The Niagara Campaign of 1814 Map of the Niagara Frontier Further Reading The Road to Lundy's Lane: Introduction to the Niagara Campaign of 1814 The Americans Take Fort Erie: Prelude to the Battle of Chippawa The Battle of Chippawa The Battle of Lundy's Lane

The Iroquois in 1814 The Six Nations of the Iroquois are facing a crisis as the summer of 1814 unfolds. Chief John Norton, who has managed to gather considerable support from the Grand River community and its warrior force, is beginning to lose his influence. Only half of the Grand River fighting force will turn out to join Norton's camp at Niagara Falls by late June. None of them are happy with the prospect of facing their brother tribes from the New York region who are seeking revenge for the burning of the Tuscarora reservation. At the Burlington Heights camp where the warriors wait with their families, food is in short supply and the British army has had Norton's men on partial rations for weeks. The malnourished are easy targets for disease which carries off two or three native people each day. Norton's long-standing problems with the Indian Department begin to have an impact on his promises to provide his military partners with an effective fighting force. The Indian Department, and especially it's head agent, William Claus, has long been wary of allowing the Grand River leadership to gain influence over neighbouring tribes. Claus fears that leaders like Joseph Brant and John Norton have the potential to organize a native confederacy that could challenge the authority (and the land-seizing agenda) of the Crown. Norton does have the support of George Prevost. After all, Norton's influence has helped bring a number a warriors from western tribes to support the British. One hundred of them are camped with the Grand River people while another 500 or so, are with Phineas Riall at Fort George. But Norton's support within his own community is waning. The Grand River people at Burlington are suffering from disease and inadequate food supply. Undoubtedly, many view Norton as the creator of this demanding alliance with the British army. Norton doesn't help matters when he returns from Quebec with gifts of food and provisions issued by Prevost and suggests keeping these from the people until they have performed services that warrant their distribution. Many must have felt it cruel to use badly-needed food as leverage to fight. It is a sign a Norton's desperation for his cause. The Indian Department has done its best to exploit this rift and managed to gain support of many chiefs within the powerful Mohawk tribes by promising them more influence (and more gifts). The conflict between the Six Nations on opposite sides of the Niagara River is also demoralizing. The agreement reached between the communities at the beginning of the conflict has broken down. Bad seeds were sown the previous summer when the Americans occupied Fort George. Certain Iroquois from New York had participated, and the Grand River people claimed some casualties at their hands. When the British raided Black Rock shortly after, it was seen as an encroachment on Seneca land. Their chief Young King sided with the U.S. in order to repulse the British. In December of 1813, the British took Fort Niagara from the Americans. The victorious British regulars and a number of Norton's Iroquois celebrated with an evening of drinking, and a plan was hatched to loot and burn the nearby Tuscarora village. They claimed it was in retaliation for the Tuscarora breach of neutrality in the American capture of Fort George. This rash act helped lead as many as 500 Seneca, Tuscarora and Onondaga to side with the US All these factors would soon conspire to effectively end the participation of the Iroquois people in the War of 1812. Both the British and the Americans would lose the support of a force that some military commanders consider "the best light troops in the world". In July of 1814, Norton waits at Niagara Falls where only 200 men from the Grand River have followed, some of whom openly questioning his authority. Soon their cousins will cross the Niagara River to fight with the Americans. But it will take a bloody confrontation in a forest near the Chippawa River before the Iroquois fully realize how much this war has divided them.