About

The Five Nations, comprised of the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, and Mohawk, united in confederation about the year A.D. 1200. This unification took place under the "Great Tree of Peace" and each nation gave its pledge not to war with other members of the confederation. Around 1720, the Tuscarora nation was admitted into the league as the sixth member. Confederacy members referred to themselves as "Haudenosaunee," which translates to "The People of the Longhouse."

One of the most famous figures in the history of colonial Maryland is frontiersman Thomas Cresap. Cresap was a hired ruffian, an Indian trader, a land speculator, a farmer, and a soldier. During the French and Indian War his house was, for a time, the furthest westward point of British control in the Middle Atlantic region. Archeologists recently discovered the site of his home in the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park.

The expansion by the French into the Ohio River Valley led to conflicts with claims by the Virginia frontier settlers. The Indian natives also viewed the increased number of European settlers, especially those in the Shenandoah Valley, with alarm, seeing them as unwelcome encroachers on land they considered theirs.

This unique archeological find was misidentified upon its discovery in the remains of the historic Fort Stanwix. It tells the story of elite British soldiers but its owners are unknown.

The NPS's American Battlefield Protection Program awarded a 2022 Preservation Planning Grant to State University of New York, Binghamton. They plan to conduct limited archeological excavation of a site identified as the potential location of Fort Bull through a survey supported by another NPS ABPP grant in 2018.

Many Native Americans lived and died in the vicinity of the Oneida Carry. Tribes, families, and individuals were often pulled in different directions as the European world invaded theirs. Learn more of this history here.

The collections at Fort Stanwix National Monument contains nearly 500,000 objects! This portion of an British musket is just one of them. It was uncovered by archeologists in the Sally Port of Fort Stanwix during excavations in the 1970s.

Using 3D technology of the future, Fort Stanwix National Monument and Dr. Michael "Bodhi" Rogers to preserve the past. In June of 2018, a fireplace hearth, the only structure left visible from the original fort, became the first artifact scanned using this technique.

The history of the Oneida Carry, an ancient portage trail, spans several centuries, countless historic events, and many different cultures. These are just a few of those connections.

The collection at Fort Stanwix National Monument contains nearly 500,000 objects! This plate is unique to the time period of the British occupation and was discovered by NPS archeologists during the 1970s excavation of the fort.