Kickapoo at Kickapoo Agency, Kansas (1862)
The 1862 Kickapoo treaty allotted the Kansas reservation and gave a railroad the option to buy the surplus at $1.25 per acre.
- Signed
- June 28, 1862
- Senate
- Ratified
- Land set aside for the nations
- about 118,000 acres
What happened
What happened
On June 28, 1862, at the Kickapoo Agency in Kansas, the United States and the Kickapoo agreed to survey the reservation, which was held under an 1854 treaty. Members could take land in severalty: a half section for each chief, a quarter section for each other head of a family, and forty acres for each other person. Those who preferred common ownership could hold land together. The remainder, after special reservations, was to be sold for the tribe's benefit.
The Kickapoo, the treaty says, thought the government and the public wanted railroads pushed west "in the direction of the gold mines in Colorado Territory." It gave the Atchison and Pike's Peak Railroad Company the privilege of buying the whole surplus at $1.25 per acre, on condition that it build the line in stages and post bonds. Patents would issue only as sections were completed.
The treaty also said that if a majority of adult males in the common-holding group chose to move to Indian country south of Kansas, a new home would be bought for them. The OSU treaty database lists ratification on March 13, 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.
westerly in the direction of the gold mines in Colorado Territory
Tribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Treaty with the Kickapoo, 1862shall have the privilege of buying the remainder of their land
Tribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Treaty with the Kickapoo, 1862
Research notes. This account is based on the treaty text alone and summarizes its main articles; it does not describe what happened afterward. The treaty was ratified March 13, 1863, and proclaimed May 28, 1863.
What the treaty did to the land
About 118,000 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.
set aside as a reservationabout 118,000 acres
Reservation of the Kickapoo in Kansas (area 437)
Part of the Kickapoo's Kansas reserve from 1832, left after their 1854 cession; the 1862 treaty set it apart to be held in common, and it is their present reservation.
ceded to the United States
Land of the Kickapoo in Kansas, ceded 1862 (area 436)
Part of the Kickapoo's Kansas reserve from 1832, left after their 1854 cession; the 1862 treaty divided it into individual allotments and sold part to a railroad, ending tribal title.
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.
- 1832
- 1854
- 1862
This treaty
About 118,000 acres set aside as a reservation for the Kickapoo. Land ceded to the United States by the Kickapoo
The 1862 Kickapoo treaty allotted the Kansas reservation and gave a railroad the option to buy the surplus at $1.25 per acre.
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:
- Kickapoo Tribe of Indians of the Kickapoo Reservation in Kansas
- Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma
- Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas
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-kickapoo-1862-0835reference work
Treaty with the Kickapoo, 1862 June 28, 1862. | 13 Stats., 623.
Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.