Piankashaw at Vincennes, Indiana Territory (1804)
The Piankashaw ceded land between the Ohio and Wabash rivers and acknowledged the Kaskaskia right to sell their adjoining lands.
- Signed
- August 27, 1804
- Senate
- Ratified
- Land set aside for the nations
- about 9.5 million acres
What happened
What happened
On August 27, 1804, at Vincennes, William Henry Harrison, governor of Indiana Territory, signed a treaty with the chiefs and head men of the Piankeshaw tribe. It came nine days after the Delaware treaty at the same town, which ceded land in the same region.
In Article 1 the Piankeshaw "relinquishes, and cedes to the United States for ever" the country between the Ohio and Wabash rivers below Clark's grant. The cession also named the Vincennes tract that had been ceded at Fort Wayne in 1803 and a connecting line drawn parallel to the road from Vincennes to the Falls of the Ohio.
In Article 2 the Piankeshaw "acknowledge explicitly the right of the Kaskaskia tribe to sell" the country the Kaskaskia had lately ceded. The text says that land is separated from Piankeshaw lands by the ridge dividing the Wabash waters from those of Saline Creek and other branches of the Mississippi.
The Piankeshaw received an additional annuity of $200 for ten years, paid at the tribe's option in money, goods, provisions, animals or farm tools. Goods worth $700 were delivered at the signing, and the text calls the whole "full compensation." Article 4 reserved to the United States the right to divide the annuity among families, with a due share for the chiefs. The text states no acreage.
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.
The Piankeshaw tribe relinquishes, and cedes to the United States for ever, all that tract of country
Treaty with the Piankeshaw, 1804 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)The Piankeshaw tribe acknowledges explicitly the right of the Kaskaskia tribe to sell the country
Treaty with the Piankeshaw, 1804 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)an additional annuity of two hundred dollars shall be paid by the United States to the said tribe for ten years
Treaty with the Piankeshaw, 1804 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)the United States reserve to themselves the right of dividing the whole annuity
Treaty with the Piankeshaw, 1804 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
Research notes. The text gives no acreage or motive. The Delaware treaty of August 18, 1804 (T-040) says the Piankeshaw had 'obstinately persisted' in refusing to recognize the Delaware title to part of this country; that context is not mentioned in this treaty's text.
What the treaty did to the land
About 9.5 million acres recognized, kept or set aside for the nations. Each shape is a numbered area in the federal government’s 1899 record of land cessions.
recognized as Native landabout 9.5 million acres
Land of the Kaskaskia in Illinois, ceded 1803 (area 48)
Ceded by the Kaskaskia at Vincennes in August 1803; the Piankishaw recognized their right to sell it in 1804, and the 1818 Edwardsville treaty confirmed and enlarged the cession.
earlier terms confirmedabout 2.0 million acres
Land of the Delaware, Miami and others in Indiana, ceded 1804 (area 49)
Ceded by the Delaware in August 1804, land between the Ohio and Wabash; the Piankishaw (1804) and the Miami and allied tribes (1805) recognized the Delaware's right to sell it.
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.
- 1803
Land lost
About 9.5 million acres ceded to the United States by the Kaskaskia
By Kaskaskia at Vincennes (1803)
- 1804
Land lost
About 2.0 million acres ceded to the United States by the Delaware, Miami and others
By Delaware at Vincennes, Indiana Territory (1804)
- 1804
This treaty
About 9.5 million acres recognized as land of the Kaskaskia. Earlier terms confirmed for the land of the Delaware, Miami and others
The Piankashaw ceded land between the Ohio and Wabash rivers and acknowledged the Kaskaskia right to sell their adjoining lands.
- 1805
Land record
Earlier terms confirmed for the land of the Delaware, Miami and others
By Delaware, Potawatomi, Miami, Eel River, and Wea at Grouseland near Vincennes, Indiana (1805)
- 1818
Land record
Earlier terms confirmed for the land of the Kaskaskia
By Tribes of the Illinois Nation (Peoria, Kaskaskia, Michigamea, Tamaroa, and Chahokia) at Edwardsville, Illinois Territory (1818)
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.
Who is doing the work
This history belongs to living nations. Start with them:
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.
Sources
Sources
- treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-piankeshaw-1804-0072reference work
Aug. 27, 1804. | 7 Stat., 83. / scan: 72
Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.