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Treaty

Choctaw at Mt. Dexter in Pooshapukanuk, Choctaw Country (1805)

At Mount Dexter in 1805 the Choctaw ceded a large area, and the United States paid $48,000 toward their debts to traders.

Signed
November 16, 1805
Senate
Ratified
Land given up
about 5.1 million acres
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On November 16, 1805, U.S. commissioners James Robertson and Silas Dinsmoor signed a "treaty of limits" at Mount Dexter with the mingoes, chiefs and warriors of the Choctaw nation. In Article I the Choctaw ceded "all the lands to which they now have or ever had claim" lying to the right of a described line. The line begins near the Natchez path to Washington County and runs east across the Pearl River, along the Chickasawhay River toward the Tombigbee, and on to the ridge between the Alabama and Tombigbee waters. The Choctaw kept a tract two miles square at the town of Fuketcheepoonta and a 5,120-acre tract for two daughters of Samuel Mitchell, whom the text names as the children of a Choctaw woman.

In Article II the United States agreed to pay $50,500. Of that, $48,000 was "to enable the Mingoes to discharge the debt due to their merchants and traders," and to pay for depredations on stock and other property by "evil disposed persons" of the Choctaw nation. Another $2,500 went to John Pitchlynn. The United States also promised $3,000 a year in goods.

Article III gave each of three "great medal mingoes," Pukshunubbee, Hoomastubbee and Pooshamattaha, $500 for past services and an annuity of $150 while in office.

Article V said the boundary was to be marked in the presence of three Choctaw appointees, one from each medal district. The OSU record shows the treaty proclaimed on February 25, 1808. The text states no acreage.

Good to know. The "under pressure" description rests on the $48,000 paid toward Choctaw debts to traders, which shows a debt-driven cession but not that anyone was coerced.

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. cede to the United States of America, all the lands to which they now have or ever had claimTreaty with the Choctaw, 1805 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  2. to enable the Mingoes to discharge the debt due to their merchants and tradersTreaty with the Choctaw, 1805 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  3. each of the three great Medal MingoesTreaty with the Choctaw, 1805 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  4. in the presence of three persons to be appointed by the said nationTreaty with the Choctaw, 1805 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)

Research notes. The 'under pressure' label rests on the debt clause: the text ties $48,000 to the Choctaw's debts to merchants and traders, which shows a debt-driven cession but not that anyone was coerced. The treaty text states no acreage.

What the treaty did to the land

About 5.1 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

    This treaty

    About 5.1 million acres ceded to the United States by the Choctaw. Land set aside as a reservation for the Choctaw

    At Mount Dexter in 1805 the Choctaw ceded a large area, and the United States paid $48,000 toward their debts to traders.

  2. 1830

    Land lost

    Land ceded to the United States by the Choctaw

    By Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek with the Choctaw, 1830

    area 157

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-1805-0087reference work
    Nov. 16, 1805. | 7 Stat., 98. / scan: TREATY WITH THE CHOCTAW, 1805. 87

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