Living Law,
Living LandSupport land rights

Land area

Land of the Arapaho, Northern Cheyenne and others in several states, ceded 1876 (area 597)

Shape traced from the 1899 maps; approximate. Open on the map
  1. 1868
  2. 1876

    Ceded to the United States

    The 1899 record: “Cede all claim to remainder of country described in article 16 of treaty of Apr. 29, 1868”

In the record

Recognized as unceded Indian territory in the 1868 Fort Laramie treaty, then ceded by the Sioux, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho in a September 1876 agreement confirmed by Congress in February 1877. The area covers about 21 million acres in what is now Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming.

The 1899 record names Arapaho, Northern Cheyenne and Sioux (as named in treaty records) as the people of this land.

How it was taken: a treaty or agreement. The treaty text records an agreement and the Supreme Court describes it as concluded at the culmination of the Powder River War; the later taking is a separate act.

Today, Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, Northern Arapaho Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming, Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Montana, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe of South Dakota and 13 more carry the history of the people named here.

Written from the records linked here; open any of them for its sources.

See this cession on the map

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

This history belongs to living nations. Start with them:

Working with these nations

Land return and Native-led work nearby

Native legal and land defense, nationally

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 21

Show all 21

Located in 4

Agreements recorded for this land 1

Sources

  1. Royce, Indian Land Cessions (1899), Schedule entry dated 1868-04-29primary record
  2. Kappler, Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties, text for 1868-04-29primary record
  3. Royce, Indian Land Cessions (1899), Schedule entry dated 1876-09-26primary record
  4. Royce’s map sheet: Dakota 1 (Library of Congress)primary record
  5. Royce’s map sheet: Nebraska (Library of Congress)primary record
  6. Royce’s map sheet: Wyoming 1 (Library of Congress)primary record
  7. Royce’s map sheet: Montana 1 (Library of Congress)primary record
  8. 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
597
Dates in the 1899 record
1868-04-29; 1876-09-26
Kind of instrument
Treaty or agreement
Peoples as named in the 1899 record
Arapaho; Northern Cheyenne; Sioux
States
MT; NE; SD; WY
Counties
Box Butte; Butte; Campbell; Carter; Cherry; Converse; Crook; Custer; Dawes; Fall River; Fallon; Goshen; Harding; Johnson; Lawrence; Natrona; Niobrara; Pennington; Platte; Powder River; Sheridan; Sioux; Weston
Map sheets in the 1899 record
Dakota 1; Nebraska; Wyoming 1; Montana 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

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