Potawatomi at Portage des Sioux (1815)
On 18 July 1815 at Portage des Sioux, Illinois River Potawatomi made peace with the United States and agreed to return prisoners.
- Signed
- July 18, 1815
- Senate
- Ratified
What happened
What happened
On 18 July 1815, at Portage des Sioux, three United States commissioners (William Clark, Ninian Edwards and Auguste Chouteau) signed a treaty of peace and friendship with chiefs and warriors of the Potawatomi nation living on the Illinois River. It is one of a series of peace treaties made there in 1815 after the war.
The treaty says both sides wanted to re-establish peace and put the Potawatomi back in every respect on the same footing as before the war. Article 1 provides that every injury or act of hostility on either side would be forgiven and forgot. Article 2 declares perpetual peace and friendship between the citizens of the United States and the individuals of the Potawatomi nation.
In Article 3 both sides promised to deliver up all prisoners in their hands to the officer commanding at Fort Clarke on the Illinois River. In Article 4 they recognized, re-established and confirmed every earlier treaty, contract and agreement between the United States and the Potawatomi.
The treaty contains no land cession and sets no boundary. The page lists ratification on 26 December 1815. It does not say how many prisoners were exchanged or what the Potawatomi leaders thought of the terms.
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.
Every injury or act of hostility by one or either of the contracting parties against the other, shall be mutually forgiven and forgot.
Treaty with the Potawatomi, 1815, Tribal Treaties Databaseto deliver up all the prisoners now in their hands
Treaty with the Potawatomi, 1815, Tribal Treaties Databaserecognize, re-establish and confirm, all and every treaty, contract, and agreement, heretofore concluded between the United States and the Poutawatamie tribe or nation
Treaty with the Potawatomi, 1815, Tribal Treaties DatabaseRatified, Dec. 26, 1815.
Treaty with the Potawatomi, 1815, Tribal Treaties Database
Research notes. The text names only 'the Poutawatamie Tribe or Nation, residing on the river Illinois'; which bands signed is not stated in the transcript. The war is not named in this treaty's text. The sources cited do not cover later history.
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.
Who is doing the work
This history belongs to living nations. Start with them:
- Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Oklahoma
- Forest County Potawatomi Community, Wisconsin
- Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi
- Hannahville Indian Community, Michigan
- Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, Michigan
- Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, Michigan and Indiana
- Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation
- Anishinaabe
Working with these nations
- Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) Nation government Ojibwe treaty rights in ceded territories, natural resource stewardship, manoomin, and a Land Conservancy program… Give on their site Website
- Honor the Earth Native-led Pipeline resistance, sovereignty, energy justice Give on their site Website
- Native Land Conservancy (Massachusetts) Native-led Native-led land conservation Give on their site Website
- White Earth Land Recovery Project (WELRP) Native-led Recover the original White Earth reservation land base Give on their site Website
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-potawatomi-1815-0110reference work
July 18, 1815. | 7 Stat., 123. / scan: 110
Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.