This was Pawnee Country, the last Nebraska home of an Indian Confederacy that once numbered more than 10,000 and consisted of four tribes—Skidi, Grand, Republican, and Tapage. Their domain covered a large part of Central Nebraska, where they lived in permanent earth-lodge villages and developed an elaborate religious and social organization. The Pawnee grew corn, made pottery, and produced many flint tools and weapons. They depended on buffalo for meat and hides, and each year carried on extended hunts along the Platte and Republican rivers, where they conflicted with the Sioux and other Plains Indians. In 1857 they ceded their remaining lands, except for what is now Nance County, and established their villages at this site under Chief Petalesharo. Nearly always friendly to the Whites, the Pawnee furnished scouts commanded by Major Frank North, a colorful and effective fighting force in the Indian wars of 1864-1877. Under continued harassment by nomadic tribes and demoralized by association with the Whites, the Pawnee dwindled in numbers and prestige. In 1873 they suffered major losses in battle with the Sioux at Massacre Canyon near present-day Trenton. In 1874-1875 they left their ancestral Nebraska home for a reservation in Oklahoma.