As with any history where the victors control its content, the Native American contributions and actions were often twisted and misrecorded by contemporary writers. Even today many of our views of 'Indian' activities during the Revolution are influenced by the Hollywood movies and television shows of the 1950s and 1960s. The good Cherokee Mingo and the bad Shawnee of TVs Daniel Boone and the savage Iroquois in "Drums Along the Mohawk" are only a few examples of one-sided representations. Many historians fail to give adequate weight to the motivations, concerns and politics of the Native Nations. Even this work, with its emphasis on providing facts for the wargamer, cannot devote enough space to provide a complete analysis of Native Nation actions.

The wargamer's need is to know who supported who, how were warriors equipped, the leaders, where did they fight and how many warriors participated. Due to the lack of exact records, many of the numbers are estimates. Articles cover, key leaders, summaries of tribal activites, a list of key battles during this period. Some clothing comments may be included under the tribal summaries. A more comprehensive work which is in the research phase is "Our Place in the Sun" and will cover the military activities of Native Nations from 1600 - 1900.

Initially both the Patriots and British governments favored a neutral frontier. Both were worried about the negative public opinion associated with having Indians as allies and both sides were concerned about random uncontrolled raids by Indian warbands. Nevertheless, most of the Indian tribes favored the Crown. The Crown had attempted to control colonist expansion into Indian lands with the Proclamation of 1763, even though many colonist ignored these laws. The agents of the Crown were able to protray these tresspassers as Patriots rather than Loyalist, even though they were both. Throughout the war the Crown's Indian agents were able to provide more vital gifts than the Patriot agents. Another factor was the Patriot preference to use massive force to control tribes on the frontier. Finally, as with the colonist, religion played an important part in determining a tribes preference, especially among the northern tribes.

Though most of the Iroquois tribes maintained an Anglican faith, pro-Crown, two tribes followed the Presbyterian faith. As a result the mighty Iroquois Confederation would be split and destroyed by factional politics. Factional politics divided most other nations as well.

The Albany Conference on August 31, 1775 established a neutrality treaty between the Patriots and the Iroquois Confederation. It was this peace treaty which allowed the Patriots to invade Canada in late 1775. Without it, settlers from upper New York would have never have joined the expedition as Continental soldiers or militia. The Patriot diplomatic efforts in the south and the north consisted mainly of 'rum and good words'. Significant supplies such as powder, shot and blankets were rarely sent. Ironically when the Patriots tried to send a wagon load of powder and shot to the Cherokee in 1775, it was intercepted and stopped by Tory settlers who feared that the supplies would be used to attack them.