The Iroquois in the War of 1812

Wesley B. Turner is an associate professor of history at Brock
University and the author of The War of 1812: The War That Both Sides
Won and The Military in the Niagara Peninsula.

Carl Benn, curator of military history at Heritage Toronto, is well
known for his scholarly writings on Iroquois warfare in the late 18th
and early 19th centuries.

The Iroquois in the War of 1812 provides an introduction that explains
the context of operations in that conflict. The following eight chapters
describe in detail Iroquois conduct, ranging from neutrality to full
participation as belligerents in warfare. These chapters are followed by
an appendix giving Iroquois population and combat strength in 1812 on
both sides of the border. The book has a useful bibliography,
illustrations, and two specially drawn maps. Benn undertakes to present
“the Iroquois story between 1812 and 1815, based on an analysis of
military, political, diplomatic, social, and material cultural
sources.” His research is careful and thorough, but he recognizes
problems of evidence, such as the limited usefulness of archeological
finds and the “Euroamerican bias” of most of the documentary
evidence.

Benn argues that Iroquois actions at the village and tribal levels
continued to follow indigenous practices despite a long history of
European influences. At the same time, he describes as racially complex
societies both the Six Nations in New York State and the Seven Nations
of Canada (located near Montreal). In relations with Britain and the
United States, he claims that the Iroquois “participated as allies,
not subjects.” Whatever the exact status of the different Iroquois
nations and confederacies, more important were the calculations that
leaders and individual warriors made about whether or not to remain
neutral, support the Americans, or support the British.

Anyone interested in the history of Native peoples in North America
would benefit from reading this book.