Pawnee (Grand Pawnee, Pawnee Loups, Pawnee Republicans, and Pawnee Tappage) at Fort Childs Near the Head of Grand Island on the South Side of the Nebraska or Great Platte River (1848)

What happened

On August 6, 1848, Lieutenant-Colonel Ludwell E. Powell, commanding a battalion of Missouri Mounted Volunteers on its way to Oregon, signed an agreement at Fort Childs. The fort was near the head of Grand Island on the south side of the Platte River. He signed in behalf of the United States. The other parties were the chiefs and head-men of the four confederated Pawnee bands, the Grand Pawnees, Pawnee Loups, Pawnee Republicans and Pawnee Tappage, then living south of the Platte.

In Article 1 the bands ceded all their right, title and interest in a tract starting on the south side of the Platte five miles west of the fort. It ran north to the crest of the bluffs, east along the bluffs to the end of Grand Island, supposed to be about sixty miles, south to the river, and west along the river back to the start. The treaty states no acreage. Article 2 says the United States had that day paid $2,000 in goods and merchandise, through Captain Stewart Van Vliet, and that the bands acknowledged receipt.

Article 3 gave the United States the privilege of using hard timber on Wood River. In Article 4 the Pawnee renewed assurances of friendship and promised not to molest white citizens. The treaty was binding from signing and was ratified on January 8, 1849. The text does not describe the council, and the sources used here do not say what followed.

Summarized with AI assistance from 3 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error