Black Hawk Purchase (Treaty of Fort Armstrong), 1832
After the Black Hawk War, the Sac and Fox ceded a Mississippi frontier tract in 1832, keeping 400 square miles, for annuities.
- Signed
- September 21, 1832
- Senate
- Ratified February 13, 1833
- Land given up
- about 5.4 million acres
- Land set aside for the nations
- about 276,000 acres
What happened
What happened
On September 21, 1832, Major General Winfield Scott and Illinois Governor John Reynolds signed a treaty of peace, friendship and cession at Fort Armstrong, Rock Island, Illinois. The other party was the confederated tribes of Sac and Fox, represented in general council. The treaty text does not use the name Black Hawk Purchase.
The preamble says "a formidable band" of the Sac and Fox nation had left their country in April and begun "an unprovoked war" on citizens of the United States. It says the United States had "subdued the said hostile band." The United States then demanded, "partly as indemnity for the expense incurred, and partly to secure the future safety and tranquillity of the invaded frontier," a cession "more than proportional to the numbers of the hostile band."
Article 1 ceded a tract along the Mississippi, described by boundaries but with no stated acreage. Article 2 reserved 400 square miles for the tribes, around Keokuck's principal village on the Ioway River. The United States agreed to pay $20,000 a year in specie for thirty years, to maintain a smith's shop, and to pay the traders Farnham and Davenport $40,000 for debts the tribes had acknowledged.
Article 7 says Black Hawk, his sons, the Prophet and others would be held as hostages "for the future good conduct of the late hostile bands." The Statutes at Large record a proclamation on February 13, 1833.
Good to know. The preamble's account of the Black Hawk War is the United States' own.
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.
partly as indemnity for the expense incurred, and partly to secure the future safety and tranquillity of the invaded frontier
Tribal Treaties Database (OSU)shall be held as hostages for the future good conduct of the late hostile bands
Tribal Treaties Database (OSU)Sac and Fox
Statutes at Large, vol. 7 (GovInfo)
Research notes. The page describes the cession's boundaries but states no acreage. The only account of the war cited is the treaty's preamble, which is the United States' own.
What the treaty did to the land
About 5.4 million acres given up. about 276,000 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.
ceded to the United Statesabout 5.4 million acres
Land of the Sauk and Fox in Iowa, ceded 1832 (area 175)
Ceded by the Sauk and Fox in 1832, the land in Iowa known as the Black Hawk Purchase.
set aside as a reservationabout 276,000 acres
Land of the Sauk and Fox in Iowa, ceded 1836 (area 226)
Set aside for the Sauk and Fox as a 400-square-mile reserve in Iowa, called Keokuk's reserve, in the 1832 treaty, then ceded in September 1836.
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.
- 1832
This treaty
About 5.4 million acres ceded to the United States by the Sauk and Fox. About 276,000 acres set aside as a reservation for the Sauk and Fox
After the Black Hawk War, the Sac and Fox ceded a Mississippi frontier tract in 1832, keeping 400 square miles, for annuities.
- 1833
This treaty
Ratified by the Senate
- 1836
Land lost
About 276,000 acres ceded to the United States by the Sauk and Fox
By Sauk and Fox at Treaty Ground on the Mississippi Opposite Rock Island, Dubuque County, Wisconsin Territory (1836)
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:
- Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa
- Sac & Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska
- Sac & Fox Nation, Oklahoma
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
- digitreaties.org/treaties/treaty/176534051reference work
Research notes
$640,000 payment (~$0.11/acre) per Wikipedia (pointer). Ratification detail: 1833-02-13 (proclaimed; Senate-consent date not located)
Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.