Oneida (Anglicized compressed form of the common Iroquois term tiionen-n-iote, "there it it-rock has-set-up" i. e. a rock that something set up and is still standing, referring to a large sienite bolder near the site of one of their ancient villages.

A tribe of the Iroquois confederation, formerly occupying the country s. of Oneida lake, Oneida co., N. Y., and latterly including the upper waters of the Susquehanna. According to authentic tradition, the Oneida was the second tribe to accept the proposition of Dekanawida and Hiawatha to form a defensive and offensive league of all the tribes of men for the promotion of mutual welfare and security. In the federal council and in other federal assemblies they have the right to representation by 9 federal chieftains of the highest rank. Like the Mohawk, the Oneida have only 3 clans, the Turtle, the Wolf, and the Bear, each clan being represented by 3 of the 9 federal representatives of this tribe (see Clan and Gens). Insofar as eldership as a member of a clan phratry can give precedence in roll-call and the right to discuss first in order all matters coming before its side of the council fire, the Oneida are the dominant tribe within the tribal phratry, called the Four (originally Two) Brothers and "Offspring," to which they belong. In tribal assemblies the Turtle and the Wolf constitute a clan phratry, and the Bear another. The Oneida have usually been a conservative people in their dealing with their allies and with other peoples. In 1635 they, with the Onondaga, Cayuga, and Mohawk, sought to become parties to the peace concluded in the preceding year between the Seneca and the Hurons. At this period they were called sedentary and very populous, but only from Indian reports.

The Jesuit Relation for 1646 (p. 3,1858) says that with the exception of the Mohawk there was no treaty, properly speaking, then in existence between the Iroquois tribes inclusiveof the Oneida and the French. From the same Relation it Oneida (Anglicized compressed form of the common Iroquois term tiionen'iote', 'there it it-rock has-set-up (continu-ative),' i. e. a rock that something set up and is still standing, referring to a large sienite bowlder near the site of one of their ancient villages). A tribe of the Iroquois confederation, formerly occupying the country s. of Oneida lake, Oneida co., N. Y., and latterly including the upper waters of the Susquehanna. According to authentic tradition, the Oneida was the second tribe to accept the proposition of Dekanawida and Hiawatha to form a defensive and offensive league of all the tribes of men for the promotion of mutual welfare and security. In the federal council and in other federal assemblies they have the right to representation by 9 federal chieftains of the highest rank. Like the Mohawk, the Oneida have only 3 clans, the Turtle, the Wolf, and the Bear, each clan being represented by 3 of the 9 federal representatives of this tribe (see Clan and Gens). Insofar as eldership as a member of a clan phratry can give precedence in roll-call and the right to discuss first in order all matters coming before its side of the council fire, the Oneida are the dominant tribe within the tribal phratry, called the Four (originally Two) Brothers and "Offspring," to which they belong. In tribal assemblies the Turtle and the Wolf constitute a clan phratry, and the Bear another. The Oneida have usually been a conservative people in their dealing with their allies and with other peoples. In 1635 they, with the Onondaga, Cayuga, and Mohawk, sought to become parties to the peace concluded in the preceding year between the Seneca and the Hurons. At this period they were called sedentary and very populous, but only from Indian reports. The Jesuit Relation for 1646 (p. 3,1858) says that with the exception of the Mohawk there was no treaty, properly speaking, then in existence between the Iroquois tribes inclusiveof the Oneida and the French. From the same Relation it is learned that '' Qnnieoute'' (Oneniote), the principal Oneida village of that time, having lost the greater portion of its men in a war with the "upper Algonquin," was compelled to request the Mohawk to lend aid in repeopling the village by granting thereto a colony of men, and that it was for this reason that the Mohawk ceremonially and publicly call the Oneida their daughter or son. This story is probably due to a misconception of the fictitious political kinships and relationships established between the several tribes at the time of the institution and organization of the League (see Confederation) . The Oayuga and the Tuscarora are likewise called "Offspring," but not for the reason above given. The Jesuit Relation for 1648 (p. 46) first definitely locates the Oneida. From the Relation for 1641 (p. 74) it is gathered that the, Jesuit fathers had learned that the Oneida had a peculiar form of government in which the rulership alternated between the two sexes. This statement is likewise apparently due to a misconception of the fact that among Iroquois tribes the titles to the chiefships belonged to the women of certain clans in the tribe and not to the men, although men were chosen by the women to exercise the rights and privileges, and to perform the duties pertaining to these chiefships, and that there were, and indeed still are, a number of women filling federal chiefships bearing the name of the highest class. These women chieftains have approximately the same rights, privileges, and immunities as the men chiefs, but exercise them fully only in emergencies; they, too, maintain the institutions of society and government among the women.

The Jesuit Relation for 1667 (LIT, 145, 1899) declares that the Oneida were at that time the least tractable of the Iro-quois tribes. It was at this period that Father Bruyas was stationed at the mission of St Francois Xavier among the Oneida. It is also learned from this source that the Mohegan and the Cones-toga menaced the Oneida. While on this mission Father Bruyas suffered for food for a part of the year and was compelled to sustain life on a diet of dried frogs. By the end of the year 1669 he had baptized 30 persons. In 1660 the Oneida with the Mohawkwere the least populous of the Iroquois tribes. The Jesuit Relation for 1669-70 speaks of the Oneida being present at a " feast of the dead'' held at the Mohaw_k village of Caughnawaga, showing that in a modified form at least the decennial ceremony of the so-called '' Dead Feast" was practised among the Iroquois when first known. On Jan. 30, 1671, the Oneida began the torture of a captive Conestoga woman, and the torture was prolonged through 2 days and 2 nights because he in whose stead she had been given was burned at Conestoga for that length of time. It is held by some that the town defended by four lines of palisades closely fastened together and attacked by Champlain in 1615 with his Huron and Algonquian allies, was an Oneida village, although other authorities place it elsewhere, in Onondaga territory. In fact, the wars of the Oneida were those of the League, although like the other tribes they seam to have put forth most energy against the tribes who in some manner had given them the greatest offense. The Catawba and the Muskhogean tribes, as well as the Susquehanna r. Indians, the Conestoga, gave most occupation to the Oneida warriors.

After the conquest of the tribes on the Susquehannaand its tributaries and those on the Potomac, chiefly by the warriors of the Oneida, the Cayuga, and the Seneca, and those tribes which had submitted to Iroquois rule, a question arose as to the propriety of the Mohawk, who had not given any aid in subduing these peoples, sharing in the income arising from land sales there. Hence for a time the Mohawk received no emolument from this source, until the Iroquois tribes became divided and the Mohawk sold the lands in the Wyoming Valley region of Pennsylvania to the Susquehanna Land Co. of Connecticut. This, then, in 1728, moved the great federal council of the league at Onondaga to send Shikel-lamy, an Oneida chief, as a superintendent, to the forks of the Susquehanna for the purpose of watching over the affairs and the interests of the Six Nations of Iroquois in Pennsylvania. At first Shi-kellamy exercised a general supervision over onlv the Shawnee and the Dela wares, who thereafter were required to consult him in all matters arising between them and the proprietary government. So well did he perform his duty that in 1745 Shikellamy was made full superintendent over all the dependent tribes on the Susquehanna, with his residence at Shamokin. He showed great astuteness in the management of the affairs intrusted to his care, seeking at all times to promote the interests of his people. Such was the influence which the Oneida exercised on the Susquehanna.

In 1687 the Oneida were included in the warrant of the King of Great Britain to Gov. Dongan of New York, authorizing him to protect the Five Nations as subjects of Great Britain. In 1696 Count Frontenac burned the Oneida castle, destroyed all their corn, and made prisoners of 30 men, women, and children. In 1645-46 the Oneida were at war with the Nipissing, and one band of 17 warriors from "Ononiiote" defeated an Algonkin party under Teswehat, the one-eyed chief of this people, killing the chief's son and taking 2 women prisoners. This Iroquois party was afterward defeated by 30 Hurons and the 2 women were recaptured.

In the Jesuit Relation for 1666-68 Father Bruyas writes that the Oneida were reputed the most cruel of all the Iroquois tribes; that they had always made war on the Algonkin and the Hurons, and that two-thirds of the population of their villages were composed of the people of these two tribes who had become Iroquois in temper and inclination. This missionary adds that the nature of the Oneida was then altogether barbarous, being cruel, sly, cunning, and prone to bloodshed and carnage.

In 1655 a party of 60 Oneida warriors was sent against the Amikwa, or Beaver Indians. This war was still in progress in 1661, for in that year 2 bands, one of 24 and the other of 30 warriors, were encountered on their way to fight the Amikwa.

ChauchetiSre (letter in Jesuit Relations, Thwaites ed., LXII, 185, 1900) says that "war is blazing in the country of the Outaouaks," that the Iroquois, especially the Oneida, continued their hatred of the Outagami (Foxes) and the Illinois, and so have slain and captured many Illinois. In 1681 they killed or captured about 1,000 of these unfortunate people.

In 1711, about half of the Tuscarora tribe, then dwelling in North Carolina, seems to have conspired with several alien neighboring tribes and bands to destroy the Carolina settlers. The colonists, however, recollecting the ancient feud between the Southern and the Northern Indians, allied themselves with the Catawba ana some musfcnogean moes. The Tuscarora, sustaining several severe defeats, were finally driven from their homes and hunting grounds. This act of the Southern Indians made the hatred of the Iroquois against the Catawbamore bitter and merciless.

The Oneida were at times friendly to the French and to the Jesuit missionaries, while the other Iroquois were their determined enemies. A great part of the Oneida and the Tuscarora, through the influence of Rev. Samuel Kirkland, remained neutral in the Revolutionary war, while the majority of the confederation of the Iroquois were divided and did not act as a unit in this matter. Early in that struggle the hostile Iroquois tribes attacked the Oneida and burned one of their villages, forcing them to take refuge near the Americans in the vicinity of Schenectady, where they remained until the close of the war. Shortly after the main body of the tribe returned to their former homes. At a later period a considerable number emigrated to Canada and settled on Grand r. and Thames r., Ontario. Another small band, called Oriskas, formed a new settlement at Ganowarohare, a few miles from the main body in Oneida co., N. Y. At different earlier periods the Oneida adopted and gave lands to the Tuscarora, the Stockbridges, and the Brothertons. The Tuscarora afterward removed to land granted by the Seneca in w. New York. In 1846, having sold most of their lands in New York, the greater part of the Oneida, together with their last two adopted tribes, removed to a tract on Green bay, Wis., where they now reside. Among those living in New York at the time of removal were two parties known respectively as the First Christian, and the Second Christian or Orchard party.

The Oneida entered into treaties with the United States at Ft Stanwix, N. Y., Oct. 22, 1784; Ft Harmar, O., Jan. 9, 1789; Canandaigua, N. Y., Nov. 11, 1794; Oneida, N. Y., Dec. 2, 1794; Buffalo Creek, N. Y., Jan. 15, 1838; and Washington, D. C., Feb. 3, 1838. They also held no fewer than 30 treaties with the State of New York between the years 1788 and 1842.

The estimates of Oneida population at different periods are no more satisfactory than those relating to the other Iroquois tribes. The earliest account (1660) gives them 500. They are placed at 1,000 in 1677 and 1721. In 1770 they were estimated at 410, in 1776 at 628, and in 1795 at 660, and were said to have been decreasing for a long time. They number at present (1906) about 3,220, of whom 286 are still in New York, 2,151 under the Oneida School Superintendency in Wisconsin, 783 on Thames r., Ontario, besides those settled among the other Iroquois on Grand r., Ontario. There are no means of learning the number of Oneida who joined the several colonies of Catholic Iroquois.

Oneida Villages

Oueida, One of the chief and first known villages of the Oneida people, and which within historical times has been removed to several new situations. It seems to have been originally a town of the Wolf clan, for it is so enumerated in the Chant of Welcome of the Condolence Council of the League of the Iroquois; the Wolf clan constituted one of the two phratries in the tribal council of the Oneida. Arent Van Curler, who visited this town in 1634, wrote that it was situated on a high hill and defended by two rows of palisades; in the ramparts were two gates, one on the w. side, over which were standing "3 wooden images, of cut (carved?) wood, like men," adorned with 3 scalps, and the other, on the E. side, adorned with only one scalp; the western gate was 3J ft wide, while the other was only 2 ft. He wrote that this palisade was 767 paces in circumference, and that within it were 66 lodges, '' much better, higher, and more finished than all those others we saw." Those seen by Van Curler and his companions were the Mohawk castles. Of the first Mohawk castle Van Curler wrote: "There stood but 36 houses, in rows like streets, so that we could pass nicely. The houses are made and covered with bark of trees, and mostly flat at the top. Some are 100, 90, or 80 paces long, and 22 or 23 ft high. . . . The houses were full of corn that they lay in store, and we saw maize; yes, in some houses more than 300 bushels." His description of the third Mohawk castle, then called Sohanidisse, or Rehanadisse, follows: '' On a very high hill stood 32 lodges, like the other ones. Some we^re 100, 90, or 80 paces long; in every lodge we saw 4, 5, or 6 fireplaces where cooking went on." Some of the lodges were finished with wooden fronts, painted with all sorts of beasts, and in some of them were found very good axes, French shirts, coats, and razors, and lodges were seen where '' 60, 70 and more dried salmon were hanging." While in the Oneida castle Van Curler witnessed the conclusion of a temporary peace compact between the Oneida and the French Indians for purposes of trade for four years. To this he gave the name '' Castle Enneyuttehage, or Sinnekens.'r The Oneida, the Onondaga, and the Cayuga were named respectively Onneyatte, Onondaga, and Koyockure (forKoyockwe), which indicates that the tribal divisions of the Iroquois were well known to the narrator at this period. This town was probably on oneof theearly Oneida village sites in the upper valley of Oneida cr., not far from Oriskany cr., and according to Van Curler's estimate, 75 or 80 m. w. of the Mohawk castle of Tenotoge (Tio-nontogen?); it was situated on the E. side of Oneida cr., and Van Curler saw N. w. of it, on the left bank of the creek, " tremendously high land that seemed to lie in the clouds." Just before reaching the castle he saw three graves, "just like our graves in length and height; usually their graves are round." These graves were surrounded with palisades, nicely closed up, and painted red, white, and black. The grave of a chief had an entrance, and at the top there was " a big wooden bird, and all around were painted dogs, and deer, and snakes, and other beasts." Such was the chief Oneida town of 1634. While with the Oneida Van Curler witnessed apparently a part of the New Year ceremonials of the Iroquois, which he regarded as so much "foolery."

According to Greenhalgh, who visited the Oneida in 1677, they had only one town, "newly settled, double stock adoed," containing about 100 houses and 200 warriors, situated 20 (sic) m. from Oneida cr. and 30 m. s. of Mohawk r.; it had but little cleared land, " so that they are forced to send to ye Onondago's to buy corne." This village, therefore, was not situated on the site visited by Van Curler. In Aug. 1696 a principal town of the Oneida was burned by Vau-dreuil, a lieutenant of Count Frontenac.

In 1756 Sir William Johnson (N. Y. Doc. Col. Hist., vn, 101, 1856) employed the name Onawaraghhare to designate a place regarded as suitable for the erection of a fort, thus showing that at that time there was a village called "Cano-waroghere." In 1762 Lieut. Guy Johnson, starting from German Flats, visited the Oneida (N. Y. Doc. Col. Hist., vn, 512, 1856). The first town reached he called " Upper Oneida Castle," and also simply "Oneida." Thence he went to '' Canowaroghere, a new village of the Oneidas." On Sauthier's map of Jan. 1, 1779, 3 Oneida villages are placed in the valley of Oneida cr.: (1) Old Oneyda Cast(le), placed E. of the headwaters of Oneida cr. and N. of the junction of the trails from Ft Schuyler and from Ft Herkermer; (2) Canowaroghare, lower down the valley at the junction of the trails from Ft Schuyler and Ft Stanwix, and on the left bank of Oneida cr.; (3) New Oneyda Castle, on the right bank of Oneida cr., at the junction of the trails from his Canowaroghare and from Ft Stanwix, and on the trail leading from Canowaroghare to the Royal Blockhouse on Wood cr. Two of these, if not all of them, were contemporary. In 1774 the Montauk Indians were to be settled at Canowaroghare. At Oneida in 1667 was founded the mission of Saint Francois Xavier.

In a note attached to the original of a Paris document of 1757 (N. Y. Doc. Hist., i, 526, 1849) the "great Oneida village" is said to be " two leagues from the Lake,'' and that within it the English had constructed a "picket Fort with four bastions," which however had been destroyed by the Oneida in pursuance of a promise made by them to the Marquis de Vaudreuil. This note adds that a second Oneida village, called "the little village," was situated "on the bank of the Lake." It is thus seen that the site and the name have shifted from place to place, but were restricted to the valleys of Oneida cr. and upper Oriskany cr. The name Canowaroghare is the modern name of the city of Oneida and of the Indian settlement situated about 2 m. s., in Madison co., N. Y. In 1666-68 (Jes. Eel., Thwaites ed., M, 121, 1899) Father Bruyas wrote that " Onneiout" was situated on an eminence whence a great portion of the surrounding country could be seen, were the environing forest cut away; that "there is no river or lake, except at 5 leagues distant from the town;" that more than half the population was com posed of "Algonquins and Hurons," and that the Oneida had never spoken of peace until within two years. The Oneida have settlements in Canada and in Wisconsin at Green Bay, but these are not towns.

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