Chippewa (Saginaw Band) at Detroit, Michigan (1837)
In 1837 the Saginaw Chippewa ceded tracts the treaty puts at 102,400 acres and agreed to leave Michigan once a new home was found.
- Signed
- January 14, 1837
- Senate
- Ratified
- Land given up
- about 178,000 acres
What happened
What happened
On January 14, 1837, Henry R. Schoolcraft, commissioner for the United States, signed a treaty at Detroit with the Saganaw (Saginaw) tribe of the Chippewa nation, through their chiefs and delegates assembled in council. In Article 1 the tribe ceded fifteen named tracts in Michigan, from 640 acres to 40,000 acres, on rivers including the Au Sable, Flint, Cass, Shiawassee and Saginaw. The treaty states the whole contains 102,400 acres, more or less.
Under Article 3 the lands were to be surveyed and sold like other public lands. The net proceeds, after set-aside sums, were to be invested in public stock for the tribe. Article 4 set aside sums from the fund, including $40,000 for debts since the Treaty of Ghent and $10,000 for schools. Article 2 let the tribe live on two of the tracts for five years, with white settlers barred on penalty of $500.
In Article 6 the tribe agreed to remove from the State of Michigan as soon as a proper location could be obtained. A deputation would view country west of the western tip of Lake Superior, and if that failed the United States would help them get a location west of the Mississippi. The costs were to be repaid from land proceeds. Notes on the page say parts of Articles 4 to 6 were later abrogated or revised by a December 20, 1837 treaty. The treaty was proclaimed on July 2, 1838.
Good to know. The treaty states 102,400 acres, but its fifteen listed tracts add up to 99,400 acres.
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.
The whole containing one hundred and two thousand four hundred acres, be the same more or less
Treaty with the Chippewa, 1837 (OSU Tribal Treaties Database)The said tribe agrees to remove from the State of Michigan, as soon as a proper location can be obtained
Treaty with the Chippewa, 1837 (OSU Tribal Treaties Database)The said tribe agrees to remove from the State of Michi
Treaty with the Chippewa, 7 Stat. 528 (govinfo)
Research notes. The fifteen listed tracts add up to 99,400 acres by simple addition, not the 102,400 the treaty states. Notes on the OSU page mark parts of Articles 4, 5 and 6 as abrogated or revised by a December 20, 1837 treaty. The cited sources do not describe what happened afterward.
What the treaty did to the land
About 178,000 acres given up. Each shape is a numbered area in the federal government’s 1899 record of land cessions.
ceded to the United Statesabout 22,000 acres
Land of the Chippewa, Saginaw tribe in Michigan, ceded 1837 (area 228)
Kept by the Saginaw Chippewa as 2,000 acres on the Rifle River in the 1819 Treaty of Saginaw, then ceded to the United States in the 1837 Detroit treaty.
ceded to the United Statesabout 22,000 acres
Land of the Chippewa, Saginaw tribe in Michigan, ceded 1837 (area 229)
Kept by the Saginaw Chippewa as 6,000 acres on the north side of the Kawkawlin River at their village in 1819, then ceded to the United States in the 1837 Detroit treaty.
ceded to the United Statesabout 22,000 acres
Land of the Chippewa, Saginaw tribe in Michigan, ceded 1837 (area 230)
Kept by the Saginaw Chippewa as 5,760 acres on the Flint River, including Reaum's village, in 1819, then ceded to the United States in the 1837 Detroit treaty.
ceded to the United Statesabout 22,000 acres
Land of the Chippewa, Saginaw tribe in Michigan, ceded 1837 (area 231)
Kept by the Saginaw Chippewa as 8,000 acres at the head of the Cass (once Huron) River in 1819, then ceded to the United States in the 1837 Detroit treaty.
ceded to the United Statesabout 22,000 acres
Land of the Chippewa, Saginaw tribe in Michigan, ceded 1837 (area 233)
Kept by the Saginaw Chippewa as 2,000 acres at Nababish on the Saginaw River in 1819, then ceded to the United States in the 1837 Detroit treaty.
ceded to the United Statesabout 22,000 acres
Land of the Chippewa, Saginaw tribe in Michigan, ceded 1837 (area 237)
Kept by the Saginaw Chippewa for their own use when they ceded land in the 1819 Treaty of Saginaw, then ceded to the United States in the 1837 Detroit treaty.
ceded to the United Statesabout 22,000 acres
Land of the Chippewa, Saginaw tribe in Michigan, ceded 1837 (area 238)
Kept by the Saginaw Chippewa for their own use when they ceded land in the 1819 Treaty of Saginaw, then ceded to the United States in the 1837 Detroit treaty.
ceded to the United Statesabout 22,000 acres
Land of the Chippewa, Saginaw tribe in Michigan, ceded 1837 (area 240)
Kept by the Saginaw Chippewa for their own use when they ceded land in the 1819 Treaty of Saginaw, then ceded to the United States in the 1837 Detroit treaty.
ceded to the United States
Land of the Chippewa, Saginaw tribe in Michigan, ceded 1837 (area 227)
Kept by the Saginaw Chippewa as 8,000 acres on the Au Sable River in the 1819 Treaty of Saginaw, then ceded to the United States in the 1837 Detroit treaty.
ceded to the United States
Land of the Chippewa, Saginaw tribe in Michigan, ceded 1837 (area 232)
Kept by the Saginaw Chippewa as an island in Saginaw Bay, about 1,000 acres, in 1819, then ceded to the United States in the 1837 Detroit treaty.
ceded to the United States
Land of the Chippewa, Saginaw tribe in Michigan, ceded 1837 (area 234)
Kept by the Saginaw Chippewa for their own use when they ceded land in the 1819 Treaty of Saginaw, then ceded to the United States in the 1837 Detroit treaty.
ceded to the United States
Land of the Chippewa, Saginaw tribe in Michigan, ceded 1837 (area 235)
Kept by the Saginaw Chippewa for their own use when they ceded land in the 1819 Treaty of Saginaw, then ceded to the United States in the 1837 Detroit treaty.
ceded to the United States
Land of the Chippewa, Saginaw tribe in Michigan, ceded 1837 (area 236)
Kept by the Saginaw Chippewa for their own use when they ceded land in the 1819 Treaty of Saginaw, then ceded to the United States in the 1837 Detroit treaty.
ceded to the United States
Land of the Chippewa, Saginaw tribe in Michigan, ceded 1837 (area 239)
Kept by the Saginaw Chippewa for their own use when they ceded land in the 1819 Treaty of Saginaw, then ceded to the United States in the 1837 Detroit treaty.
ceded to the United States
Land of the Chippewa, Saginaw tribe in Michigan, ceded 1837 (area 241)
Kept by the Saginaw Chippewa for their own use when they ceded land in the 1819 Treaty of Saginaw, then ceded to the United States in the 1837 Detroit 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.
- 1819
- 1837
This treaty
About 178,000 acres ceded to the United States by the Chippewa, Saginaw tribe
In 1837 the Saginaw Chippewa ceded tracts the treaty puts at 102,400 acres and agreed to leave Michigan once a new home was found.
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:
- Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians of the Bad River Reservation, Wisconsin
- Bay Mills Indian Community
- Chippewa Cree Indians of the Rocky Boy's Reservation, Montana
- Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Michigan
- Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin
- Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
- Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Michigan
- Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana
Working with these nations
- Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) Nation government Ojibwe treaty rights in ceded territories, natural resource stewardship, manoomin, and a Land Conservancy program… Give on their site Website
- Honor the Earth Native-led Pipeline resistance, sovereignty, energy justice Give on their site Website
- White Earth Land Recovery Project (WELRP) Native-led Recover the original White Earth reservation land base Give on their site Website
- Native Land Conservancy (Massachusetts) Native-led Native-led land conservation Give on their site Website
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-chippewa-1837-0482reference work
Treaty with the Chippewa, 1837 Jan. 14, 1837. | 7 Stat., 528.
Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.