The Haudenosaunee, aka Iroquois Confederacy

In the course of reading about the native Americans of upstate New York, widely labeled as the Iroquois, I learned a few things. Some of these I knew from my upbringing in Niagara, where the Tuscarora Nation has its reservation. The Seneca are the largest tribe and controlled the land of western New York, with the Tuscarora moving north from North Carolina after suffering abuse from settlers. The Europeans were kidnapping Tuscarorans and selling them into slavery, aside from the ordinary abuses.
One fact I learned was that the name Iroquois does not come from the language of the tribes. The Haudenosaunee, as they call themselves, went to war with the Huron, found largely in the province of Ontario, and the Hurons called their opponents 'snakes', and the Huron word for it (I can't do it justice) phonetically sounds like Iroquois. So when you call them Iroquois, it's repeating a slander delivered by a defeated foe.
In Where the Gold is Buried, I wanted to show the process the Haudenosaunee underwent in the course of European colonization, from a feared force to blending with the conquering race. First they were valued as allies, and the French and English offered gifts and treaties to lure the warriors to their respective sides. The Haudenosaunee were allied to the French when the siege of Fort Niagara began. The English won them over, in part by showing themselves to be the stronger force. When the English were preparing to meet the French coming back to break the siege, the Haudenosaunee abandoned their neutrality to join the English, so they would have prizes of war to take back.
Later, as the Loyal Quakers are travelling north to Niagara, they encounter Indians mostly as refugees, reduced to begging. Viewed through the harsh light of victor and vanquished, during the American Revolution most of the Haudenosaunee backed the English, and paid the price of allying with the losing side. They lost their lands.
In the present day many Tuscarora still live on the reservation, but with the intermarrying that naturally occurs, many live in the community. My archeologist in Where the Gold is Buried is a half-blood Tuscarora, Diane Printup. Fortunately it was her father that was the Tuscaroran, so at least she sounds like a native.