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Lame Bull Treaty (Blackfeet), 1855

The 1855 Lame Bull Treaty made peace among the Blackfoot, Flathead and Nez Perce and set a shared hunting ground.

Signed
October 17, 1855
Senate
Ratified April 15, 1856
Land set aside for the nations
about 24 million acres
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On October 17, 1855, at a council ground on the Upper Missouri near the mouth of the Judith River, commissioners A. Cumming and Isaac Stevens signed a treaty with chiefs of the Blackfoot Nation (Piegan, Blood, Blackfoot and Gros Ventres), the Flathead Nation, and the Nez Perce. The treaty set perpetual peace. Article 3 made a large area of the Blackfoot territory "a common hunting-ground for ninety-nine years." Article 4 set aside territory for the Blackfoot alone, and Article 8 allowed roads, telegraph lines and military posts. The United States promised annual payments.

Trail of the Great Plains Tribes, a Great Falls history site, says Stevens was charged with making peace along a northern railroad route, and that tribal groups attended with limits, since the Crow were absent. It says Stevens's opening remarks about replacing buffalo with cattle showed the parties' lack of understanding, and asks how well the Blackfeet understood what they signed.

The treaty did not cede a named tract. The OSU treaty database lists ratification on April 15, 1856.

Good to know. This was a peace and boundary treaty and ceded no land. The "Nebraska Territory" it names is now Montana.

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. shall be a common hunting-ground for ninety-nine yearsTreaty with the Blackfeet, 1855 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  2. The lack of understanding between the parties was demonstrated from the beginning.The Blackfeet: Making Treaties, Trail of the Great Plains tribes
  3. he was given the daunting task of negotiating peace treaties with tribes along the route.The Blackfeet: Making Treaties, Trail of the Great Plains tribes

Research notes. The council ground lay in what the treaty calls 'Nebraska Territory' (now Montana). The treaty is a peace and boundary instrument and states no cession. Later agreements affecting Blackfeet land, such as the 1895 agreement, are not covered here. Trail of the Great Plains Tribes is a regional heritage site, not a tribal history. The treaty was ratified April 15, 1856, and proclaimed April 25, 1856.

What the treaty did to the land

About 24 million 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.

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.

  1. 1855

    This treaty

    About 24 million acres recognized as land of the Blackfoot, Blood and others

    The 1855 Lame Bull Treaty made peace among the Blackfoot, Flathead and Nez Perce and set a shared hunting ground.

  2. 1856

    This treaty

    Ratified by the Senate

  3. 1873

    Land kept

    About 24 million acres set aside as a reservation for the Blackfoot, Blood and others

    The 1899 record: “President set apart a reserve for Gros Ventre, Piegan, Blood, Blackfoot, and River Crow Indians”

    area 565 area 574

  4. 1874

    Land kept

    About 20 million acres set aside as a reservation for the Blackfoot, Blood and others

    The 1899 record: “Establishes a reservation for them as follows: Commencing at the NW. corner of the territory of Dakota”

    area 565

  5. 1874

    Land lost

    About 4.0 million acres of reservation taken back by the United States

    The 1899 record: “President restores to public domain country included in Executive order July 5, 1873, but not embraced by act of Congress Apr. 15, 1874”

    area 574

  6. 1895

    Promise broken

    Blackfeet and Glacier National Park: the 1895 agreement and the 1910 park

    The Blackfeet sold mountain land in 1895 but kept hunting rights; Glacier National Park followed, and courts split on whether they survived.

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:

Working with these nations

Native legal and land defense, nationally

Gifts go straight to each organization; this atlas takes nothing. Listing is not endorsement: how organizations are listed.

Sources

  1. digitreaties.org/treaties/treaty/178354871reference work
  2. treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-blackfeet-1855-0736reference work
    Ratified Apr. 15, 1856. | Proclaimed Apr. 25, 1856.

Corrections to this record

  • date ratified was listed as “”; corrected from treaties.okstate.eduRatified Apr. 15, 1856. | Proclaimed Apr. 25, 1856.
Research notes

Stat. page per Stat. vol. 11 OCR index; Kappler page.

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