The Tonawanda Band of Seneca Indians is a federally recognized tribe in the State of New York. They maintained the traditional form of government by Seneca chiefs (or more correctly, 'sachems') and clan mothers after the Alleghany and Cattaraugus Reservations broke away and formed the Seneca Nation of Indians (a republican form of government, electing a president, secretary, and council every two years) in 1848. The Tonawanda Senecas retrieved their horns of authority from the deposed chiefs at Alleghany and Cattaraugus and still continue to govern themselves in the traditional way. The Seneca are an Iroquois nation, one of the original five (and then six) of the historic Haudenosaunee or Iroquois Confederacy. Their people speak Seneca language, an Iroquoian language. This is one of two federally recognized tribes of Seneca, The Tonawanda Band of Seneca and The Seneca Nation of Indians, both Native Americans in New York state. In addition, there are Seneca in Oklahoma, who along with the Cayuga form the Seneca-Cayuga Nation. The majority of Seneca live in western New York, with a small number living in Canada: Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation, within Ontario, Canada. In 1857, the Tonawanda Band signed a treaty with the United States, allowing them to buy back lands from the Ogden Land Company, taken fraudulently through the Buffalo Creek Treaty of 1838 and the Compromise Treaty of 1842. The treaties of 1838 and 1842 ultimately led to the revolt against the chiefs in Cattaraugus and Alleghany and the formation of the Seneca Nation of Indians.
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