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Treaty

Choctaw at Fort Confederation on the Tombigbee in Choctaw Country (1802)

The Choctaw agreed to re-mark a boundary line in the south and released land between it and the Mobile and Tombigbee rivers.

Signed
October 17, 1802
Senate
Ratified
Land given up
about 968,000 acres
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On October 17, 1802, at Fort Confederation on the Tombigbee River, Brigadier General James Wilkinson signed a "provisional convention" with the Choctaw nation. Choctaw chiefs, head men and principal warriors signed for the lower towns, the upper towns and the six towns. The preamble says they agreed "freely, voluntarily, and without constraint." That is the document's own statement.

Article I let the President retrace and re-mark the old line of limits set between the British king and the Choctaw. It ran from the Chickasawhay River east to the Tombigbee. Two commissioners chosen by the Choctaw from their own number were to go with the U.S. party, and were to be paid one dollar a day.

Article II fixed the line as the boundary. For "one dollar" paid by the United States, the Choctaw released all the land bounded by that line on the north, the Chickasawhay River on the west, the Tombigbee and Mobile rivers on the east, and the U.S. boundary on the south.

Article III let the chiefs of the upper towns alter the old boundary near the mouth of the Yazoo River if it could be done without injury to the nation. The convention took effect only when ratified. The OSU header gives June 20, 1803 for ratification and January 20, 1803 for proclamation, which appear reversed.

Good to know. The words "freely, voluntarily, and without constraint" are the document's own, not independent evidence. Its listed ratification and proclamation dates appear to be reversed.

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

Well supported by the sources below.

  1. they do hereby freely, voluntarily, and without constraint, covenant and agreeTreaty with the Choctaw, 1802 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  2. for, and in consideration of one dollar, to them in hand paid by the said United StatesTreaty with the Choctaw, 1802 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  3. retrace, connect, and plainly remark the old line of limitsTreaty with the Choctaw, 1802 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  4. make such alteration in the old boundary line near the mouth of the Yazou riverTreaty with the Choctaw, 1802 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)

Research notes. The statement that the Choctaw acted 'freely, voluntarily, and without constraint' is the document's own wording, not independent evidence. The $1 payment is as printed. The OSU header dates (ratified June 20, 1803; proclaimed Jan 20, 1803) look inconsistent. No acreage is stated.

What the treaty did to the land

About 968,000 acres given up. Each shape is a numbered area in the federal government’s 1899 record of land cessions.

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

The nations connected to this treaty come first, then groups returning land and defending treaty rights. Support goes directly to them.

This history belongs to living nations. Start with them:

Native legal and land defense, nationally

Gifts go straight to each organization; this atlas takes nothing. Listing is not endorsement: how organizations are listed.

Sources

  1. treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-choctaw-1802-0063reference work
    Oct. 17, 1802. | 7 Stat., 73. / scan: TREATY WITH THE CHOCTAW, 1802. 63

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