Winnebago at Washington, DC (1846)

What happened

On October 13, 1846, Albion K. Parris, John J. Abert and T. P. Andrews, commissioners for the United States, signed a treaty at Washington with a delegation of the Winnebago tribe. In Article 2 the Winnebago ceded and sold to the United States all right, title and claim to all lands, wherever situated, that they then or formerly occupied or claimed within the States and Territories. This included especially the "neutral ground" assigned to them by the 1832 treaty of Fort Armstrong.

In Article 3 the United States agreed to purchase and give them as a home a tract north of the St. Peters and west of the Mississippi rivers, of not less than 800,000 acres, if the land could be obtained on just and reasonable terms. In Article 4 it agreed to pay $150,000 for the land and $40,000 for release of hunting privileges, $190,000 in all. Of that, $85,000 stayed in trust at five per cent for thirty years. No money was to be paid until the tribe arrived at its new home. Article 5 had them remove within one year after ratification and after the new home was procured. The treaty was proclaimed on February 4, 1847.

The Minnesota Historical Society says the Ho-Chunk had asked to be moved because settlers were pushing onto the Iowa reservation, and the 1846 treaty was drafted to accommodate their request. It says that in 1848 the U.S. government removed them to Long Prairie, and that the Ho-Chunk insisted the land "was not chosen by them, but forced on them."

Good to know. MNopedia calls October 13, 1846 the ratification date, but that is the signing date; the treaty was proclaimed February 4, 1847. The 800,000-acre home was promised only if land could be had on just and reasonable terms.

Summarized with AI assistance from 5 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error