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NortheastTreaty

Treaty of Tonawanda Band of Seneca, 1857

In 1857 the Tonawanda Seneca gave up Kansas land claims for $256,000 and the right to buy back their New York reservation.

Signed
November 5, 1857
Senate
Ratified June 4, 1858
Land given up
about 67,000 acres
Promises
1 of 1 broken or only partly kept
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On November 5, 1857, at the meeting house on the Tonawanda reservation in Genesee County, New York, Commissioner Charles E. Mix signed a treaty with five men authorized by the Tonawanda Band of Seneca, including Ely S. Parker. The preamble recites that the 1838 Treaty of Buffalo Creek and the 1842 treaty had conveyed the Buffalo Creek and Tonawanda reservations to Thomas Ludlow Ogden and Joseph Fellows, and that the treaties "remain unexecuted" as to Tonawanda. The Tonawanda Band surrendered all claims to Kansas lands and to removal.

The United States agreed to pay $256,000. Article 3 allowed the band to buy from Ogden and Fellows "the entire Tonawanda reservation" or any part, with the United States paying for it out of that sum at an average of no more than $20 an acre.

PBS's biography of Ely Parker says the 1838 and 1842 treaties threatened to remove the Senecas to Kansas, and that Parker "led treaty negotiations that allowed the Tonawanda Senecas to buy back about two-thirds of their reservation land." The treaty ended the removal threat for this band.

What was promised, and what happened

  • Partly kept

    The band could buy back the Tonawanda reservation from Ogden and Fellows, paid from the $256,000. (Art. 3)

    led treaty negotiations that allowed the Tonawanda Senecas to buy back about two-thirds of their reservation land pbs.org

Good to know. The treaty set a price ceiling of $20 an acre but no acreage; PBS says about two-thirds of the reservation was bought back.

Summarized with AI assistance from 3 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error

What the sources say, and how this was checked

Well supported by the sources below.

  1. the entire Tonawanda reservation, or such portions thereof as they may be willing to sellTreaty with the Seneca, Tonawanda Band, 1857 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  2. the sum of $256,000 for the said Tonawanda band of IndiansTreaty with the Seneca, Tonawanda Band, 1857 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  3. led treaty negotiations that allowed the Tonawanda Senecas to buy back about two-thirds of their reservation landEly Parker biography, PBS

Research notes. The 1838 Buffalo Creek treaty, the earlier instrument that threatened removal, is a separate entry and its signing is not described here. The treaty text states a price ceiling of $20 per acre but no acreage; PBS says about two-thirds of the reservation was bought back. The treaty is cited at both 11 Stat. 735 and 12 Stat. 991; it was ratified June 4, 1858, and proclaimed March 31, 1859.

What the treaty did to the land

About 67,000 acres given up. Each shape is a numbered area in the federal government’s 1899 record of land cessions.

  • taken back by the United Statesabout 67,000 acres

    Land of the Seneka in New York, ceded 1838 (area 40)

    Kept by the Seneka as the Tonawanda tract in 1797, sold to Ogden and Fellows in 1838 and confirmed in 1842; the Tonawanda band bought back about 7,550 acres under the 1857 treaty.

What happened next

Everything the record holds about this land and this treaty, in order: what earlier agreements said, what this one did, and what the United States, the courts and the nations did afterwards.

  1. 1797

    Land kept

    About 67,000 acres set aside as a reservation for the Seneka

    By Agreement (Treaty of Big Tree) with the Seneca, 1797

    area 40

  2. 1838

    Land lost

    About 67,000 acres ceded to the United States by the Seneka

    By Treaty of Buffalo Creek with the New York Indians, 1838

    area 40

  3. 1838

    Promise broken

    Treaty of Buffalo Creek (1838): sale of Seneca reservations and the 1842 and 1857 corrections

    The 1838 Buffalo Creek treaty tied removal to the sale of Seneca reservations; the sale was never carried out at Tonawanda, and later treaties reworked it.

  4. 1842

    Land record

    Earlier terms confirmed for the land of the Seneka

    By Seneca at Buffalo Creek, New York (1842)

    area 40

  5. 1857

    This treaty

    About 67,000 acres of reservation taken back by the United States

    In 1857 the Tonawanda Seneca gave up Kansas land claims for $256,000 and the right to buy back their New York reservation.

  6. 1858

    This treaty

    Ratified by the Senate

Who is doing the work today

The nations connected to this treaty come first, then groups returning land and defending treaty rights. Support goes directly to them.

This history belongs to living nations. Start with them:

Working with these nations

Native legal and land defense, nationally

Gifts go straight to each organization; this atlas takes nothing. Listing is not endorsement: how organizations are listed.

Sources

  1. digitreaties.org/treaties/treaty/178696242reference work
Research notes

Stat. page per Stat. vol. 12 OCR index (OCR unreliable); Kappler page not verified. Ratification detail: 1858-06-04 (Senate consent; read from the Stat. margin by V2).

Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.