contrast, had relatively workable trade and local relationships with white neighbors, which made a Patriot alliance seem more practical than a British one.

Betrayal and trust

Betrayal shaped Cherokee choices in a direct way because many leaders viewed colonial land deals as deceptive and illegitimate, especially when treaties seemed to reward encroachment rather than restrain it. The Catawba also faced betrayal in the broader colonial world, but they judged the Patriots as the side more likely to honor their place on the land and protect their reservation. In both cases, alliance was less about ideology than about choosing the side they thought would best defend them in a violent frontier struggle.

Different outcomes

The Cherokee paid a heavy price for their choice: Patriot retaliation destroyed towns, crops, and influence, and the war intensified their land loss. The Catawba suffered too, including attacks and displacement, but their support for the Patriot side helped them retain a recognized homeland after the war. That contrast shows why the same conflict produced very different Native strategies in South Carolina.

In June 1777, Harris enlisted as a private in the Battalion of Georgia Minutemen to fight for American independence.   Two years later, in February 1779, he enlisted in Captain Oliver Towels’ company of the 3^rd SC Regiment and served with them for a year.   Harris was with this regiment when he was wounded by flying shrapnel during the Battle of Stono Ferry on June 20, 1777. 

After he recovered from his wounds and  joined General Thomas Sumter’s Militia Brigade in 1780.  With this brigade, he fought at the battles of Rocky Mount (c. July 1780 in present day Chester County, SC), Hanging Rock (August 1780 in present day Lancaster County, SC), and Blackstock’s farm (November 1780 in present day Union County, SC.)   In several of these engagements, Harris fought alongside future President Andrew Jackson (aged 13) and his brother Robert against British forces. 

In 1794, In recognition of his military service, Peter Harris received a 200-acre bounty land grant on Fishing Creek in current day Chester County, SC.  In October 1822, he petitioned the state of South Carolina for a pension, saying:

“In the War of Independence, I am one of the lingering embers of an almost extinguished race, Our Graves, will soon be our only habitations. I am one of the few stalks, that still remain in the field, where the Tempest of the revolution passed. I fought against the British for your sake, the British have disappeared, and you are free, yet from me the British took nothing, nor have I gained anything by their defeat. I pursued the deer for my subsistence, the deer are disappearing, & I must starve. God ordained me for the forest, and my ambition is the shade, but the strength of my arm decays, and my feet fail in the chase, the hand which fought for your liberty is now open for your relief – In my Youth, I bled in battle, that you might be independent, let not my heart in my old age, bleed, for the want of your Commiseration.”

His petition was approved and the South Carolina state legislature granted Harris a pension of $60 per year in December 1822. 

Peter Harris passed away in December 1823 and was buried in the Spratt family burial ground in Fort Mill, York County, SC.   His tombstone reads, “The Body of Peter Harris A Catawba Indian by His Request Was Buried Here 1823.”

Special Thanks

Special thanks to Jane Stuart, Veda Keeling, Ken Benkeser, Kathy Smith and Joe Player for their contributions to this section.