Fort Stanwix was a colonial fort erected in 1758 by British General John Stanwix, at the location of present-day Rome, New York. The fort guarded a portage known as the Oneida Carrying Place during the French and Indian War.

A reconstructed fort has been built at the site by the National Park Service, and the Fort Stanwix National Monument lies in the center of the modern city.

In 1768, Fort Stanwix was the site of an important treaty conference between the British and the Iroquois, arranged by William Johnson. The purpose of the conference was to renegotiate the boundary line between Indian lands and white settlements set forth in the Proclamation of 1763. The British government hoped a new boundary line might bring an end to the rampant frontier violence, which had become costly and troublesome. Indians hoped a new, permanent line might hold back white colonial expansion.

The final treaty was signed on November 5, and extended the earlier proclamation line much further west. The Iroquois had effectively ceded Kentucky to the whites. However, the Indians who actually used the Kentucky lands, primarily Shawnee, Delaware, and Cherokee, had no role in the negotiations. Rather than secure peace, the Fort Stanwix treaty helped set the stage for the next round of hostilities.


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