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Treaty of Hopewell with the Chickasaw, 1786

At Hopewell in 1786 the Chickasaw accepted U.S. protection and a boundary for their lands, with one trading post reserved at Muscle Shoals.

Signed
January 10, 1786
Senate
Ratified

What happened

On January 10, 1786, at Hopewell on the Keowee River, near Seneca Old Town, Benjamin Hawkins, Andrew Pickens and Joseph Martin concluded a treaty for the United States with Piomingo, "Head Warrior and First Minister of the Chickasaw Nation," Mingatushka and Latopoia. The United States "give peace to the Chickasaw Nation, and receive them into the favor and protection of the said States."

The Mississippi Encyclopedia says a much smaller Chickasaw delegation than the Cherokee or Choctaw arrived, and that the three leaders represented the pro-American faction of their nation. Piomingo questioned Article 1, saying he had taken no American prisoners to surrender, but agreed to Article 3. The commissioners explained a draft of the treaty, and the three made their marks on January 10.

Article III set the boundary of "the lands hereby allotted to the Chickasaw nation to live and hunt on," running from the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to the Choctaw line. It reserved a circle five miles in diameter at the lower port of the Muscle Shoals for a trading post "to the use and under the government of the United States." Article IV said a settler on the allotted lands would "forfeit the protection of the United States," and the Chickasaws "may punish him or not as they please."

The Mississippi Encyclopedia says that the three Hopewell treaties were virtually identical apart from their boundary articles, and that none of the delegations recognized U.S. sovereignty over their lands.

Good to know. The boundary follows lands the Chickasaw claimed on November 29, 1782, so the exact line is hard to map from the text alone.

Summarized with AI assistance from 4 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error

What the sources say, and how this was checked

Supported by the sources below; some details rest on one source.

  1. The boundary of the lands hereby allotted to the Chickasaw nation to live and hunt onTribal Treaties Database: Treaty of Hopewell with the Chickasaw, 1786 (Oklahoma State University Libraries)
  2. a trading post, a tract or parcel of land to be laid out at the lower port of the Muscle shoalsTribal Treaties Database: Treaty of Hopewell with the Chickasaw, 1786 (Oklahoma State University Libraries)
  3. The documents were virtually identical except for the articles that described their national boundariesTreaty of Hopewell - Mississippi Encyclopedia
  4. none of the delegations recognized the sovereignty of the United States over their landsTreaty of Hopewell - Mississippi Encyclopedia

Research notes. The boundary refers to lands the Chickasaw claimed on November 29, 1782, so the exact line is hard to map from the text alone. The Mississippi Encyclopedia says Piomingo, Mingotushka and Latopoia represented the pro-American faction of their nation.

What happened next

Everything the record holds about this land and this treaty, in order: what earlier agreements said, what this one did, and what the United States, the courts and the nations did afterwards.

Who is doing the work today

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Sources

  1. digitreaties.org/treaties/treaty/84565089reference work

Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.