Iroquois Negotiations at German Flatts

Background. Sir William Johnson had learned Mohawk language and customs and served as the British agent to the Iroquois, having been appointed New York's sole agent to the confederacy in 1746. He had previously negotiated with Pontiac in 1766 and held councils at Fort Johnson from 1755, experience that positioned him to lead boundary diplomacy with the Haudenosaunee.

Negotiations at Fort Stanwix. The treaty was negotiated between Sir William Johnson, his deputy George Croghan, and representatives of the Haudenosaunee, with negotiators from New Jersey, Virginia and Pennsylvania accompanying the British. During the proceedings the British negotiators were surprised to learn the Six Nations still claimed much of Kentucky nominally and wanted it included. Representatives of the Shawnee and Lenape, who occupied the ceded lands, were present but not signatories.

Terms and Aftermath. Signed on November 5 with one signatory for each of the Six Nations, the treaty established a Line of Property following the Ohio River, ceding Kentucky and most of present-day West Virginia to the British Crown. It also settled land claims between the Six Nations and the Penn family, whose 1768 acquisitions became the "New Purchase". The Shawnee contested the cession until the 1774 Treaty of Camp Charlotte.