Treaty with the Pawnee (Table Creek), 1857
In 1857 the Pawnee ceded their Nebraska lands, keeping a Loup Fork reservation 30 by 15 miles, for annuities and schools.
- Signed
- September 24, 1857
- Senate
- Ratified March 31, 1858
- Land given up
- about 14 million acres
- Land set aside for the nations
- about 230,000 acres
What happened
What happened
On September 24, 1857, at Table Creek, Nebraska Territory, commissioner James W. Denver signed a treaty with the chiefs of the four confederate Pawnee bands: the Grand Pawnees, Pawnee Loups, Pawnee Republicans and Pawnee Tappahs. They agreed to "cede and relinquish to the United States all their right, title, and interest in and to all the lands now owned or claimed by them," except a reservation thirty miles long by fifteen miles wide on both banks of the Loup Fork of the Platte River. The United States agreed to pay $40,000 a year for five years, then $30,000 a year as a perpetual annuity, and to build manual-labor schools.
HistoryNet says that in spring 1857 a settler shot a young Pawnee chief and newspapers called for the tribe's removal from settlement lands. Sioux raids on the reservation continued, and in the 1870s the Pawnee moved to Indian Territory.
The Pawnee Nation's historical marker, quoting the Nebraska State Historical Society, says the Pawnee moved to Indian Territory in 1875, ending their settlement in Nebraska. HistoryNet adds that three groups left between 1873 and 1875.
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.
cede and relinquish to the United States all their right, title, and interest in and to all the lands now owned or claimed by them
Treaty with the Pawnee, 1857 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)Newspapers called for their removal from settlement lands.
Displaced by Settlers and at War With the Sioux, the Pawnee Struggled to Survive, HistoryNetThe Pawnee ended their settlement in Nebraska in 1875.
Historical Marker: Pawnee Villages, Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma
Research notes. The Pawnee context rests on HistoryNet (a popular history magazine) and a historical-marker text. The sources do not say whether the settler violence and removal calls influenced the Pawnee's decision. The treaty reserves a tract thirty miles long by fifteen miles wide (450 square miles); no cession acreage is stated. The treaty was ratified March 31, 1858, and proclaimed May 26, 1858.
What the treaty did to the land
About 14 million acres given up. about 230,000 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 14 million acres
Land of the Pawnee (four confederated bands) in Nebraska and South Dakota, ceded 1857 (area 408)
Ceded by the four Pawnee bands in the 1857 Table Creek treaty, all their claimed lands in Nebraska and South Dakota except a reserve on the Loup Fork.
set aside as a reservationabout 230,000 acres
Land of the Pawnee in Nebraska, ceded 1876 (area 590)
Kept by the Pawnee as a reserve on the Loup Fork in Nebraska under the 1857 treaty; an 1876 act provided for selling it, with their consent, as they moved to Indian Territory.
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.
- 1857
This treaty
About 14 million acres ceded to the United States by the Pawnee (four confederated bands). About 230,000 acres set aside as a reservation for the Pawnee
In 1857 the Pawnee ceded their Nebraska lands, keeping a Loup Fork reservation 30 by 15 miles, for annuities and schools.
- 1858
This treaty
Ratified by the Senate
- 1876
Land lost
About 230,000 acres ceded to the United States by the Pawnee
The 1899 record: “Provides for the sale (with their consent) of their reservation in Nebraska under treaty of Sept. 24, 1857”
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:
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-pawnee-1857-0764reference work
Ratified, Mar. 31, 1858. | Proclaimed May 26, 1858.
- digitreaties.org/treaties/treaty/178453904reference work
Corrections to this record
- date ratified was listed as “”; corrected from treaties.okstate.edu
Ratified, Mar. 31, 1858. | Proclaimed May 26, 1858.
Research notes
Kappler page.
Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.