The Seneca are an American Indian Nation that are part of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois League, and resided in western New York. The Seneca are known as the "Keepers of the Western Door," as they are the westernmost of the six nations that comprised the Haudenosaunee. During the French and Indian War, the Seneca allied with the British, helping take Fort Niagara in 1759. After the war, British colonists continued to encroach upon Seneca lands, pushing some Seneca people westward into the Ohio territory. The Seneca allied with the British during the American Revolution, as they tended to be more respectful of the Seneca's borders than the Americans. After the war, the Seneca people eventually made peace with the Americans but were forced to cede much of their historic homelands to the U.S. government. Some Seneca people who resided in the Midwest were forcibly removed, pushed eventually into present-day Oklahoma, while others remained in New York. Today, there are three federally recognized groups of Seneca people: the Seneca Nation of Indians, the Tonawanda Band of Seneca, and the Seneca-Cayuga Nation.

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