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Treaty

Confederated Oto and Missouri at Nebraska City, Nebraska Territory (1854)

In December 1854 the United States moved the boundary of the Oto and Missouria reservation after the tribes found it was mislocated.

Signed
December 9, 1854
Senate
Ratified

What happened

This short agreement, made at Nebraska City on December 9, 1854, is a supplement to a treaty of March 15, 1854. Agent George Hepner signed for the United States. The chiefs and headmen of the confederate Ottoe and Missouria tribes signed with marks.

The preamble explains the problem. The earlier treaty had the tribes cede all their country west of the Missouri River except a strip ten miles wide on the waters of the Big Blue River. After exploring it, the tribes found "that they had been mistaken as to the location thereof." Much the larger part, nearly all of it, lay west of the Big Blue and lacked enough timber. The tribes were dissatisfied, and the United States was "desirous of removing all cause of complaint."

The single article changes the starting point of the reservation to a point five miles due east of the old one. From there the line runs west twenty-five miles, north ten miles, then back east. That ground was to be the "reservation and home" of the two tribes in place of the one first described.

The page lists the record as 10 Stat. 1130 and 11 Stat. 605. It was ratified February 28, 1855, and proclaimed April 10, 1855.

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

Well supported by the sources below.

  1. it was found that they had been mistaken as to the location thereofTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Confederated Oto and Missouri at Nebraska City, Nebraska Territory (1854)
  2. the United States being desirous of removing all cause of complaint, this article is entered intoTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Confederated Oto and Missouri at Nebraska City, Nebraska Territory (1854)
  3. shall be taken and considered as the reservation and home of said confederate tribes, in lieu of that provided for themTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Confederated Oto and Missouri at Nebraska City, Nebraska Territory (1854)

Research notes. The treaty text is the only source cited; it does not say what happened afterward, so this story stops at the signed terms. The March 15, 1854 treaty is described here as this agreement's preamble describes it; it has its own entry.

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.

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.

This history belongs to living nations. Start with them:

Native legal and land defense, nationally

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Sources

  1. treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-confederated-oto-and-missouri-1854-0660reference work
    Treaty with the Confederated Oto and Missouri, 1854 Dec. 9, 1854. | 10 Stat., 1130.

Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.