After the Mourning Wars: The Iroquois as Allies in Colonial North American Campaigns, 1676-1760

Mourning wars, which arose from a cultural mandate to replace deceased relatives and involved far-ranging, often large-scale raids on rival native nations to procure captives to either adopt or ritually torture and execute, typified pre- and early contact era Iroquois military history. Supplying not only captives but also plunder in the form of pelts and trade goods and an avenue for young men to gain military experience and honors, these campaigns continued through the 1750s. Yet increasingly after 1676, allied military activities represented a more significant Iroquoian engagement with intensifying Anglo-French imperial rivalry on the borders of their homelands and yielded a new repertoire of social, political, and military benefits. This article examines Iroquois involvement as allies in imperial conflicts from 1676 to 1760, which represented a revolutionary change in Iroquoian approaches to warfare.