ATTACKS ON THE FRONTIER

 

Native people ere caught between the British and the Continental Congress during the Revolution. Indians feared a patriot triumph will lead to mass white migration into their lands, so the tribes remained loyal the Great Britain. Hoping the King would defend them. The Six Nations of the Iroquois formed a powerful confederacy that controlled a block of territory that was bounded by Lake Ontario in the north, Lake Erie in the west, the Susquehanna River in the south, and the Catskill Mountains in the east. The Iroquois had held their own during the wars between the British and French and sided with the victors in the French and Indian War. The American Revolution would prove the undoing of the Iroquois Confederacy. Divided in their loyalties, most Iroquois sided with the British. Military defeat brought ruin and Iroquois independence. Approximately 13,000 warriors fought for the British, Only a few hundred for the Rebels, and Thousands more remained neutral. Vicious fighting between whites and Indians raged along the frontiers, from New York to Georgia.

GEORGE WASHIGTON

George Washigton was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Britain in the American Revolution War as commander in chief of the Continental Congress in 1775–1783, and he presided over the writing of the Constitution in 1787. Washington was born into the provincial gentry in a wealthy, well connected family that owned tobacco plantations using slave labor. He was home schooled by his father and older brother, but both died young, and he became attached to the powerful Fairfax clan, who promoted his career as a surveyor and soldier. Strong, brave, eager for combat and a natural leader, young Washington quickly became a senior officer of the colonial forces, 1754–58, during the first stages of the French and Indian War. He forced the British out of Boston in 1776, but was defeated and nearly captured later that year when he lost New York City. After crossing the Delaware River in the dead of winter, he defeated the enemy in two battles, retook New Jersey, and restored momentum to the Patriot cause. Washigton drafted the USA constitution. He avoided war with Britain and guaranteed a decade of peace and profitable trade by securing the Jay Treaty in 1795, despite intense opposition from the Jeffersonians. On Thursday December 12, 1799, Washington spent several hours inspecting his farms on horseback, in snow, hail and freezing rain - later that evening eating his supper without changing from his wet clothes. Friday morning, he awoke with a severe sore throat and it increased as the day progressed. Sometime around 3 am that Saturday morning, he awoke his wife and said he felt ill. The illness progressed until Washington's death at home around 10pm on Saturday December 14, 1799, aged 67. His last words were "'Tis well.

:)