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Treaty

Wyandot, Ottawa, Chippewa, Munsee, Delaware, Shawnee, and Potawatomi at Fort Industry on the Miami of the Lake (1805)

At Fort Industry in 1805 seven nations ceded land east of a Lake Erie meridian and acknowledged U.S. protection.

Signed
July 4, 1805
Senate
Ratified
Land given up
about 3.2 million acres
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On July 4, 1805, Charles Jouett, 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

What the sources say, and how this was checked

Well supported by the sources below.

  1. the northernmost part of the forty first degree of north latitudeTreaty with the Wyandot, etc., 1805 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  2. will, every year forever hereafter, at Detroit, or some other convenient place, pay and deliverTreaty with the Wyandot, etc., 1805 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  3. the proprietors of the half million acres of land lying south of Lake Erie, called Sufferer’s LandTreaty with the Wyandot, etc., 1805 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  4. shall be at liberty to fish and hunt within the territory and lands which they have now cededTreaty with the Wyandot, etc., 1805 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  5. a treaty with said companies bearing even date herewithTreaty with the Wyandot, etc., 1805 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)

Research notes. The National Archives catalog does not say which of the two documents is the United States treaty. The text does not use the phrase 'Western Reserve'. No acreage is stated.

What the treaty did to the land

About 3.2 million 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.

  1. 1805

    Land lost

    About 3.2 million acres ceded to the United States by the Chippewa, Delaware and others

    By Treaty of Fort Industry, 1805

    area 53 area 54

  2. 1805

    This treaty

    Signed

    At Fort Industry in 1805 seven nations ceded land east of a Lake Erie meridian and acknowledged U.S. protection.

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:

Working with these nations

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-wyandot-etc-1805-0077reference work
    July 4, 1805. | 7 Stat., 87. / scan: 77

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