Six Nations,
A confederation of
Indians, comprising originally the Five Nations—Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas—who were joined by their Southern brethren, the Tuscaroras, after the latter were signally defeated by the Carolinians in 1712.
The
Senecas, and the Tories among them, who had taken refuge at
Fort Niagara, continued depredations on the frontiers of New York and
Pennsylvania.
The
Onondagas professed neutrality, but it was believed they shared in the hostilities of the Senecas.
To chastise them for their suspected perfidy, a detachment was sent out from
Fort Stanwix which smote them suddenly and destroyed their villages.
The
Indians retaliated by devastating the settlements in
Schoharie county and the western border of
Ulster county, N. Y. The
Pennsylvania frontier, particularly in the vicinity of
Pittsburg, was exposed to similar incursions from the Indians of western New York.
A grand campaign to chastise the hostile Six Nations was then inaugurated, and the expedition was led by
Gen. John Sullivan (q. v.).
The confederacy had always claimed and enjoyed the right of free passage through the great valley west of the
Blue Ridge.
Some backwoodsmen of
Virginia penetrated that valley, and, in 1743, came into collision with the
Iroquois.
War with the
French was then threatened, and hostilities between any of the colonists and the Six Nations, at that juncture, might be perilous.
Governor Clinton, of New York, hastened to secure the firm friendship of the confederacy by liberal presents, for which purpose, in conjunction with commissioners from
New England, he held a meeting at
Albany in June.
The commissioners proposed an association of the five Northern colonies for mutual defence; but the Assembly of New York, hoping to secure the same neutrality enjoyed during the previous war, declined the proposition.
The next year the difficulties between the Six Nations and the Virginians were settled by a treaty concluded at
Lancaster (July 2), to which
Pennsylvania and
Maryland were parties.
By the terms of this treaty, in consideration of $2,000, the
Iroquois relinquished all title to the valley between the
Blue Ridge and the central chain of the
Alleghany Mountains.
The lands in
Maryland were, in like manner, transferred to Lord Baltimore, but with definite limits.
By the deed to
Virginia, the claim of that colony was extended indefinitely in the West and Northwest.
