Editing War of 1812 (section)

=== Indigenous peoples ===
The highly decentralized bands and tribes considered themselves allies of, and not subordinates to, the British or the Americans. Various tribes fighting with United States forces provided them with their "most effective light troops"{{sfn|Carstens|Sanford|2011|p=53}} while the British needed Indigenous allies to compensate for their numerical inferiority. The Indigenous allies of the British, [[Tecumseh's confederacy]] in the west and [[Iroquois]] in the east, avoided pitched battles and relied on [[irregular warfare]], including raids and ambushes that took advantage of their knowledge of terrain. In addition, they were highly mobile, able to march {{convert|30|–|50|miles|-1}} a day.{{sfn|Starkey|2002|p=18}}

Their leaders sought to fight only under favourable conditions and would avoid any battle that promised heavy losses, doing what they thought best for their tribes.{{sfn|Benn|2002|p=25}} The Indigenous fighters saw no issue with withdrawing if needed to save casualties. They always sought to surround an enemy, where possible, to avoid being surrounded and make effective use of the terrain.{{sfn|Starkey|2002|p=18}} Their main weapons were a mixture of muskets, rifles, bows, [[tomahawk]]s, knives and swords as well as clubs and other melee weapons, which sometimes had the advantage of being quieter than guns.{{sfn|Starkey|2002|p=20}}