The
Western Confederacy, also known as
Western Indian Confederacy, was a loose
confederacy of
North American Indians in the
Great Lakes region following the
American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). The confederacy, which had its roots in pan-tribal movements dating to the 1740s, came together to resist the expansion of the
United States into the
Northwest Territory after
Great Britain ceded the region to the United States after the war. The resistance resulted in the
Northwest Indian War (1785–1795), which ended with the U.S. victory at the
Battle of Fallen Timbers.
Although many of the native peoples had fought in the war as British allies, Great Britain made no mention of their allies in the
Treaty of Paris (1783). According to
Joseph Brant, a Mohawk chief who was one of the early architects of the confederacy, the British had "sold the Indians to Congress." The confederacy first came together in 1786 at a conference at the Wyandot town of
Upper Sandusky, with the intention of forming a common front in dealing with the Americans.
Members of many different American Indian tribes were involved in the Western Confederacy. The confederacy was sometimes known as the "Miami Confederacy" because U.S. officials overestimated the influence and numerical strength of the
Miami tribe within the confederation.
Because most tribes were not centralized political units at the time, involvement in the confederacy was usually decided on a village rather than a tribal basis. The confederacy consisted of members of the following tribes:
