Seeds of Empire

The American Revolutionary Conquest of the Iroquois

by Max M Mintz

The American Revolution was a struggle not only for independence, but the lands of Native Americans. The jewel in this conflict was the upstate New York domain of the Iroquois Six Nations, where fertile river valleys were a magnet for farmers weary of New England's stubborn soil.

While intentionally neutral, the Iroquois were soon forced to choose sides between either rebel or British forces. Abandoned by both at the end of the revolution and devastated by the ravages of war, the Iroquois found themselves powerless to resist the post-Revolutionary takeover and peopling of their heartland by the new American nation.

Richly detailed and written in lively prose, Seeds of Empire recreates the events surrounding General John Sullivan's scorched-earth campaign against the Six Nations of the American Indians of New York and the Eastern territories in 1779, following the surrender of General John Burgoyne's entire British army at the Battle of Saratoga. Mintz's meticulous historical research and renowned storytelling give life to this arresting narrative.

264 pp ~ illustrated — ©1999