The fifth nation of the
Iroquois Confederacy (q. v. ), which inhabited the country in New York west of
Sodus Bay and
Seneca Lake to the
Niagara River.
They called themselves Tsonnundawaono, or “dwellers in the open country.”
Tradition says that at the formation of the great confederacy Hiawatha said to them, “You, Senecas, a people who live in the ‘open country,’ and possess much wisdom, shall be the fifth nation, because you understand better the art of raising corn and beans and making cabins.”
The
Dutch called them Sinnekaas, which the
English spelled Senecas, and they were denominated the
Western Door of the
Long House—the confederacy.
They were divided into five clans—viz., the
Turtle, Snipe,
Hawk, Bear, and
Wolf, and were represented in the great council or congress by seven sachems.
There was a small family on the borders of the
Niagara River, called Neuters, whose domain formed the western boundary of the
Seneca territory; also the Erikes, or Eries, south of
Lake Erie.
On the east they joined the Senecas.
By the conquest of the Hurons, most of the Neuters, the Series, and Andastes (or Susquehannas) were incorporated with the Senecas.
The
French Jesuits began a mission among them in 1657; and afterwards the Senecas permitted
La Salle to erect a block-house on the site of
Fort Niagara.
They also allowed the
French to build a fort on the same spot in 1712.
The
Senecas alone of the
six Nations (q. v. ) joined
Pontiac in his conspiracy in 1763.
They destroyed
Venango, attacked
Fort Niagara, and cut off an army train on that frontier.
In the
Revolutionary War they sided with the
British, and their country was devastated by
General Sullivan in 1779.
After the war they made peace, by treaty, at
Fort Stanwix (Fort Schuyler); and their land passed, by sale and cession, into the possession of the white people, excepting the reservations of
Alleghany,
Cattaraugus, and
Tonawanda— 66,000 acres. They were the friends of the
Americans in the
War of 1812, and furnished men for the armies.
A part of them, settled on
Stony Creek, in
Canada, and at
Sandusky, O., joined the hostile tribes in the
West, but made peace in 1815.
These removed to the
Indian Territory on the
Neosho, in 1831.
Protestant missions have been in operation among them since the beginning of this century, and the Society of Friends has done much to aid and protect them.
In 1899 there were 2,767 at the New York agency, and 323 at the Quapaw agency in
Indian Territory.
