Piankashaw at Portage des Sioux (1815)
On 18 July 1815 at Portage des Sioux, the Piankashaw made peace with the United States and confirmed all earlier treaties.
- Signed
- July 18, 1815
- Senate
- Ratified
What happened
What happened
On 18 July 1815, at Portage des Sioux, the same three commissioners, William Clark, Ninian Edwards and Auguste Chouteau, signed a treaty of peace and friendship for the United States. The other side was the chiefs and warriors of the Piankashaw tribe or nation. The Piankashaw treaty was signed the same day as the Potawatomi treaty.
The preamble says the parties wanted to re-establish peace and friendship and to place the Piankashaw "on the same footing upon which they stood before the war." Article 1 forgives every injury or act of hostility on either side. Article 2 declares perpetual peace and friendship between all citizens of the United States and all individuals of the Piankashaw nation.
In Article 3 the parties recognized, re-established and confirmed every earlier treaty, contract or agreement between the United States and the Piankashaw. This treaty does not repeat the terms of those earlier agreements, so their terms are found in the earlier treaties themselves.
There is no cession of land and no boundary in the text. The page lists ratification on 26 December 1815. The text does not identify the war by name and says nothing about how the Piankashaw came to be at Portage des Sioux.
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 Piankashaw, 1815, Tribal Treaties Databaseperpetual peace and friendship between all the citizens of the United States of America and all the individuals composing the Piankishaw tribe or nation
Treaty with the Piankashaw, 1815, Tribal Treaties Databaserecognize, re-establish, and confirm, all and every treaty, contract, or agreement, heretofore concluded between the United States and the said Piankishaw tribe or nation
Treaty with the Piankashaw, 1815, Tribal Treaties DatabaseRatified, Dec. 26, 1815.
Treaty with the Piankashaw, 1815, Tribal Treaties Database
Research notes. The treaty does not restate the earlier treaties it confirms. The text does not name the war it follows. The spelling varies in the text (Piankishaw/Piankeshaw).
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:
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
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Sources
Sources
- treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-piankashaw-1815-0111reference work
July 18, 1815. | 7 Stat., 124. / scan: 111
Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.