Many of the Haudenosaunee people allied with the
British during the
American Revolutionary War, particularly warriors from the Mohawk, Cayuga, Onondaga and Seneca nations. Some warriors of the Oneida and Tuscarora also allied with them, as warfare was highly decentralized. These nations had longstanding trade relations with the British and hoped they might stop European-American encroachment on their territories. These allies were from the Six Nations of the
Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy. After the American victory in the conflict,
the Crown ceded all of its territory in the colonies to their new government under a peace treaty, including that belonging to the Six Nations without consulting them or making them party to treaty negotiations. The Crown worked to resettle native
Loyalists in Canada and provide some compensation for lands lost in the new United States. The Crown also hoped to use these new settlers, both Native Americans and European Americans, to develop agriculture and towns in areas west of
Quebec, the territory later known as
Upper Canada. The new lands granted to Six Nations reserves were all near important Canadian military targets and placed along the border to prevent any American invasion. The growth of the Six Nations community was also hampered. Land, especially in the 17th and 18th centuries, granted a certain measure of power to their owners. Influential leaders such as
Joseph Brant and
John Deseronto were prevented from granting land to business owners who could have brought industry and agriculture to their lands. After the war, Mohawk leaders Deseronto and Brant met with British commander
Sir Frederick Haldimand to discuss the loss of their lands in New York. Haldimand promised to resettle the Mohawk near the
Bay of Quinte, on the northeast shore of
Lake Ontario, in present-day
Ontario, Canada. Haldimand purchased from other First Nations a tract by on the Bay of Quinte, which he granted to the Mohawk. (There are of course questions about First Nations understanding of such purchase). About 200 Mohawk settled with Deseronto on the bay, at what is now called the
Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, Ontario. Deseronto later died in the
town named after him in the territory. These were primarily Mohawk of the Lower Castle (of New York).
Six Nations at Grand River Brant decided that he preferred to settle on the
Grand River north of Lake Erie. Mohawk of the Upper Castle joined him in settling on the Grand River, as did bands of the other Six Nations. By the
Haldimand Proclamation of October 25, 1784, the government granted a tract of land to the
Mohawk and other Six Nations bands in appreciation of their support for the Crown during the revolution. The Crown had purchased the lands previously from the Mississauga on May 22, 1784, as part of the Between the Lakes Treaty. Joseph Brant led a large group of Iroquois to settle in what is now referred to as the
Six Nations of the Grand River. A 1785 census recorded 1,843 Natives living on the Grand River reserve, including 548
Mohawk, 281
Cayuga, 145
Onondaga, 262
Oneida, 109
Tuscarora, and 98
Seneca. There were also 400 persons from other tribes, including
Lenape, and others from southern territory, such as the
Nanticoke,
Tutelo, and some
Creek and
Cherokee. African-American slaves were also brought to Six Nations and
Brantford by Brant. He encouraged members of his family to marry local Blacks, absorbing them into the population on the reserve. From the 1830s to the 1860s many runaway slaves, escaping through the
Underground Railroad, were received and absorbed into the population of Six Nations. Along with the African-Americans who settled largely in the area around
Cainsville, Brant invited several Anglo-American white families to live on the grant, particularly veterans of
Brant's Volunteers and
Butler's Rangers from
New York, who had fought with him during the war. To encourage his loyalist friends to settle there, Brant gave them larger grants than the government had given other loyalists in other areas of Upper Canada. Some Canadians objected to Brant giving such land grants to whites in the reserve area. As the government did for European Americans, the Indian department provided the Haudenosaunee with some tools and other provisions for resettlement, including such items as saws, axes,
grindstones, and chisels. They received help in establishing schools and churches, and in acquiring farm equipment and other necessities. Conditions were extremely difficult in the first years on the frontier, as the government did not provide enough supplies or assistance to any of the resettled loyalists, neither Native Americans nor European Americans. They had to create new settlements out of woodlands. In 1785, the government built the first
Protestant church in
Upper Canada (now Ontario) on the reserve; it was known as
Her Majesty's Royal Chapel of the Mohawks. The Crown maintained its support of this chapel, and it is among only twelve
Chapels Royal in the world. The main town developed at what is now Brantford. It was first called Brant's Town after Joseph Brant, who built his residence there. In 1798, it was described as a large and sprawling settlement. Brant's home was a two-story house, built in a European-American style. In 1797, Brant founded one of the earliest
Masonic Lodges in Upper Canada; he achieved the rank of its
Worshipful Master. Governor
John Simcoe confirmed the grant with a limited deed on January 14, 1793. The deed also forbade them to sell the land to anyone but each other and the king. Led by Joseph Brant, the chiefs rejected the deed. In 1795, the Grand River chiefs empowered Joseph Brant to sell large blocks of land in the northern section, which the Haudenosaunee were not using at the time. They set terms of no
money down because they wanted to take their payment entirely in future years as annual interest. At this time, the population on the reserve was declining; some Haudenosaunee left the Grand River for traditional native communities in New York. After Brant's land sales started in 1795, the population began to increase again. He and the chiefs insisted on
annuities to help the Six Nations community survive. According to the Haldimand Proclamation, the original tract of land stretched from the mouth of the Grand River on the shores of
Lake Erie to the river's
head, and for 10 km (6 mi) from either bank. However, the grant of land included land around the source that the Crown had not purchased from the
Mississauga. A purchase from the Mississauga was later arranged, but not carried out. Between 1795 and 1797, Joseph Brant sold to land speculators; the property comprising the northern half of the reserve was sold for £85,332. This was the highest price paid to Haudenosaunee up to this time for undeveloped land. belts to
Horatio Hale, 1871 Governor Simcoe opposed the land sales. The interest on the annuity promised an income to the people of £5,119 per year, far more than any other Iroquois people had received. The land speculators were unable to sell farm-size lots to settlers fast enough. By 1801, however, all the land speculators had fallen behind in their payments. Because of the lack of payments, Brant was determined to sell more land to make up for the missing payments. In 1796,
Lord Dorchester issued another deed for the land. This empowered the Haudenosaunee to lease or sell their land, provided they offered it first for sale to the government. Brant rejected this deed, partly because the deed named the Six Nations as communal owners of the land. He believed the deed should be limited to the current persons living on the land. By 1800, two-thirds of the Haudenosaunee had not yet adapted to the style of
subsistence agriculture maintained by separate households that the Canadian government encouraged. Brant had hoped that sales of land to European Americans would help them develop the frontier, but conditions were difficult for such agriculture. In 1813, the chiefs and councillors of the Six Nations residing in the state of New York would declare war on the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada. In 1828, chief
John Brant was appointed resident
superintendent for the Six Nations of the Grand River. The Six Nations people were originally deeded 10 km (6 miles) on either side of the entire length of the Grand River, although much of the land was later sold. The ongoing
Grand River land dispute is the result of disputes over the sale process. The current reserves encompass , all but in Six Nations reserve No. 40. In the late 19th century, the Scottish doctor
Joseph Bell excavated skulls of Indigenous people in the Six Nations. These skulls reached Berlin, Germany through the mediation of the doctor
William Osler, where they were considered untraceable for decades. In 2020, the journalists David Bruser and Markus Grill, supported by the ethnologist
Nils Seethaler, succeeded in finding the skulls in the anatomical collection of the
Berlin Society for Anthropology, Ethnology and Prehistory. A return of the skulls to the care of the community of origin was suggested in this context. On July 24, 2024,
ice hockey player
Brandon Montour became the first person to bring the
Stanley Cup to
Ohsweken after the
Florida Panthers won their first championship following their series win over the
Edmonton Oilers in game seven of the
2024 Stanley Cup Final. A parade was held in his honour that went from the
Ohsweken Speedway to the
Gaylord Powless Arena. The community is part owner of a large
grid battery in Hagerville, and plans two other batteries. ==Communities==