Delaware at White River, Missouri (1829)
In 1829 the Delaware agreed to leave Missouri for the fork of the Kansas and Missouri rivers, with a $1,000 added annuity and supplies.
- Signed
- September 24, 1829
- Senate
- Ratified
- Land given up
- about 2.3 million acres
- Promises
- 1 of 1 broken or only partly kept
What happened
What happened
On September 24, 1829, a supplementary article to the Delaware treaty of October 3, 1818, made at St. Mary's in Ohio, was agreed at the White River in Missouri. The 1818 treaty had provided that the United States would find the Delaware a country west of the Mississippi as their permanent residence.
The supplementary article says the Delaware Nation "are now willing to remove, on the following conditions, from the country on James fork of White river in the State of Missouri." They would go to the country in the fork of the Kansas and Missouri rivers. That country extended up the Kansas River to the Kansas line and up the Missouri to Camp Leavenworth. The United States pledged "the faith of the government" to guarantee them quiet possession of it forever.
The United States agreed to furnish forty horses, six wagons and ox-teams, tools, provisions for the journey and for a year after arrival, and a grist and saw mill. It would pay an added permanent annuity of $1,000 for their full relinquishment of the Missouri country. Thirty-six sections of the best land there were to be sold for a schools fund.
The article was "concluded in part only." A chief or warrior from each town would explore the country, and sign if they approved. The proclamation was on March 24, 1831. Kansapedia says that by 1831 the Delaware were settled at the junction of the Kansas and Missouri rivers.
What was promised, and what happened
- Broken
The country at the fork of the Kansas and Missouri rivers would be secured to the Delaware forever. (Supplementary article)
the Delaware were forced to give up their reservation in Kansas and relocate to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma).
kansashistory.gov
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.
are now willing to remove, on the following conditions, from the country on James fork of White river in the State of Missouri
Tribal Treaties Database (OSU)shall be conveyed and forever secured by the United States, to the said Delaware Nation, as their permanent residence
Tribal Treaties Database (OSU)By 1831, after several relocations by the United States government, the Delaware were settled at the junction of the Kansas and Missouri rivers
Delaware Indians (Kansapedia, Kansas Historical Society)
Research notes. The article was concluded only in part pending exploration. No acreage is stated.
What the treaty did to the land
About 2.3 million acres given up. Each shape is a numbered area in the federal government’s 1899 record of land cessions.
ceded to the United Statesabout 1.9 million acres
Land of the Delaware [supplemental to treaty of Oct. 3, 1818] in Missouri, ceded 1829 (area 150a)
Chosen for the Delaware on the James Fork of the White River, southwestern Missouri, under the 1818 treaty; ceded in September 1829 and covered again by the 1832 Castor Hill treaty.
partly 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.
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
Land lost
About 364,000 acres ceded to the United States by the Shawnee nation residing in Missouri
By Shawnee at St. Louis (1825)
- 1829
This treaty
About 1.9 million acres ceded to the United States by the Delaware [supplemental to treaty of Oct. 3, 1818]. Part of the land ceded by the Shawnee nation residing in Missouri
In 1829 the Delaware agreed to leave Missouri for the fork of the Kansas and Missouri rivers, with a $1,000 added annuity and supplies.
- 1832
Land record
Earlier terms confirmed for the land of the Delaware [supplemental to treaty of Oct. 3, 1818] and Shawnee nation residing in Missouri
By Shawnee and Delaware at Castor Hill, Missouri (1832)
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:
Working with these nations
- Stockbridge-Munsee Community (Band of Mohican Indians) Nation government 372 acres on Monument Mountain's north slope (finalized Apr 2025; $2.5M, $2.26M state grant)
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-delawares-1829-0304reference work
Sept. 24, 1829. | 7 Stat., 327. / scan: 304
Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.