ONEIDA INDIANS IN WISCONSIN

THEY ARE FIRST NATIONS PEOPLE OF THE UPRIGHT STORE AND ARE ONE OF THE FIVE FOUNDING NATIONS OF THE IROQUOIS CONFEDERACY IN UPSTATE NEW YORK. THEIR IDENTITY IS BASED ON A LEGEND THAT SAID THEY WERE BEING CHASED INTO WOODLANDS AND DISAPPEARED. THE ENEMY OF ONEIDA COULD NOT FIND THEM AND SO IT WAS SAID THAT THESE PEOPLE HAD TURNED THEMSELVES INTO STONES THAT STOOD IN THE CLEARING. AS A RESULT THEY BECAME KNOWN AS THE PEOPLE OF THE STANDING STONE. THERE ARE OLD LEGENDS IN WHICH THESE PEOPLE IDENTIFY THEMSELVES AS THE BIG TREE PEOPLE. WHEN A BABY IS BORN INTO THE TRIBE THEY GET A SPIRIT AND A CLAN NAME. THEY ALL HAVE DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES. CLAN IDENTITIES GO BACK TO THE CREATOR STORY OF THE ONYOTAAKA PEOPLES. THESE PEOPLE IDENTIFY WITH THREE CLANS - WOLF, TURTLE, AND BEAR. THE PERSON HAS THE CLAN OF THEIR MOTHER.

COLONIZING PEOPLE TRIED TO ASSIMILATE OR EXTINGUISH THE ORIGINAL NATIONS OF NATIVE AMERICAN, THE ONEIDA DESCEND FROM THEIR ORIGINAL CLAN. IF SOMEONE HAS NO CLAN THEY ARE ADOPTED BY THE WOLF CLAN.
THEY MAINTAINED NEUTRALITY IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. THEIR NEUTRALITY CRUMPLED. THE PREPONDERANCE OF THE MOHAWKS, SENECA, AND OTHER TRIBES SIDED WITH THE BRITISH. THE ONEIDA SIDED WITH THE COLONISTS AS THEY WERE INFLUENCED BY THE MISSIONARIES WHO SPENT 20 YEARS WITH THEM. THEY CONTRIBUTED WARRIORS TO SCOUT OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGNS AT FORT STANIUX. IN 1777 AT THE BATTLE OF ORINSKANY THEY FOUGHT WITH THE MILITIA. THEY WERE WELL KNOWN FOR AS PROMINENT LEADERS.

ALTHOUGH THEY TOOK THE COLONISTS SIDE, INDIVIDUALS WERE RECOGNIZED FOR THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS. ONE OF THEIR MAIN SETTLEMENTS AT KANOWALOHALE WAS DESTROYED. THEY RELOCATED TO FORT NIAGARA AND LIVED UNDER BRITISH PROTECTIONS.

IN 1974 AFTER THE WAR THEY WERE GRANTED 6 MILLION ACRES OF LAND IN NEW YORK, WHICH WAS THE FIRST NATIVE AMERICAN RESERVATION IN THE U.S. AND ACTIONS BY THE STATE REDUCED TO 32 ACRES, SO IN 1830 THEY MOVED TO CANADA AND WISCONSIN FOR MORE LAND. THEY BUILT A CASINO IN WISCONSIN AND THEY STILL WONDER IF IT IS GOOD THING FOR THE COMMUNITY AND THE GREEN BAY AREA.

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