Land area
Land of the Delaware, Eel River Miami and others in Illinois and Indiana, ceded 1809 (area 73)
- 1809
Ceded to the United States
By Treaty of Fort Wayne (1809), Delaware, Potawatomi, Miami, Eel River
- 1809
Earlier terms confirmed
- 1816
Earlier terms confirmed
By Wea and Kickapoo at Fort Harrison, Indiana Territory (1816)
In the record
Ceded by the tribes at the September 1809 Fort Wayne treaty, a strip northwest of the Wabash, if the Kickapoo agreed; they did in December 1809 and confirmed it in 1816. The area covers about 378 thousand acres in what is now Illinois and Indiana.
The 1899 record names Delaware (Lenape), Eel River, Kickapoo, Miami, Potawatomi and 1 more as the people of this land.
How it was taken: a treaty made under documented pressure. The National Library of Medicine's timeline reports that Tecumseh disputed the signers' authority to sell the land, a case of disputed signatories.
Today, Delaware Nation (Oklahoma), Delaware Tribe of Indians, Stockbridge Munsee Community, Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, Kickapoo Tribe of Indians of the Kickapoo Reservation in Kansas, Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma and 10 more 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
This history belongs to living nations. Start with them:
- Delaware Tribe of Indians
- Stockbridge Munsee Community
- Kaw Nation
- Miami Nation of Indians of the State of Indiana, Inc.
- Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma
- Anishinaabe
Working with these nations
- 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)
- 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
- Honor the Earth Native-led Pipeline resistance, sovereignty, energy justice Give on their site Website
- Native Land Conservancy (Massachusetts) Native-led Native-led land conservation Give on their site Website
- White Earth Land Recovery Project (WELRP) Native-led Recover the original White Earth reservation land base Give on their site Website
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 19
- Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Oklahomamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Delaware (Lenape)as named in the 1899 recordsuggested
- Delaware Nation (Oklahoma)matched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Eel Riveras named in the 1899 recordsuggested
- Forest County Potawatomi Community, Wisconsinmatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Hannahville Indian Community, Michiganmatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Kaw (Kanza)matched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Kickapooas named in the 1899 recordsuggested
- Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texasmatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Kickapoo Tribe of Indians of the Kickapoo Reservation in Kansasmatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahomamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomimatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
Show all 19
- Miamias named in the 1899 recordsuggested
- Miami Tribe of Oklahomamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, Michiganmatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, Michigan and Indianamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Potawatomias named in the 1899 recordsuggested
- Prairie Band Potawatomi Nationmatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Weaas named in the 1899 recordsuggested
Agreements recorded for this land 3
Located in 2
Sources
- Royce, Indian Land Cessions (1899), Schedule entry dated 1809-09-30primary record
- Kappler, Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties, text for 1809-09-30primary record
- Kappler, Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties, text for 1809-12-09primary record
- Kappler, Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties, text for 1816-06-04primary record
- Royce’s map sheet: Illinois 1 (Library of Congress)primary record
- Royce’s map sheet: Indiana (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
- 73
- Dates in the 1899 record
- 1809-09-30; 1809-12-09; 1816-06-04
- Kind of instrument
- Treaty or agreement
- Peoples as named in the 1899 record
- Delaware; Eel River Miami; Kickapoo; Miami; Potawatomi; Wea
- States
- IL; IN
- Counties
- Clark; Crawford; Edgar; Vermillion; Vigo
- Map sheets in the 1899 record
- Illinois 1; Indiana
- 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