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Treaty

Sauk at Portage des Sioux (1815)

A Sauk band on the Missouri River confirmed the 1804 cession and promised to stay apart from the Rock River Sauk.

Signed
September 13, 1815
Senate
Ratified
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On September 13, 1815, commissioners William Clark, Ninian Edwards and Auguste Chouteau signed a treaty of peace at Portage des Sioux with chiefs and warriors of the part of the Sac nation living on the Missouri River. The preamble says this group had "found themselves compelled," when the war began, to separate from the rest of the nation and move to the Missouri, where they had remained loyal to the United States.

In Article 1 they "assent to the treaty" of November 3, 1804, between the United States and the united Sacs and Foxes, and promise to re-establish and enforce it. In Article 2 they promised to remain "distinct and separate from the Sacs of Rock river" and to give them no aid until those Sacs made peace. In return the United States promised them the rights set out in the 1804 treaty and a just share of its annuities.

A history from Before Knox says many Sauk and Meskwaki, including Black Hawk, considered the 1804 treaty void because it was "signed in the absence of important leaders and without the consent of the Tribal Council." This band's confirmation did not settle that dispute. The Sauk of Rock River signed their own confirmation of the 1804 treaty in 1816, which the atlas records separately.

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. do hereby assent to the treaty between the United States of America and the united tribes of Sacs and FoxesTreaty with the Sauk, 1815 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  2. remain distinct and separate from the Sacs of Rock riverTreaty with the Sauk, 1815 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  3. was signed in the absence of important leaders and without the consent of the Tribal CouncilThe Black Hawk War and Treaties (Before Knox)
  4. do hereby unconditionally assent to recognize, re-establish, and confirm the treatyTreaty with the Sauk, 1816 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)

Research notes. This is a confirmation by one band, not a new cession. The Before Knox statement concerns the 1804 treaty, not this one, and gives Black Hawk's view only through that account. No acreage is involved.

What the treaty did to the land

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. 1804

    Land lost

    About 16 million acres ceded to the United States by the Sauk and Fox

    By Treaty of St. Louis with the Sauk and Fox, 1804

    area 50 area 51

  2. 1815

    This treaty

    Earlier terms confirmed for the land of the Sauk and Fox

    A Sauk band on the Missouri River confirmed the 1804 cession and promised to stay apart from the Rock River Sauk.

  3. 1815

    Land record

    Earlier terms confirmed for the land of the Sauk and Fox

    By Fox at Portage des Sioux (1815)

    area 50 area 51

  4. 1816

    Land record

    Earlier terms confirmed for the land of the Sauk and Fox

    By Treaty of St. Louis with the Sauk of Rock River, 1816

    area 50 area 51

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-sauk-1815-0120reference work
    Sept. 13, 1815. | 7 Stat., 134. / scan: 120 TREATY WITH THE SAUK, 1815.

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