Treaty of Easton – October 1758
Five hundred Chiefs of 13 American Indian tribes, representing the Iroquois, Lenape-Delaware, Shawnee and others, met with Colonial officials at the forks of the Delaware River in Easton, Pennsylvania. They agreed to be allies of the British colonies during the French and Indian War (Seven Years War), already underway. This Treaty was crucial to the success of the 1758 Forbes Campaign as it neutralized the Ohio Indians allied to the French at Fort Duquesne, greatly contributing to its weak state as the British army pursued its objective in November of 1758. In return the governments of Pennsylvania and New Jersey recognized Native rights to hunting grounds in the Ohio Valley and settlements in the Ohio Country. They promised not to establish additional settlements west of the Appalachian Mountains. Unfortunately, that did not carry out. The Lenape ceded all remaining claims to land within the Province of New Jersey for the sum of one thousand Spanish dollars. They received payment immediately.