Shawnee at St. Louis (1825)
In 1825 the Shawnee in Missouri ceded their Cape Girardeau land for a tract west of Missouri and $14,000, a step in their removal.
- Signed
- November 7, 1825
- Senate
- Ratified
- Land given up
- about 364,000 acres
- Land set aside for the nations
- about 1.8 million acres
What happened
What happened
On November 7, 1825, William Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, signed a convention at St. Louis with chiefs and head men of the Shawnee Nation residing in Missouri. The preamble tells a history. The Shawnee had settled near Cape Girardeau under a permission from the Spanish government, given to the Shawnees and Delawares on January 4, 1793. The Delawares abandoned the tract in 1815. The Shawnees, "under an assurance of receiving other lands in exchange, did remove," after making valuable improvements that "were taken possession of by the citizens of the United States."
In Article 1 the Shawnee ceded their claim to the land between the River St. Come and Cape Girardeau. In Article 2 the United States agreed to give them, and Shawnee in Ohio who might move west, a tract west of Missouri within the land bought from the Osage in June 1825. The text calls it "fifty (50) miles square," but its boundaries are 25 miles by 100 miles. The United States also agreed to pay $14,000 for losses and the costs of removal.
The Kansas Historical Society says the Shawnee near Cape Girardeau "were removed from their homes by the United States government" and given land south of the Kansas River. It says relocation began in 1826 and the reservation covered 1.6 million acres.
Summarized with AI assistance from 2 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
Supported by the sources below; some details rest on one source.
from which the said Shawnees, under an assurance of receiving other lands in exchange, did remove
Tribal Treaties Database (OSU)were removed from their homes by the United States government and given a tract of land south of the Kansas River
Shawnee Indians (Kansapedia, Kansas Historical Society)
Research notes. The treaty text says the tract equals fifty miles square (2,500 square miles) but its boundaries give 25 by 100 miles (also 2,500 square miles). Kansapedia gives 1.6 million acres, consistent with that area. Kansapedia is the only source for the 1826 relocation.
What the treaty did to the land
About 364,000 acres given up. about 1.8 million acres recognized, kept or set aside for the nations. Each shape is a numbered area in the federal government’s 1899 record of land cessions.
set aside as a reservationabout 1.3 million acres
Land of the Shawnee in Kansas, ceded 1854 (area 318)
Given to the Shawnee of Missouri as Kansas land in 1825, then ceded in the 1854 treaty, except 200,000 acres granted back to them.
Linked to this treatyabout 1.2 million acres
Land of the Shawnee nation residing in Missouri in Missouri, recorded 1825 (area 126)
set aside as a reservationabout 501,000 acres
Land of the Shawnee in Kansas, ceded 1854 (area 319)
Given to the Shawnee of Missouri as Kansas land in 1825 and ceded in 1854; this part was set aside for allotments to absent Shawnee and later sold to settlers.
ceded to the United Statesabout 364,000 acres
Land of the Shawnee nation residing in Missouri in Missouri, ceded 1825 (area 125)
Ceded by the Shawnee in November 1825 (the Cape Girardeau tract); the Delaware, who shared the Spanish grant, ceded their claim in 1829, and the 1832 Castor Hill treaty covered it again.
Linked to this treatyabout 48,000 acres
Land of the Shawnee in Kansas, recorded 1825 (area 320)
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.
- 1825
This treaty
About 1.8 million acres set aside as a reservation for the Shawnee. About 364,000 acres ceded to the United States by the Shawnee nation residing in Missouri
In 1825 the Shawnee in Missouri ceded their Cape Girardeau land for a tract west of Missouri and $14,000, a step in their removal.
- 1829
Land lost
Part of the land ceded by the Shawnee nation residing in Missouri
By Delaware at White River, Missouri (1829)
- 1832
Land record
Earlier terms confirmed for the land of the Shawnee nation residing in Missouri
By Shawnee and Delaware at Castor Hill, Missouri (1832)
- 1854
Land lost
About 1.8 million acres ceded to the United States by the Shawnee
By Shawnee at Washington, DC (1854)
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
- 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-shawnee-1825-0262reference work
Nov. 7, 1825. | 7 Stat., 284.
Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.