Originally from the Ohio Valley, the Osages agreed in 1810 to a treaty relinquishing lands in Missouri and relocating along the Neosho River in Kansas. Under Chief Pahuska, called White Hair, they lived and hunted on their new reservation while facing attacks from their rivals, the Cherokees. A trading post was soon established, and in 1824 the first Indian mission and school in this area was built about 3.5 miles west of here. Operated by Presbyterians and associated denominations, it failed to attract pupils, to persuade the Osages to exchange hunting for farming, or to convert them to Christianity, and it closed in 1829. A Catholic mission established in 1842 had more success than the earlier mission. During the Civil War, the Osages formed a regiment and helped counter a Confederate attack. They were forced to leave Kansas in 1870, and today the Osage Nation’s federal reservation lands of approximately 1.5 million acres are in north central Oklahoma.