Land area
Land of the Winnebago in Illinois and Wisconsin, ceded 1829 (area 149)
- 1829
Ceded to the United States
In the record
Ceded by the Winnebago at Prairie du Chien in 1829, land in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. The area covers about 2.7 million acres in what is now Illinois and Wisconsin.
The 1899 record names Winnebago as the people of this land.
How it was taken: a treaty or agreement. The Oklahoma State treaty text records a negotiated cession for annuities; payment of claims against the Winnebago is noted, but no source cited states coercion.
Today, Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin and Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska carry the history of the people named here.
Written from the records linked here; open any of them for its sources.
Shapes come from C. C. Royce’s 1899 maps as georeferenced by the US Forest Service. They are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land. Royce recorded land the United States treated as ceded; the shape does not show a nation’s territory.
Who is doing the work
Land return and Native-led work nearby
- Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) Nation government Ojibwe treaty rights in ceded territories, natural resource stewardship, manoomin, and a Land Conservancy program… Give on their site Website
- Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin Nation government Restoration of about 200,000 acres to reservation status (1975)
- Stockbridge-Munsee Community (Band of Mohican Indians) Nation government 372 acres on Monument Mountain's north slope (finalized Apr 2025; $2.5M, $2.26M state grant)
Native legal and land defense, nationally
- Native American Rights Fund (NARF) Native-led Litigation and legal advocacy for tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, land and resources Give on their site Website
- NDN Collective (LANDBACK Campaign) Native-led LANDBACK campaign (launched 2020; Mount Rushmore closure and return of Black Hills public lands), Indigenous… Give on their site Website
- Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF) Native-led Land recovery and control by tribes and individual Indian landowners Website
- Decolonizing Wealth Project (Indigenous Earth Fund; California Tribal Land Return) Native-led Reparative philanthropy Give on their site Website
Gifts go straight to each organization; this atlas takes nothing. Listing is not endorsement: how organizations are listed.
Connections
Links marked “suggested” were matched automatically by name or date and have not yet been reviewed by a person.
Nations named for this land 3
- Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsinmatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Winnebagoas named in the 1899 recordsuggested
- Winnebago Tribe of Nebraskamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
Located in 2
Agreements recorded for this land 1
Sources
- Royce, Indian Land Cessions (1899), Schedule entry dated 1829-08-01primary record
- Kappler, Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties, text for 1829-08-01primary record
- Royce’s map sheet: Illinois 2 (Library of Congress)primary record
- Royce’s map sheet: Wisconsin 1 (Library of Congress)primary record
- USDA Forest Service, Tribal Lands Ceded to the United States (digitized Royce maps)reference work
The record’s fields
- Area number in the 1899 record
- 149
- Dates in the 1899 record
- 1829-08-01
- Kind of instrument
- Treaty or agreement
- Peoples as named in the 1899 record
- Winnebago
- States
- IL; WI
- Counties
- Columbia; Dane; Grant; Green; Iowa; Lafayette; Lee; Ogle; Stephenson; Whiteside; Winnebago
- Map sheets in the 1899 record
- Illinois 2; Wisconsin 1
- Geometry
- Approximate shape from Royce’s 1899 maps
Research notes
geometry_role is 'cession' for every USFS feature: no field in the source distinguishes cessions from reservations.
- Kind
- Land area
- Confidence
- Medium