Spain and the West in the American Revolution

Spain and the West in the American Revolution

Spain, the West, the Native Americans

Table of Contents

1. PREFACE 3
2. THE NATIVE AMERICANS (INDIANS) AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 3
THE STOCKBRIDGE MASSACRE 6
SOUTHEASTERN INDIANS 7
3. SPAIN IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 11
3.1 COLBERT’S RAID ON ARKANSAS POST 12
3.2 THE BATTLE OF PENSACOLA 13
4. THE WEST 15
LITERATURE 17
INTERNET SOURCES 17
ADDENDUM 18

1. Preface

The interactions and interrelations between the Spanish and the Native Americans during the time of the American Revolution were quite interwoven and it is not easy to disentangle those relations.
I therefore decided to section this paper in two main parts, namely “Spain” and “the Native Americans”. A smaller chapter will address the issue of the situation in the West of the North American continent.
The Native Americans will sometimes also be referred to as Indians.

2. The Native Americans (Indians) and the American Revolution

Two maps on Indian Territory are to be found in the Addendum (pages 19 and 21).

The need to coordinate British power in America in the face of the French threat had led, in 1755, to the appointment of a superintendent of Indian affairs for the northern department, an office to which Sir William Johnson was appointed. In 1756 a similar superintendence for the southern colonies was established, with Sir Edmond Atkin as superintendent. The superintendents operated in subordination to the commander-in-chief of British forces in America. While not taking the conduct of Indian relations entirely out of the hands of the colonial governors and assemblies, the existence of these new colonial officers marked a significant diminution of the powers inherited and assumed by the individual English colonies.

By the Proclamation of 1763 the lands beyond the Appalachian Mountains were declared off limits to colonial governments, the lands being “reserved” to the Indians under the cognizance of the British Crown which reasserted its sovereignty and...