


Seneca Indian Tribe




One of the Five Iroquois Nations in Western New York, comprising, originally, the Sinnekaas, as the Batch called them, (hence the word Seneca,) Onondaga, Mohawk, Cayuga, and Oneida. When first known to the French, were living on the south side of Lake Ontario, and engaged in a fierce war with their Algonkin neighbors. By conquest several other tribes became incorporated with them. Missions were established among them by the French as early as 1657. In 1763 the Seneca alone, of the Six Nations, joined in Pontiac's league to extirpate the English. During the Revolution sided with the English, but made a peace in 1784, and during the second war remained loyal. Early in the century part of the tribe settled in Ohio, afterwards removing to the Indian Territory, where they now are to the number of 240. The New York Seneca still occupy the Alleghany, Cattaraugus, and Tonawanda reserve of 66,000 acres, where they all live in good houses and have large, well-cultivated farms, and are in every way a civilized and well-regulated class of people. 