The Revolutionary War divided communities and shattered ancient alliances along New York's frontier, where rivalries among settlers of European descent erupted in threats and violent clashes, and many who remained loyal to King George III were driven from their homes into exile in Canada by armed revolutionaries. Most warriors of the Haudenosaunee confederation remained neutral for the first two years of the war, but pressure from both the British and the rebellious American colonists led to the covering of the confederacy's council fire in 1777, freeing warriors to choose sides. Because of the colonists' demand for land, most Seneca, Cayuga, Mohawk, and Onondaga sided with the British in hopes that a victorious Royal Government might restrain the colonists. At Oriskany on August 6, 1777, one of the war's most violent battles became the first time Oneida warriors fighting for the rebellious Americans fought other Haudenosaunee warriors allied with the British. Although the French called them the Iroquois and the English called them the Six Nations, they called themselves Haudenosaunee, meaning people of the loghouse, and after the Revolutionary War the council fire was reestablished at Buffalo Creek.