Hamilton Gazetteer / Entities / Oneida Nation

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organization

Oneida Nation

Overview

The Oneida Nation is one of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy and the Indigenous community at the center of Samuel Kirkland’s forty-year missionary career. The founding of Hamilton-Oneida Academy was explicitly designed to serve Oneida and white youth together, making the Oneidas structural participants — however ultimately marginalized — in Hamilton College’s origins.

Relevance to Research

The Oneidas are inseparable from Hamilton College’s founding narrative. Samuel Kirkland lived among them from 1766 and drew on that relationship to launch the Academy. The institution was chartered to serve “the various tribes of confederate Indians” alongside white settler communities. In practice, Indian students proved difficult to retain, and by 1794 the interracial educational vision had largely broken down in enrollment terms. The Documentary History of Hamilton College (1922) records this failure candidly, though with the frank paternalism of its era: Elihu Root’s 1922 address characterized the Indians as “incapable of receiving education.” The Oneidas’ support for the American cause during the Revolutionary War — managed in part through Kirkland’s diplomatic role — is also documented in the source.

Notes

Affiliation: One of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy
Relationship to Kirkland: Samuel Kirkland lived as missionary among the Oneidas for 40+ years beginning in 1766; he was the primary point of contact between the Oneida community and the founding of Hamilton-Oneida Academy
Revolutionary War: The Oneidas sided with the American cause; Kirkland was described as Washington’s “brilliantly successful agent” for the management of the Iroquois during the war
Academy founding: Hamilton-Oneida Academy was chartered in 1793 to serve “the mutual benefit of the young flourishing settlements in said County and the various tribes of confederate Indians”
Enrollment reality: By 1794, only 1–4 Indian boys attended at a time; parents expressed willingness but boys did not remain; Ebenezer Caulkins noted the white children welcomed them
Peace negotiations, 1792: At the time of the Academy’s founding, Oneida leaders were active in intertribal diplomacy; Kirkland’s letters mention “Good Peter, with four other Oneidas” traveling to Buffalo Creek for peace negotiations; the Nation was preparing a delegation with speeches to go westward to broker a general peace
Notable leader: Schenendo was an Oneida chief; in 1820 the Trustees offered a place in the new college cemetery for a monument to Schenendo
Root’s 1922 characterization: Elihu Root stated in his 1922 address: “Alas, the plan of education was a dream! The Indians in general proved incapable of receiving education, and the whites alone have profited by what was done.” — a statement that reflects the paternalist assumptions of the source era

Wikipedia characterization of Oneida role in the Revolution: The Oneida Indian Nation Wikipedia article identifies the Oneidas as “America’s first allies” — the first Iroquois nation, and one of the few, to support the American cause during the Revolutionary War. Three other federally recognized Oneida tribes now operate in locations where Oneidas migrated or were removed after the war: one in Wisconsin and two in Ontario, Canada.

Modern tribal status: The Oneida Indian Nation (OIN; Oneida: Onʌyoteʔa:ká) is a federally recognized tribe headquartered in Verona, New York. The tribe consists of three matrilineal clans: Turtle, Wolf, and Bear. As of 2022, the OIN holds roughly 18,000 acres in trust in Madison and Oneida Counties, New York, under a 2013 landmark settlement with the State of New York and Madison and Oneida Counties that resolved decades of land claim litigation.

Land claim background: Beginning in the 1970s, the OIN filed suit against New York State arguing that post-Revolutionary land purchases by New York were unconstitutional because they were not ratified by Congress as required by the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Supreme Court found in the OIN’s favor in 1985 (5–4). The 2013 settlement resolved all pending litigation; the OIN agreed to pay 25% of gaming revenues to the state, received a 10-county gambling monopoly, and the state agreed to allow up to 25,000 acres in federal trust.

Economic development: The OIN operates Oneida Nation Enterprises, which as of 2013 was the largest employer in Central New York with approximately 5,000 jobs. Businesses include Turning Stone Resort Casino (opened 1993, expanded to approximately 100,000 sq ft gaming space), the YBR Casino & Sports Book (formerly Yellow Brick Road Casino, opened 2015), and Point Place Casino (opened 2018).

Governance: National representative Ray Halbritter has led the OIN since 1985, with formal U.S. recognition of his leadership since 1993. The tribal council has 8 clan members; Clan Mothers make long-term decisions. The OIN has its own accredited police department (first tribal police force in the U.S. accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies) and court system.

Treaties: Party to the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua (the “Veterans Treaty”) and earlier Six Nations treaties of 1784 and 1789.