HELP text: “Secreted away in the forested expanse of a vast urban park in the Bronx, lie the mortal remains of a band of noble Mohican Indians who died for the defense of American liberty during the Revolution. Hidden in an area of Van Cortlandt Park, known aptly as Indian Field, is a page of history forgotten by time and obscured by two centuries of nature’s inexorable reclamation.

The story of these Mohican warriors who fought and died in the service of a young United States cannot remain unknown by the present generation. Their sacrifice in the war, known as the Stockbridge Massacre, is worth retelling because it embodies a number of significant qualities: the history of the Mohican Nation and its relationship to the colonial, and later, the national governments; the role of Native Americans in the War for Independence; and lastly, the unique quality of individual bravery under desperate circumstances.”

Service to the United States
“The tensions between the colonials in North American and the Mother Country caught Native Americans in an awkward position. While those tribes who lived on the frontier of the Ohio Valley and the Southeast mostly sided with the English, many eastern tribes fought alongside their American neighbors against the King.

The Stockbridges sided early with the Patriots. The young men of the community, Indian, white, and Black served in local companies formed into militia, state, and Continental regiments. In addition to playing an active role in the military history of the Revolution, the Stockbridge Mohicans played a vital role in diplomacy with their Algonquin brethren, notably the Delaware and Shawnees, on the frontier. The American government utilized the Mohicans as liaisons [cultural mediators] with their western relations in an attempt to keep the frontier free from the raids and bloodshed that all too frequently accompanied warfare on the fringes of colonial settlement.”

1. Which side did they support? British? (Loyalists) Continental? (Patriots) Neutral?

2. What were the goals of the First Nation in choosing sides? (What was the goal/reason for choosing side?)

3. How does this compare with the considerations of Loyalists or Patriots? (How does this goal/reason connect with the reasons of Loyalists/Patriots?)