African Americans sought strategic alliances with an eye to the possibilities of future freedom. Slaves in , like slaves in Virginia, sought refuge on British ships before the war began. However, some free and enslaved African Americans supported the patriots. Likewise, Native Americans sought alliances that might help protect their autonomy and subsistence. Native Americans in hoped that a British victory would quash aggressive American expansion. Mohawk chief led most of the Six Nations tribes in supporting the British. The were split between supporting the