Wyandot at Council House, Upper Sandusky, Ohio (1842)
In 1842 the Wyandot ceded their last Ohio and Michigan lands for a perpetual annuity and a 148,000-acre tract west of the Mississippi.
- Signed
- March 17, 1842
- Senate
- Ratified
- Land given up
- about 185,000 acres
- Land set aside for the nations
- about 24,000 acres
What happened
What happened
On March 17, 1842, John Johnston, a commissioner appointed under President Tyler, signed a treaty at Upper Sandusky, Ohio, with the chiefs, counsellors and head-men of the Wyandott Nation in full council. In Article 1 the Wyandot ceded the residue of their large reserve in Crawford County, Ohio, all their remaining lands in the state, containing 109,144 acres more or less. They also ceded the Wyandotte Reserve in Michigan, 4,996 acres.
In return the United States granted a tract of 148,000 acres west of the Mississippi River, promised a perpetual annuity of $17,500 in specie, and agreed to pay the full value of their improvements. It also agreed to pay $23,860 of their debts to citizens, support a blacksmith, a sub-agent and an interpreter, and a school at $500 a year. Article 13 has the chiefs agree to remove their whole people west of the Mississippi.
The Wyandot Nation of Kansas says Johnston was sent as agent in 1841 and "firmly believed that removal was in the Wyandot's best interest." It says that after the murder of a Wyandot chief and two others in a hunting party in fall 1841, with no punishment, the Wyandot "realized that they could no longer stay in Ohio." On March 17, 1842, it says, the Wyandot voted to accept most of Johnston's proposals. The nation's history says 664 people left the Grand Reserve on July 12, 1843. The treaty was proclaimed on October 5, 1842.
Good to know. The account of the 1841 killings is the Wyandot Nation of Kansas's own; the treaty text does not mention them. The treaty did not fix where the 148,000-acre tract would be.
Summarized with AI assistance from 5 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 chiefs of the Wyandott Nation hereby agree to remove their whole people to the west of the Mississippi River
Treaty with the Wyandot, 1842 (OSU Tribal Treaties Database)The United States agree to pay the Wyandott Nation a perpetual annuity of seventeen thousand five hundred dollars in specie
Treaty with the Wyandot, 1842 (OSU Tribal Treaties Database)On March 17, 1842, the Wyandot voted to accept most of Johnston’s proposals.
Removal (The Wyandot Nation of Kansas)They left the Grand Reserve on July 12, 1843.
Removal (The Wyandot Nation of Kansas)one hundred and forty-eight thousand acres
Treaty with the Wyandot, 11 Stat. 581 (govinfo)
Research notes. The Wyandot Nation of Kansas page is the nation's own account and is quoted as its view; the treaty text does not mention the 1841 killings. The 148,000-acre tract was "to be located" on lands the United States would set apart, so its location was not fixed in the treaty. The 1850 Wyandot treaty is a separate entry and is not described here.
What the treaty did to the land
About 185,000 acres given up. about 24,000 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 185,000 acres
Land of the Wyandot in Ohio, ceded 1842 (area 259)
Granted to the Wyandot at Upper Sandusky, Ohio, in 1817 and enlarged in 1818; what remained was ceded in the 1842 treaty.
recognized as Native landabout 24,000 acres
Land of the Delaware and Wyandot in Kansas, ceded 1855 (area 263)
Promised to the Wyandot as 148,000 acres west of the Mississippi in 1842, never delivered; they bought 39 sections from the Delaware in 1843 and ceded that tract in 1855.
ceded to the United States
Land of the Wyandot in Michigan, ceded 1842 (area 260)
Set aside for the Wyandot on the Huron River in Michigan in 1818, then ceded in the 1842 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.
- 1817
Land kept
About 185,000 acres set aside as a reservation for the Wyandot
By Treaty of the Maumee Rapids (Rapids of the Miami of Lake Erie), 1817
- 1818
Land kept
About 185,000 acres set aside as a reservation for the Wyandot
By Wyandot, Seneca, Shawnee, and Ottawa at St. Mary's, Ohio (1818)
- 1818
- 1842
This treaty
About 185,000 acres ceded to the United States by the Wyandot. About 24,000 acres recognized as land of the Delaware and Wyandot
In 1842 the Wyandot ceded their last Ohio and Michigan lands for a perpetual annuity and a 148,000-acre tract west of the Mississippi.
- 1843
Land record
About 24,000 acres named in the record
The 1899 record: “By the terms of this agreement the Wyandot purchased of the Delawares 39 sections off the E. end of their reserve on Kansas river”
- 1850
- 1855
Land lost
About 24,000 acres ceded to the United States by the Delaware and Wyandot
By Wyandot at Washington, DC (1855)
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-wyandot-1842-0534reference work
Treaty with the Wyandot, 1842 Mar. 17, 1842 | 11 Stat., 581.
Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.