Oneida Indian Tribe History

Oneida (Anglicized compressed form of the common Iroquois term tiionǎñ'iote', 'there it it-rock has-set-up (continuative),' 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 south of Oneida Lake, Oneida county, 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 trib.

Relation it is learned that "Onnieoute" (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 Jesuit Relation for 1667 (lii, 145, 1899) declares that the Oneida were at that time the least tractable of the Iroquois 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 Conestoga 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 Mohawk were 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 Mohawk village of Caughnawaga, showing that in a modified form at least the decennial ceremony of the so-called "Dead Feast" was practiced among the Iroquois when first known. On Jan. 80, 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 seem 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 river Indians, the Conestoga, gave most occupation to the Oneida warriors.