Time Immemorial: The Oneidas lived in an area of some 6 million acres of land stretching from the St. Lawrence River to what is now the New York-Pennsylvania border before the arrival of the Europeans. The Nation existed as a sovereign nation with recognized borders long before the United States came into existence. Oneida villages thrived in and around what are now the communities of Stockbridge, Oneida Castle, Canastota, the City of Oneida and elsewhere in what are now Oneida and Madison counties.

1613: Tradition has it that from the earliest contact with the Dutch, the Oneidas and other members of the Iroquois Confederacy reached agreement on a treaty with the newcomers, recorded with a two-row wampum belt. The belt depicts two paths, one for the Oneidas and their Iroquois brothers and another separate one for the Europeans. One path depicts a birch bark canoe and represents the Indians, and the other represents a ship and the newcomers from Europe. This was the first formal recognition by non-Indians that the people who already occupied North America were sovereign nations that possessed territorial rights when the Europeans began to share their land.

1763: A proclamation by the British Crown established a policy of reserving power over land transactions with Indian nations for the king, the British Empire's central authority. This was yet another recognition of the sovereign status of the Indian nations and the Crown's desire for formal government-to-government relations.

1777: The Oneida Indians, joined by the Tuscaroras, were the only members of the Iroquois Confederacy to side with the colonists in the American Revolutionary War. The Oneidas played a crucial role in the strategically important Battle of Oriskany, one of the bloodiest battles of the war. Many Oneidas fought and died with their allies as the colonists sought freedom for the new nation.

1777: The Oneidas fought with the colonists at the Battle of Saratoga and other key engagements of the Revolutionary War. Oneida oral tradition also tells how Nation Members carried bushels of corn hundreds of miles on foot to General Washington's starving troops at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, saving the lives of the troops during the severe winter.

1778: James Duane, a federal treaty agent, wrote to New York Governor George Clinton regarding a meeting with the Oneidas, "An Oneida Chief ... declared the unalterable resolution of the Oneidas and Tuscaroras, at every hazard, to hold fast the Covenant Chain with the United States, and with them to be buried in the same grave; or to enjoy the fruits of victory and peace ..." Oneidas also fought at a skirmish at Barren Hill, Pennsylvania.

1780: The Oneidas fought with the colonists in battle at Klock's Field, near Canajoharie.

1781: The Oneidas and colonists fought in a battle at what is now the Mohawk Valley community of Johnstown and pursued the fleeing British army.

1783: The new U.S. government echoed British Crown policy with a proclamation which prohibited anyone but the federal government -- including the state governments -- from buying or taking land from Indian nations "without the express authority and directions of the United States in Congress assembled." New York State ignored this policy.

1784: In recognition of the Oneidas' role as allies in the Revolution, the Nation received favorable treatment in the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, which states, "The Oneida and Tuscarora nations shall be secured in the possession of the lands on which they are settled."

1784: A Congressional resolution was passed recognizing the Oneidas' role in the Revolution, which said: "We (the United States) have experienced your (Oneida) love, strong as an oak, and your fidelity, unchangeable as truth. You have kept fast hold of the ancient covenant chain, and preserved it free from rust and decay, and bright as silver. Like brave men, for glory you despised danger; you stood forth, in the cause of your friends, and ventured your lives in our battles. While the sun and moon contrive to give light to the world, we shall love and respect you. As our trusty friends, we shall protect you; and shall at all times consider your welfare as our own."

1788: An Oneida sachem Good Peter said after more lands were lost, "He (Governor George Clinton) did not say, I buy your Country.' Nor did we say, We sell it.'" The Oneidas agreed to a lease of their lands, but New York State took them illegally.

1789: The U.S. Congress approved the Treaty of Fort Harmar, which reaffirmed guarantees made in the Treaty of Fort Stanwix.

1790: The U.S. Congress passed the Trade and Act, (ch. 33, 1 Stat. 137 codified at 25 U.S.A.C. sec. 177) which forbade purchases of Indian lands that were concluded without valid congressional consent. This act remains in effect today.

1794: The Treaty of Canandaigua, which was signed by the Oneidas, states, "The United States acknowledges the lands reserved to the Oneida ... to be their property; and the United States will never claim the same, nor disturb them ..." This, like other treaties, simply memorialized the legal right of the Nation to own, possess, govern and control its lands.

1795-1846: Between these dates, 26 treaties imposed by New York State deprived the Oneida Nation of all but a few hundred acres of its ancestral homeland.

1795: Ignoring federal law, an illegal "treaty" enacted by New York State transferred 100,000 acres of land within the Oneida reservation recognized by the Treaty of Fort Schuyler and guaranteed by the Treaty of Canandaigua. This was one of several such actions by the state to diminish and assimilate the Oneidas and take their land, while clearing the way for westward expansion. The action was taken within a year of the U.S. guaranteeing the Oneidas that their homeland would be protected. New York State was advised by the federal government that the transaction was illegal, but went ahead with it anyway.

1823: Dispossessed and under pressure to dissolve their communities, many individual Oneidas illegally sold land and moved to Wisconsin to form a new, separate, non-traditional government. These transactions were illegal because the land was held by the Nation, not by individuals. Other Oneida individuals moved to land they bought near London, Ontario, Canada and formed a separate government.

1832: The U.S. Supreme Court unequivocally stated that treaties the Oneidas signed with the federal government, like those signed with other Indian nations, are binding. In part, the Court said, "The Indian nations had always been considered as distinct, independent political communities, retaining their original natural rights, as the undisputed possessors of the soil, from time immemorial ..."

1849: New York State passed an allotment act that made it possible for communally held lands to be divided and ownership of the resulting parcels be granted to individual Indians. Much of this land was lost by individuals to tax sales and mortgage foreclosures.

1909: William Honyoust Rockwell, an Oneida chief, later wrote about the day after Thanksgiving in that year when "seven big, burly sheriffs" put his aunt and uncle out of their home on the Oneida Territory as part of a mortgage foreclosure. His aunt kept returning to the house and the sheriffs kept ejecting her. Their furniture was thrown out onto the highway and even the horse owned by Rockwell's uncle was turned loose.

1919: The federal government filed suit in United States District Court (U.S. v. Boylan) to recover the last 32 acres of the approximately 300,000 acres of the Nation's homeland which had been reserved in the Treaty of Canandaigua. The court ruled in favor of the Oneidas.

1920: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the District Court's ruling in U.S. v Boylan.

1920: Oneida Member Mary Winder wrote a letter to the federal Indian Bureau asking how much money the federal government owed the Oneida Nation for the loss of its homeland. She continued writing letters to the government for years, continually asking the government to live up to guarantees made in its treaties to preserve the Oneidas' homeland.

1946: Congress created the Indian Claims Commission to adjudicate claims by Indians of unfair treatment by the U.S. regarding their lands.

1948: Mary Winder wrote a letter to the Bureau of Indian Affairs requesting payment or return of the land illegally taken from the Oneidas by New York State.

1951: The Oneida Nation filed a claim with the Indian Claims Commission. Covered in the claim was all the land finagled from the Oneida Nation by New York State between 1785 and 1846. The Commission ruled in favor of the Oneidas. The Commission said the Oneidas were due compensation, but it lacked the authority to order the return of their ancestral lands.

1970: The Oneidas filed a suit in federal court to press for the return of Oneida reservation land.

1974: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Oneidas had the right to have their case heard in a federal court.

1974: The Oneida Nation sued Madison and Oneida counties challenging the validity of the remaining illegal land deals and seeking trespass damages on portions of the land occupied by the counties since 1951.

1978: The Oneidas sued in federal court to challenge the transfer of more than six million acres of land to New York State after the Trade and Act was passed.

1982: The Oneidas withdrew their claims from the Indian Claims Commission when it became clear that the commission was not empowered to return land.

1985: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Oneidas and affirmed the judgement of liability and award of damages in the only decision of the Court to ever examine the merits of an Indian land claim case.

1985: The Oneida Nation began negotiations with New York State to settle its claim.

1987: The Oneida Nation re-acquired 42 acres of land near the City of Oneida; the first of its ancestral homeland to be re-acquired.

1998: The U.S. Justice Department announced its intention to intervene in the land claim to vindicate the Oneidas' rights under the Treaty of Canandaigua and federal law.

1998: Oneida Nation, with the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin and the Oneida of the Thames in Canada filed an amended complaint in the land claim. The U.S. Justice Department is filing a nearly identical amended complaint in support of the Oneidas.