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Treaty

Sioux (Sisseton, Wahpeton) at Washington, DC (1858)

The 1858 treaty with the Sisseton and Wahpeton Dakota ceded their Minnesota River north-bank lands and allotted the south bank.

Signed
June 19, 1858
Senate
Ratified
Land set aside for the nations
about 999,000 acres
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On June 19, 1858, in Washington, Commissioner Charles E. Mix signed a treaty with chiefs and headmen of the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands of the Dakota. As in the companion treaty with the Mdewakanton and Wahpekute, Article 1 made the part of their 1851 reservation lying south of the Minnesota River a reservation, to be surveyed, with 80 acres allotted to each head of a family. The preamble recounts that the Senate had amended the 1851 treaty, striking the provision that set the land aside as a home. Article 8 allowed members of the bands to dissolve tribal connections.

Treaties Matter explains that railroad interests and land speculators were drawn to the narrow strip along the river, and that "Dakota people were taken to Washington to sign away the northern half of their holdings along the Minnesota River," with the ceded land to be sold to settlers and up to $140,000 of proceeds paying the Dakota's "just debts."

After the Dakota War of 1862, Treaties Matter says, the United States abrogated its treaties with the Dakota and exiled them from Minnesota. A treaty in 1863 with non-combatant Dakota created the Sisseton reservation in present-day South Dakota.

Good to know. Each of the two 1858 Dakota treaties let the chiefs and headmen authorize up to $70,000 from the land proceeds to pay the bands' just debts and buy goods; Treaties Matter's $140,000 is the two treaties together.

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. Dakota people were taken to Washington to sign away the northern half of their holdings along the Minnesota River1858 Land Cession Treaties with the Dakota, Treaties Matter
  2. shall constitute a reservation for said bands, and shall be surveyedTreaty with the Sioux, 1858 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  3. in 1863 a treaty with non-combatant Dakota created the Sisseton reservation in present-day South Dakota1858 Land Cession Treaties with the Dakota, Treaties Matter

Research notes. Treaties Matter describes the two 1858 treaties together and does not distinguish the Sisseton-Wahpeton treaty. Its $140,000 debts figure covers both; each treaty's Article 3 allows up to $70,000 of land proceeds for debts and goods. Article 2 left the Senate to decide the bands' title to the north-bank land and their compensation. The 1863 reservation was for non-combatant Dakota generally, not specifically these bands. The treaty was ratified March 9, 1859, and proclaimed March 31, 1859.

What the treaty did to the land

About 999,000 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. 1851

    Land kept

    About 738,000 acres set aside as a reservation for the Sioux (Sisseton, Wahpeton, Medewakanton, and Wahpekute bands)

    By Treaty of Traverse des Sioux (Sisseton and Wahpeton), 1851

    area 440

  2. 1851

    Land kept

    About 738,000 acres set aside as a reservation for the Sioux (Sisseton, Wahpeton, Medewakanton, and Wahpekute bands)

    By Treaty of Mendota (Mdewakanton and Wahpekute), 1851

    area 440

  3. 1858

    Land kept

    About 999,000 acres set aside as a reservation for the Sioux (Sisseton, Wahpeton, Medewakanton, and Wahpekute bands) and Sioux (Medewakanton and Wahpekute bands)

    By Sioux (Mdewakanton and Wahpekuta [Wahpekute]) at Washington, DC (1858)

    area 440 area 413

  4. 1858

    This treaty

    Signed

    The 1858 treaty with the Sisseton and Wahpeton Dakota ceded their Minnesota River north-bank lands and allotted the south bank.

  5. 1863

    Land lost

    About 738,000 acres ceded to the United States by the Sioux (Sisseton, Wahpeton, Medewakanton, and Wahpekute bands)

    The 1899 record: “Their reserve in Minnesota to be sold by U. S. for their benefit”

    area 440

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.

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Sources

  1. treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-sioux-1858-0785reference work
    Treaty with the Sioux, 1858 June 19, 1858. | 12 Stats., p. 1037,

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