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Treaty with the Yankton Sioux, 1858

In 1858 the Yankton Sioux ceded more than 11 million acres of eastern South Dakota and kept a 400,000-acre reservation.

Signed
April 19, 1858
Senate
Ratified February 16, 1859
Land given up
about 12 million acres
Land set aside for the nations
about 447,000 acres
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On April 19, 1858, in Washington, Commissioner Charles E. Mix signed a treaty with chiefs and delegates of the Yankton Sioux. They ceded "all the lands now owned, possessed, or claimed by them, wherever situated, except four hundred thousand acres." The Supreme Court describes this as renouncing a claim to more than 11 million acres of aboriginal lands. The reserve lay on the Missouri River in what is now Charles Mix County.

The National Park Service says Struck-by-the-Ree, the Yankton leader, told his people after returning from Washington: "The white men are coming in like maggots. It is useless to resist them." The Park Service gives about 11.5 million acres in exchange for approximately $1.6 million in annuities over 50 years and a 475,000-acre reservation.

The Senate ratified the treaty on February 16, 1859, per the Park Service. Under the 1887 Dawes Act individual members received allotments and the government negotiated for the surplus. In South Dakota v. Yankton Sioux Tribe (1998) the Supreme Court held that Congress intended its 1894 Act to diminish the reservation, so a landfill site was not Indian country.

Good to know. Figures differ: the treaty reserves 400,000 acres and the Supreme Court says more than 11 million acres were given up; the National Park Service gives about 11.5 million and 475,000.

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

Supported by the sources below; some details rest on one source.

  1. In 1858, the Yanktons entered into a treaty with the United States renouncing their claim to more than 11 million acres of their aboriginal landsSouth Dakota v. Yankton Sioux Tribe, 522 U.S. 329 (1998), Legal Information Institute
  2. The white men are coming in like maggots. It is useless to resist them.Yankton Sioux Treaty Monument, National Park Service
  3. we hold that Congress intended to diminish the Yankton ReservationSouth Dakota v. Yankton Sioux Tribe, 522 U.S. 329 (1998), Legal Information Institute

Research notes. Acreage differs by source: the Supreme Court says more than 11 million acres were renounced, with 400,000 acres retained; the National Park Service says about 11.5 million acres and a 475,000-acre reservation. The monument inscription quoted on the Park Service page gives the date as April 18, 1856, but the treaty was signed April 19, 1858. The quotation from Struck-by-the-Ree is as the Park Service reports it. The 1998 case is about the 1894 Act, not the 1858 treaty itself.

What the treaty did to the land

About 12 million acres given up. about 447,000 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.

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. 1858

    This treaty

    About 12 million acres ceded to the United States by the Yankton Sioux. About 447,000 acres set aside as a reservation for the Yankton Sioux

    In 1858 the Yankton Sioux ceded more than 11 million acres of eastern South Dakota and kept a 400,000-acre reservation.

  2. 1859

    This treaty

    Ratified by the Senate

  3. 1894

    Land lost

    About 447,000 acres ceded to the United States by the Yankton Sioux

    The 1899 record: “Confirms agreement with these Indians made Dec. 31, 1892, by which they cede to the U. S. all their title and interest in all the unallotted lands in their reservation”

    area 411

  4. 1998

    In court

    South Dakota v. Yankton Sioux Tribe

    In 1998 a unanimous Court held that an 1894 act ratifying the Yankton Sioux cession diminished the 1858 reservation.

The law behind it

The legal ideas behind the decisions, and related records without a date. Court cases and laws with a date are in what happened next, above.

  • Legal doctrine

    diminishment

    Only Congress can shrink a reservation, and courts require a clear statement; Solem, Hagen and Parker show how that test works.

  • Legal doctrine

    disestablishment

    Disestablishment means Congress ended a reservation entirely; courts require clear intent from Congress, and McGirt (2020) held the Creek Reservation was never disestablished.

  • Legal doctrine

    indian country

    Federal law defines 'Indian country' as reservations, dependent Indian communities and Indian allotments; the definition decides which government's laws apply.

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/178710468reference work
  2. nps.gov/mnrr/learn/historyculture/yankton-sioux-treaty-monument.htmreference work
    The US Senate ratified the treaty on February 16, 1859

Corrections to this record

  • date ratified was listed as “”; corrected from nps.govThe US Senate ratified the treaty on February 16, 1859
Research notes

Acreage figures (, not entered); Kappler page.

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