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Treaty

Delaware at Little Sandusky, Ohio (1829)

In 1829 a Delaware band on the Sandusky River ceded its three-mile-square Ohio reservation and agreed to move west for $3,000.

Signed
August 3, 1829
Senate
Ratified
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On August 3, 1829, John McElvain, authorized by the President, signed articles of agreement at Little Sandusky, Ohio, with a band of Delaware Indians on the Sandusky River. The agreement was for the cession of a reservation in Ohio.

The band ceded "the tract of three miles square, adjoining the Wyandot reservation upon the Sandusky river." That tract had been reserved for their use by the treaty of the Rapids of the Maumee, signed September 29, 1817. The band also engaged "to remove to and join their nation on the west side of the Mississippi, on the land allotted to them," on or before January 1 of the next year. On that date, "peaceable possession" of the reservation was to be given to the United States.

The United States agreed to pay $3,000. Two thousand dollars was paid in hand, and the other $1,000 was to buy horses, clothing, provisions and other useful articles to help them on their journey. The Statutes at Large record a proclamation on January 2, 1830.

The Kansas Historical Society's Kansapedia describes the Delaware nation as a whole. It says that by 1831, "after several relocations by the United States government," the Delaware were settled at the junction of the Kansas and Missouri rivers in present-day northeastern Kansas. It does not mention this Ohio band.

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. engage to remove to and join their nation on the west side of the MississippiTribal Treaties Database (OSU)
  2. By 1831, after several relocations by the United States government, the Delaware were settled at the junction of the Kansas and Missouri riversDelaware Indians (Kansapedia, Kansas Historical Society)
  3. band of Delaware IndiansStatutes at Large, vol. 7 (GovInfo)

Research notes. The treaty describes duress nowhere. Kansapedia speaks of the Delaware nation, not this band. Acreage: the text says three miles square.

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. 1817

    Land kept

    Land set aside as a reservation for the Delaware (band on Sandusky river)

    By Treaty of the Maumee Rapids (Rapids of the Miami of Lake Erie), 1817

    area 150

  2. 1829

    This treaty

    Land ceded to the United States by the Delaware (band on Sandusky river)

    In 1829 a Delaware band on the Sandusky River ceded its three-mile-square Ohio reservation and agreed to move west for $3,000.

Who is doing the work today

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Sources

  1. treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-delawares-1829-0303reference work
    Aug. 3, 1829. | 7 Stat., 326. / scan: 303

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