Brothers Divided: The Iroquois Confederacy and the Revolution
Long before the colonies dreamed of independence, the Iroquois Confederacy was already a union. Made up of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora nations, the Confederacy had endured centuries of alliance, diplomacy, and shared governance. It was held together by a system known as the Great Law of Peace, one of the most sophisticated political compacts in the world at the time. But when the American Revolution broke out, even that ancient agreement was not strong enough to hold back the pull of war. Each nation in the Confederacy faced its own pressures.
Geography, trade routes, past treaties, and missionary influence created different experiences with the colonial powers. Some nations leaned toward Britain, hoping a distant empire might better respect their borders. Others sided with the Americans, convinced that shared struggle might secure lasting peace. Still others hesitated, unsure whether either side would truly honor their word. The result was not unity, but fracture. The Mohawk, led by the influential Joseph Brant, allied with the British.
Brant had traveled to London, met with royalty, and returned convinced that the Crown offered the best chance of preserving Mohawk land and power. He became a fierce advocate for British alliance, guiding Mohawk warriors into battle and lobbying for recognition of Indigenous rights. His sister, Molly Brant, played her own critical role as a diplomat and matriarch, offering guidance and coordination from her home in Fort Niagara. Together, they turned the Mohawk into a formidable political and military force. The Oneida, by contrast, sided with the Revolutionaries. Influenced by Christian missionaries and by growing tensions with neighboring nations, they saw an opportunity to carve out a cooperative future with the new republic. They provided scouts, warriors, and intelligence to the Continental Army.
They fought in key campaigns, including the Battle of Oriskany. Their support did not go unnoticed, but it also did not protect them from future betrayal. The Onondaga tried to remain neutral. Their central geographic position and ceremonial role in Confederacy councils made them hesitant to engage. But neutrality was difficult to maintain. Eventually, both sides treated them as hostile. Their villages were attacked. Their leadership was dispersed. The Cayuga and Seneca also aligned with the British, launching raids and defending western frontiers. Their decision came from a mix of British promises, American encroachment, and historical grievance.
As the war dragged on, they became targets of brutal retribution. In 1779, General George Washington ordered the Sullivan-Clinton Expedition to destroy Iroquois towns and food supplies. Dozens of villages were burned. Fields were cut down. Winter approached, and many died from starvation. The Confederacy paid a devastating price for its fragmentation. In the mural, this story is hinted at through symmetry turned askew. Two figures stand on either side of a tree. One holds a rifle. One holds a prayer stick. Between them lies a belt of wampum, its beads scattered. Their eyes do not meet. The space is not filled with action. It is filled with what is no longer shared.
What makes the division of the Iroquois so tragic is that their confederation had endured conflict before. They had mediated disputes among themselves and with others for generations. Their fall into civil war came not from internal failure, but from external forces pulling at each seam. The Revolution, in this case, did not liberate. It divided. After the war, the American government made treaties that ignored most of the Iroquois. Lands were taken. Agreements were rewritten.
Those who had fought for the Revolution found that gratitude faded fast. Those who had supported the British found that the empire was too far away to protect them. Families relocated. Councils dissolved. The Confederacy never regained its full strength. And yet, the memory of what it once was still stands. It offers a model of diplomacy, balance, and shared governance that long predates the United States.
It reminds us that the American Revolution was not the first struggle over sovereignty on this land. It was only the loudest. What was lost at the crossroads of that war was more than lives or territory. It was the continuity of a league that had once shown the world how to govern through counsel rather than conquest. And though divided, the spirit of the Confederacy remains. Not broken. Only dispersed.
