Along the wooded ridges of central Pennsylvania, a brutal war raged that was far removed from the orderly movements of large armies in the east. The attack on Phillip’s Rangers is a good example of this warfare.

Native Americans, supplied and encouraged by the British, raided far and wide on the frontier. These included Seneca, Shawnee, Delaware, and Mingo peoples. By the 1780s, many of these groups had been pushed out of their traditional homes to the east, and many viewed war with the Americans as the only way to protect what land they had left.