Treaty of Fort Industry, 1805

What happened

On July 4, 1805, Charles Jouett, a commissioner for the United States, met the sachems, chiefs and warriors of the Wyandot, Ottawa, Chippewa, Munsee and Delaware, Shawnee and Potawatomi nations at Fort Industry on the Miami of the Lake. Article I has the nations "again acknowledge" friendship with and the protection of the United States.

Article II set a new boundary: a north-south line from a point on the south shore of Lake Erie, 120 miles due west of Pennsylvania's western boundary. In Article III the nations ceded the land east of that line. It is bounded on the south and east by the 1795 Greenville line and on the north by "the northernmost part of the forty first degree of north latitude."

The United States promised the Wyandot, Munsee and Delaware, and the Shawnee and Seneca who live with the Wyandot, $1,000 every year "forever," paid at Detroit. Of that, $175 was secured by the Connecticut Land Company and the owners of the "Sufferer's Land," a half-million-acre tract south of Lake Erie. Article V records that the Ottawa, Chippewa and some Potawatomi had received $4,000 from those companies, with another $12,000 held in trust for them.

The nations could fish and hunt on the ceded land as long as they behaved peaceably. The text states no acreage.

Good to know. The same nations signed two treaties at Fort Industry on July 4, 1805: one with the United States and one with the Connecticut land companies, which the U.S. treaty mentions. The National Archives files them as Ratified Indian Treaties 44 and 45.

Summarized with AI assistance from 5 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error