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Treaty

Sauk and Fox of the Missouri and Iowa at Great Nemaha Agency, Nebraska Territory (1861)

An 1861 agreement had the Sac and Fox of Missouri cede their reservation and move onto land ceded by the Iowa.

Signed
March 6, 1861
Senate
Ratified
Land given up
about 47,000 acres
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On March 6, 1861, at the Great Nemaha agency in Nebraska Territory, U.S. agent Daniel Vanderslice signed an agreement with four delegates of the Sac and Fox of Missouri and seven delegates of the Iowa. The Sac and Fox ceded their reservation, estimated at 32,098 acres. It was to be surveyed and sold at auction in parcels of up to 160 acres.

In exchange, the Iowa ceded to the United States, for the Sac and Fox, the part of the Iowa reservation west of Nohearts Creek. That tract became the Sac and Fox "permanent home," and the rest remained Iowa land. The treaty also settled a claim by Joseph Tesson, estimated at about $800, with a 160-acre grant and gave named chiefs individual tracts with patents.

The text shows a land swap between two tribes arranged by the United States. Half the net proceeds of the sale of the Sac and Fox land were to be paid to the Iowa. Ratification took until February 1863.

Summarized with AI assistance from 2 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. estimated to contain 32,098 acres, 3 roods and 35 perchesTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Treaty with the Sauk and Foxes, etc., 1861
  2. for the use and benefit of the Sacs and Foxes of Missouri, for their permanent homeTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Treaty with the Sauk and Foxes, etc., 1861

Research notes. This account is based on the treaty text alone, so it does not describe the reasons for the agreement or its aftermath. The treaty estimates the ceded Sac and Fox of Missouri reservation at 32,098 acres, 3 roods and 35 perches. It was ratified February 6, 1863, and proclaimed March 26, 1863.

What the treaty did to the land

About 47,000 acres given up. 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. 1836

    Land kept

    About 94,000 acres set aside as a reservation for the Iowa and Sauk and Fox of the Missouri and the Iowa

    By Iowa and Sauk and Fox of the Missouri (West of Missouri) at Fort Leavenworth (1836)

    area 323 area 428

  2. 1854

    Land lost

    About 94,000 acres ceded to the United States by the Iowa

    By Iowa at Washington, DC (1854)

    area 323

  3. 1854

    Land kept

    Land recognized as land of the Sauk and Fox of the Missouri and the Iowa

    By Iowa at Washington, DC (1854)

    area 428

  4. 1854

    Land lost

    Part of the land ceded by the Iowa

    The 1899 record: “Cede tract assigned them by treaty of Sept. 17, 1836”

    area 323

  5. 1854

    Land kept

    About 47,000 acres set aside as a reservation for the Sauk and Fox of the Missouri and the Iowa

    By Sauk and Fox of Missouri at Washington, DC (1854)

    area 427

  6. 1861

    This treaty

    About 94,000 acres named in the record. About 47,000 acres ceded to the United States by the Sauk and Fox of the Missouri and the Iowa

    An 1861 agreement had the Sac and Fox of Missouri cede their reservation and move onto land ceded by the Iowa.

  7. 1876

    Land lost

    Land ceded to the United States by the Sauk and Fox of the Missouri and the Iowa

    The 1899 record: “Provides for the sale, with their consent, of 10 sections off W. end of their reserve”

    area 428

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

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

Sources

  1. treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-sauk-and-foxes-etc-1861-0811reference work
    Treaty with the Sauk and Foxes, etc., 1861 Mar. 6, 1861 | 12 Stat., 1171.

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