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Treaty

Apalachicola at Pope's, Fayette County, Florida Territory (1833)

In 1833 Apalachicola chiefs gave up their river reservations; those who stayed would lose U.S. protection once the Seminoles left.

Signed
June 18, 1833
Senate
Ratified
Land given up
about 26,000 acres
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On June 18, 1833, commissioner James Gadsden signed a treaty at Pope's, Fayette County, Florida Territory, for the United States. The other parties were chiefs and warriors of the Apalachicola, including Mulatto King and Tustenuggy Hajo. The text says they "voluntarily relinquish" the privileges they held under the 1823 treaty at Camp Moultrie. They surrendered their reservation on the Apalachicola River. A parallel agreement the same day gave up the Chattahoochee reservation of Econchatimico.

In Article 2 the United States agreed to convey by patent, within three years, a section and a half of land to each of the two chiefs, and three sections to Econchatimico. They could sell the land and move with the consent of the Florida Territory's executive. But "should they remain on their lands," the United States would, once Blunt's band and the Seminoles had migrated, "withdraw the immediate protection hitherto extended" to them. The chiefs would then become "subject to the government and laws of the territory of Florida."

Article 3 continued their share of a $5,000 annuity while the Seminoles remained in the territory. Article 4 offered an alternative. If they chose to join the Seminoles in the Arkansas country by surrendering their grants, the United States would pay $3,000 for the relinquished reservation.

The Statutes at Large record a proclamation on April 12, 1834. The treaty states no acreage for the reservations.

Good to know. The treaty says the chiefs gave up their rights voluntarily; reading the loss of protection as pressure is an inference, not a sourced statement.

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

Supported by the sources below; some details rest on one source.

  1. will so soon as Blunt's band and the Seminoles generally have migrated under the stipulations of the treaties concluded with them, withdraw the immediate protectionTribal Treaties Database (OSU)
  2. voluntarily relinquish all the privileges to which they are entitled as parties to a treaty concluded at Camp MoultrieTribal Treaties Database (OSU)
  3. voluntarily relinquish all the privileges to which they are entitledStatutes at Large, vol. 7 (GovInfo)

Research notes. The treaty says the chiefs relinquished their rights voluntarily; the loss of protection if they stayed is a term of the text, and whether it was meant as pressure is an inference, not a sourced statement. The reservations' acreage is not stated.

What the treaty did to the land

About 26,000 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.

  1. 1823

    Land kept

    About 26,000 acres set aside as a reservation for the Appalachicola band and Certain chiefs in Florida

    By Treaty of Moultrie Creek (Florida tribes), 1823

    area 184 area 185

  2. 1833

    This treaty

    About 26,000 acres ceded to the United States by the Appalachicola band and Certain chiefs in Florida

    In 1833 Apalachicola chiefs gave up their river reservations; those who stayed would lose U.S. protection once the Seminoles left.

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-appalachicola-band-1833-0398reference work
    Treaty with the Appalachicola Band, 1833 June 18, 1833. | 7 Stat., 427.

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