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Oneida (Tribe)

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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ONEIDA (a corruption of their proper name Oneyotka-ono, " people of the stone," in allusion to the Oneida stone, a granite boulder near their former village, which was held sacred by them), a tribe of North American Indians of Iroquoian stock, forming one of the Six Nations. They lived around Oneida Lake in New York state, in the region southward to the Susquehanna. They were not loyal to the League's policy of friendliness to the English, but inclined towards the French, and were practically the only Iroquois who fought for the Americans in the War of Independence. As a consequence they were attacked by others of the Iroquois under Joseph Brant and took refuge within the American settlements till the war ended, when the majority returned to their former home, while some migrated to the Thames river district, Ontario. Early in the 19th century they sold their lands, and most of them settled on a reservation at Green Bay, Wisconsin, some few remaining in New York state. The tribe now numbers more than 3000, of whom about two-thirds are in Wisconsin, a few hundreds in New York state, and about Boo in Ontario. They are civilized and prosperous.