Patriots and Indians

A compelling look at relationships between Native American and elite South Carolinians in early America.

Patriots and Indians examines interactions between South Carolina elites and Native Americans across the colonial, Revolutionary, and early national periods. Eighteenth-century South Carolinians engaged Indians in trade and diplomacy—as allies and enemies in war, and at times through scientific, religious, and personal encounters. Jeff W. Dennis explores how these relationships shaped the Revolution, the founding of South Carolina, and the careers and politics of leading patriots.

Dennis shows how intercultural exchange influenced evolving ideas of European American, Native American, and African American identity in a society in transition. For many Whig leaders, especially those distant from Native communities, Indians became a defining enemy of the Revolution. Dennis argues that the stronger a patriot's attachment to the Whig cause, the harsher his views toward Indians. Yet figures such as Andrew Pickens imagined a broader American identity that could include Native peoples, a debate that carried into policies toward Native Americans during the eighteenth-century.