Down the Warpath to the Cedars: Indians’ First Battles in the Revolution

Down the Warpath to the Cedars is the most recent book-length treatment of the Battle of the Cedars, an engagement fought between Great Britain, the burgeoning United States, and a multiplicity of Indigenous nations around present-day Quebec at the beginning of the American Revolution.Anderson’s primary aim is to illustrate the vital, independent role played by the Haudenosaunee Six Nations, the Seven Nations of Canada, and the Mississauga at the Cedars, a goal at which he succeeds. He appropriately emphasizes complex inter- and extrarelations between various Haudenosaunee and Mississauga peoples, and he rightly notes, “Each village responded differently, based on its interest and spheres of influence.” There are, for example, contrasting reactions between the prominent pro-American Kahnawake faction led by Atiatoharongwen of Kahnawake and the predominantly pro-British Lake of Two Mountains Kanestake, both of which belong to the Seven Nations of Canada. Anderson superbly demonstrates the motivations behind their support for the respective cause. Atiatoharongwen, for example, fought against the British during the Seven Years’ War, and the Kanestake were generally pro-British because of their proximity to Montreal and British goods, which allowed them to maintain regional power. Anderson reminds readers that these allegiances were not static: “Even as war raged in their neighborhood, the Indians made it clear in several episodes that they were not beholden to either warring power. They flexed their independence, tested allies, and exploited the situation to their advantage.”Anderson situates his work within the growing “Native Ground” historiography. British inability to exert control over allied warriors during and after the Battle of the Cedars well illustrates this point. Indigenous warriors, whether they served the King or Congress, exerted immense autonomy on the battlefield.Deeper engagement with Indigenous social history by Anderson may have further improved Down the Warpath to the Cedars. While Anderson notes that scalping was a cultural act unpalatable to Euro-colonial moral standards, he does little to explain the rationale behind it besides stating, “For Indians, scalps were a key means to physically demonstrate success on the warpath.” A deeper discussion of scalping would have been beneficial at highlighting its significant cultural meaning. Scalping was a practice by which Haudenosaunee warriors avenged the death of the fallen so they could pass on to the afterlife. Haudenosaunee peoples might display scalps in their homes as a reminder that the fallen warrior’s death was avenged and that they were peacefully at rest. Anderson should have noted that wartime trophy-taking (of which scalping may be categorized) is not unique to Indigenous peoples of North America but is found among all peoples, including Euro-Americans. Indeed, Euro-Americans also scalped in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century warfare. Lacking the cultural understanding of scalping in Haudenosaunee society may leave readers with a negative perception of the warriors.There is too much reliance on Euro-American primary sources that discuss Indigenous warfare in Down the Warpath to the Cedars. Speaking on warriors’ preference to flee under cannon fire, Anderson notes, It was the Americans’ misfortune that their artillery proved so inaccurate. If the guns inflicted any Indian casualties, they might have made a difference in the fort’s ultimate fate. A contemporary source described commonly accepted Indian strengths and weaknesses, noting that they were “excellent men for fighting in the woods,” but that the “first cannon makes them scamper like so many dogs.” Historian John Mahon similarly concluded that Native warriors “could rarely bring themselves to bear up long under artillery fire.” (81)There is little attempt to explain why warriors were prone to run from cannon fire, and, instead, readers might to attribute it to cowardice. Here, Anderson might have furthered his argument, stating that Indigenous propensity to flee under cannon fire sprang from their desire to diminish casualties, preserve their men, and exert their autonomy on the battlefield.Overall, Down the Warpath to the Cedars is necessary reading for anyone interested in New Military History, the history of the American Revolution and Indigenous involvement therein, and the Haudenosaunee and Mississauga peoples of the late eighteenth century.

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