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Treaty

Winnebago at Prairie du Chien, Michigan Territory (1829)

In 1829 the Winnebago ceded land between the Rock and Wisconsin rivers for $18,000 a year for thirty years plus goods.

Signed
August 1, 1829
Senate
Ratified
Land given up
about 2.7 million acres
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On August 1, 1829, commissioners John McNeil, Pierre Menard and Caleb Atwater signed a treaty for the United States at Prairie du Chien, in the Territory of Michigan. The other party was the Nation of Winnebaygo Indians.

In Article 1 the Winnebago ceded "all their right, title, and claim" to a stretch of country. It began on the Rock River at the mouth of the Pee-kee-tol-a-ka and ran up that stream and Sugar Creek. From there it went due north to the road from the Eastern Blue Mound to the portage of the Wisconsin and Fox rivers, then along the Fox and Wisconsin rivers to the U.S. reservation at the mouth of the Wisconsin.

The United States agreed to pay $18,000 a year in specie for thirty years and give $30,000 in goods as a present. Each year for thirty years it would deliver 3,000 pounds of tobacco and fifty barrels of salt. It would support three blacksmiths' shops for thirty years.

Article 4 says that, "at the request of the Indians," the United States would pay $23,532.28 to persons listed in a schedule. The sum was "in full satisfaction of the claims brought by said persons against said Indians." Article 5 granted sections of the ceded land to named descendants of the Winnebago, located "without the mineral country." Article 6 is marked "Not ratified by Senate." The Statutes at Large record a proclamation on January 2, 1830.

Summarized with AI assistance from 3 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. the sum of eighteen thousand dollars in specie, annually, for the period of thirty yearsTribal Treaties Database (OSU)
  2. in full satisfaction of the claims brought by said persons against said Indians, and by them acknowledged to be justly dueTribal Treaties Database (OSU)
  3. WinnebaygoStatutes at Large, vol. 7 (GovInfo)

Research notes. Acreage is not stated. The treaty's phrase "the mineral country" appears only in Article 5, so the ceded land is not called a lead-mining region here. The sources cited do not say the debt payments shaped the cession.

What the treaty did to the land

About 2.7 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.

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-winnebago-1829-0300reference work
    Aug. 1, 1829. | 7 Stat., 323. / scan: 300 TREATY WITH THE WINNEBAGO, 1829.

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