Menominee at Lake Powawhaykonnay, Wisconsin (1848)
In 1848 the Menominee sold all their Wisconsin lands for $350,000 and a promised western home; an 1854 treaty gave them Wolf River instead.
- Signed
- October 18, 1848
- Senate
- Ratified
- Land given up
- about 2.6 million acres
- Land set aside for the nations
- about 805,000 acres
- Promises
- 1 of 1 broken or only partly kept
What happened
What happened
On October 18, 1848, William Medill, commissioner for the United States, signed a treaty at Lake Powawhaykonnay, Wisconsin, with the Menomonee (Menominee) tribe, through its chiefs, headmen and warriors. In Article 2 the tribe ceded, sold and relinquished to the United States all their lands in the State of Wisconsin, wherever situated. The treaty states no acreage.
In Article 3 the United States gave them as a home the country the Chippewa had ceded in the August 2 and August 21, 1847 treaties that was not assigned to the Winnebago, guaranteed to contain not less than 600,000 acres. In Article 4 it agreed to pay $350,000. That included $30,000 to the chiefs to prepare for removal, $40,000 to persons of mixed blood, and $20,000 each for removal and a year's subsistence, in return for the tribe moving and feeding itself at no further cost to the United States. Article 8 let them stay on the ceded lands for two years, until the President gave notice.
A later treaty records what happened to the plan. The 1854 treaty says that "upon manifestation of great unwillingness on the part of said Indians to remove" west of the Mississippi to Crow Wing, and a desire to remain in Wisconsin, the President consented to their locating temporarily on the Wolf and Oconto Rivers. It then ceded the western lands back and gave the tribe a tract on the Wolf River in Wisconsin as a home.
What was promised, and what happened
- Partly kept
United States to give the Menominee a home of not less than 600,000 acres in the 1847 Chippewa cession. (Art. 3)
to make exchange of the lands given west of the Mississippi for those desired by the tribe
treaties.okstate.edu
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
Well supported by the sources below.
do hereby cede, sell, and relinquish to the United States all their lands in the State of Wisconsin
Treaty with the Menominee, 1848 (OSU Tribal Treaties Database)which is guarantied to contain not less than six hundred thousand acres
Treaty with the Menominee, 1848 (OSU Tribal Treaties Database)upon manifestation of great unwillingness on the part of said Indians to remove to the country west of the Mississippi River
Treaty with the Menominee, 1854 (OSU Tribal Treaties Database)to make exchange of the lands given west of the Mississippi for those desired by the tribe
Treaty with the Menominee, 1854 (OSU Tribal Treaties Database)not less than six hundred thousand acres
Treaty with the Menominee, 9 Stat. 952 (govinfo)
Research notes. The later outcome is taken from the 1854 treaty's own recital; the Menominee Nation's own account of these events is not cited here. The 1848 treaty states no acreage for the Wisconsin cession. The 1854 treaty's further payment terms are not described here.
What the treaty did to the land
About 2.6 million acres given up. about 805,000 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 2.6 million acres
Land of the Menomini in Wisconsin, ceded 1848 (area 271)
Ceded by the Menominee in 1848, all their lands in Wisconsin; they were to receive land in Minnesota, which they refused.
set aside as a reservationabout 805,000 acres
Land of the Menomini in Minnesota, ceded 1854 (area 321)
Assigned to the Menominee in Minnesota by the 1848 treaty; they refused to move there and gave it up in 1854 in return for a reserve on the Wolf River in Wisconsin.
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.
- 1848
This treaty
About 2.6 million acres ceded to the United States by the Menomini. About 805,000 acres set aside as a reservation for the Menomini
In 1848 the Menominee sold all their Wisconsin lands for $350,000 and a promised western home; an 1854 treaty gave them Wolf River instead.
- 1854
Land lost
About 805,000 acres ceded to the United States by the Menomini
By Menominee at Falls of Wolf River, Wisconsin (1854)
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:
Working with these nations
- Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin Nation government Restoration of about 200,000 acres to reservation status (1975)
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-menominee-1848-0572reference work
Treaty with the Menominee, 1848 Oct. 18, 1848. | 9 Stat., 952.
Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.