The Western Confederacy, also known as Western Indian Confederacy, was a loose confederacy

Confederation

A confederation in modern political terms is a permanent union of political units for common action in relation to other units. Usually created by treaty but often later adopting a common constitution, confederations tend to be established for dealing with critical issues such as defense, foreign...

 of North American Natives in the Great Lakes region

Great Lakes region (North America)

The Great Lakes region of North America, occasionally known as the Third Coast or the Fresh Coast , includes the eight U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as well as the Canadian province of Ontario...

 following the American Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

 (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

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 into the Northwest Territory

Northwest Territory

The Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, more commonly known as the Northwest Territory, was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 13, 1787, until March 1, 1803, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Ohio...

 after Great Britain

Kingdom of Great Britain

The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...

 ceded the region to the United States after the war. The resistance resulted in the Northwest Indian War

Northwest Indian War

The Northwest Indian War , also known as Little Turtle's War and by various other names, was a war fought between the United States and a confederation of numerous American Indian tribes for control of the Northwest Territory...

 (1785–1795), which ended with the U.S. victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers

Battle of Fallen Timbers

The Battle of Fallen Timbers was the final battle of the Northwest Indian War, a struggle between American Indian tribes affiliated with the Western Confederacy and the United States for control of the Northwest Territory...

.

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)

Treaty of Paris (1783)

The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain on the one hand and the United States of America and its allies on the other. The other combatant nations, France, Spain and the Dutch Republic had separate agreements; for details of...

. According to Joseph Brant

Joseph Brant

Thayendanegea or Joseph Brant was a Mohawk military and political leader, based in present-day New York, who was closely associated with Great Britain during and after the American Revolution. He was perhaps the most well-known American Indian of his generation...

, 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

Wyandot

The Wyandot are indigenous peoples of North America, known in their native language of the Iroquoian family as the Wendat. The pre-contact people formed by the 15th century in the area of the north shore of present-day Lake Ontario, before migrating to Georgian Bay...

 town of Upper Sandusky

Upper Sandusky

Upper Sandusky was a 19th century Wyandot town, near what is now Upper Sandusky, Ohio, in the United States. It was the primary Wyandot town during the American Revolutionary War , and was sometimes also known as Half-King's Town, after Dunquat, the Wyandot "Half-King"...

, 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:

• Council of Three Fires
  Council of Three Fires
  The Council of Three Fires, also known as the People of the Three Fires, the Three Fires Confederacy, the United Nations of Chippewa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi Indians, or Niswi-mishkodewin in the Anishinaabe language, is a long-standing Anishinaabe alliance of the Ojibwe , Ottawa , and Potawatomi...
  
  
• Iroquois Confederacy
• Seven Nations of Canada
  Seven Nations of Canada
  The Seven Nations of Canada were a historic confederation of Canadian First Nations living in and around the Saint Lawrence River valley beginning in the eighteenth century. They were allied to New France and often included substantial numbers of Roman Catholic converts. During the Seven Years War...
  
  
• Wabash Confederacy
  Wabash Confederacy
  The Wabash Confederacy, also referred to as the Wabash Indians or the Wabash tribes, is a term used to describe a number of 18th century Native American villagers in the area of the Wabash River in what are now the U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. The Wabash Indians were primarily Weas...
  
   (Wea, Piankashaw, and others)
• Illini Confederacy
• Wyandot
• Mississaugas
  Mississaugas
  The Mississaugas are a subtribe of the Anishinaabe-speaking First Nations people located in southern Ontario, Canada. They are closely related to the Ojibwa...
  
  
• Menominee
  Menominee
  Some placenames use other spellings, see also Menomonee and Menomonie.The Menominee are a nation of Native Americans living in Wisconsin. The Menominee, along with the Ho-Chunk, are the only tribes that are indigenous to what is now Wisconsin...
  
  
• Shawnee
  Shawnee
  The Shawnee, Shaawanwaki, Shaawanooki and Shaawanowi lenaweeki, are an Algonquian-speaking people native to North America. Historically they inhabited the areas of Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Western Maryland, Kentucky, Indiana, and Pennsylvania...
  
  
• Lenape
  Lenape
  The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
  
  
• Miami
• Kickapoo
• Kaskaskia
  Kaskaskia
  The Kaskaskia were one of about a dozen cognate tribes that made up the Illiniwek Confederation or Illinois Confederation. Their longstanding homeland was in the Great Lakes region...
  
  
• Chickamauga/Lower Cherokee
• Upper Muscogee