Quapaw at New Gascony, Arkansas Territory (1833)
In 1833 the Quapaw, after a failed move to the Red River, were promised 150 sections near the Missouri line.
- Signed
- May 13, 1833
- Senate
- Ratified
- Land set aside for the nations
- about 98,000 acres
What happened
What happened
On May 13, 1833, John F. Schermerhorn, commissioner of Indian affairs west, signed a treaty at New Gascony, Arkansas Territory, with the chiefs and warriors of the Quapaw. The preamble recalls the 1824 treaty, under which the Quapaw ceded their Arkansas lands and were "to be concentrated and confined to a district of country inhabited by the Caddo Indians."
It says they did move and settled on Bayou Treache on the Red River, on land the Caddo gave them. But the tract was "subject to frequent inundations," their crops were "destroyed by the water year after year," and "nearly one-fourth of their people died." The Caddo refused to take them in as part of their tribe. The Quapaw "saw no alternative but to perish if they continued there," and chose to return to the Arkansas. There, settlers had taken their "little improvements."
In Article 1 they relinquished the Red River lands. In Article 2 the United States agreed to convey 150 sections of land west of the Missouri state line, between the Seneca and Shawnee lands, "to provide a permanent home for their nation." It would remove them at its expense, with a year's provisions, stock, tools and a farmer and blacksmith. It would pay their debts of $4,180 and $2,000 a year for twenty years.
The Encyclopedia of Arkansas says this was 150 sections (96,000 acres), and that many Quapaw did not go to the new reservation. It says most of the Quapaw Nation lives in northeastern Oklahoma today.
Good to know. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas converts the treaty's 150 sections to 96,000 acres. The account of why the Red River move failed is the treaty's 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.
in order to provide a permanent home for their nation
Tribal Treaties Database (OSU)as they saw no alternative but to perish if they continued there
Tribal Treaties Database (OSU)Today, most of the Quapaw Nation resides in northeastern Oklahoma
Quapaw, Encyclopedia of Arkansas
Research notes. The preamble is the treaty's own account of why the Red River move failed. The treaty gives sections only; the Encyclopedia of Arkansas gives the same 150 sections as 96,000 acres.
What the treaty did to the land
About 98,000 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.
set aside as a reservationabout 73,000 acres
Reservation of the Kaskaskia, Mixed Seneka and others in Oklahoma (area 505)
The rest of the Quapaw's 150-section reserve granted in 1833, kept by the Quapaw as their home in 1867; the 1899 federal record lists no cession.
set aside as a reservationabout 24,000 acres
Land of the Kaskaskia, Mixed Seneka and others in Oklahoma, ceded 1867 (area 504)
The west end of the Quapaw reserve granted in 1833, ceded by the Quapaw in 1867 and granted to the Peoria and associated tribes.
set aside as a reservation
Land of the Kaskaskia, Mixed Seneka and others in Kansas, ceded 1867 (area 503)
A half-mile strip in Kansas off the north line of the Quapaw's 150-section reserve, granted in 1833, ceded by the Quapaw in the 1867 treaty.
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
Land record
About 24,000 acres named in the record
By Seneca and Shawnee at Seneca Agency, Headwaters, Cowskin River (1832)
- 1833
This treaty
About 98,000 acres set aside as a reservation for the Kaskaskia, Mixed Seneka and others
In 1833 the Quapaw, after a failed move to the Red River, were promised 150 sections near the Missouri line.
- 1867
Land record
Earlier terms confirmed for the land of the Kaskaskia, Mixed Seneka and others
By Seneca; Mixed Seneca and Shawnee; Quapaw; Confederated Peoria, Kaskaskia, Wea, and Piankashaw; Miami; Ottawa; and Wyandot at Washington, DC (1867)
- 1867
Land lost
About 24,000 acres ceded to the United States by the Kaskaskia, Mixed Seneka and others
By Seneca; Mixed Seneca and Shawnee; Quapaw; Confederated Peoria, Kaskaskia, Wea, and Piankashaw; Miami; Ottawa; and Wyandot at Washington, DC (1867)
- 1867
Land kept
About 24,000 acres set aside as a reservation for the Kaskaskia, Mixed Seneka and others
By Seneca; Mixed Seneca and Shawnee; Quapaw; Confederated Peoria, Kaskaskia, Wea, and Piankashaw; Miami; Ottawa; and Wyandot at Washington, DC (1867)
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-quapaw-1833-0395reference work
May 13, 1833. | 7 Stat., 424. / scan: 395
Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.