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Treaty

Ponca at Washington, DC (1865)

In 1865 the Ponca ceded about 30,000 acres of their reservation and received other land back; an 1868 Sioux treaty later overlapped it.

Signed
March 10, 1865
Senate
Ratified
Promises
1 of 1 broken or only partly kept
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On March 10, 1865, in Washington, the Ponca tribe ceded to the United States the part of their 1858 reservation lying west of a range line between townships 32 and 33 north. The treaty estimates it at thirty thousand acres, more or less.

In exchange, the United States ceded to the Ponca several townships, some of them fractional, including land south of Ponca Creek, and the Niobrara River islands in front of those lands. The treaty gives two reasons: "rewarding them for their constant fidelity" to the government and citizens, and "returning to the said tribe of Ponca Indians their old burying-grounds and corn-fields." The United States would not pay settlers' claims for improvements on this land. The Ponca had to pay any such claims from their own funds.

NET Nebraska Studies, a Nebraska educational site, adds that a third reason was "to move the Ponca away from the Sioux who were attacking from the West." It reports that the 1868 Fort Laramie treaty with the Sioux then covered part of the land reserved for the Ponca in 1865. It says that was "most likely" because the 1868 commissioners had forgotten the 1865 treaty. The same page says this "set the stage" for the Ponca "Trail of Tears." The sources here do not describe the removal itself or the Standing Bear case.

What was promised, and what happened

  • Partly kept

    The United States cedes fractional townships and Niobrara islands to the Ponca, returning their old burying-grounds and corn-fields. (Art. 2)

    Unfortunately, the southern boundary of the South Dakota area also included parts of the land reserved for the Ponca in the 1865 treaty. nebraskastudies.org

Good to know. NET Nebraska Studies gives 96,000 acres for the 1865 reservation, a figure not in the treaty; its explanation of the 1868 overlap is its own inference.

Summarized with AI assistance from 5 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. estimated to contain thirty thousand acres, be the same more or lessTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Treaty with the Ponca, 1865
  2. by way of rewarding them for their constant fidelity to the Government and citizens thereofTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Treaty with the Ponca, 1865
  3. the Ponca tribe of Indians shall, out of their own funds, and at their own expense, satisfy said claimantsTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Treaty with the Ponca, 1865
  4. A third reason was to move the Ponca away from the Sioux who were attacking from the West.NET Nebraska Studies: The Story of the Ponca
  5. had forgotten about the provisions of the 1865 treaty with the PoncaNET Nebraska Studies: The Story of the Ponca

Research notes. The treaty's 'burying-grounds' wording is the treaty's own; no locations are given. NET Nebraska Studies gives 96,000 acres for the 1865 reservation and for the land later overlapped by the Sioux reservation; that figure is not in the treaty text and is not used here. NET's explanation for the 1868 overlap ('most likely') is its own inference. The later removal of the Ponca and the Standing Bear case are outside the sources cited here.

What the treaty did to the land

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. 1865

    This treaty

    Signed

    In 1865 the Ponca ceded about 30,000 acres of their reservation and received other land back; an 1868 Sioux treaty later overlapped it.

  2. 1868

    Promise broken

    Ponca: 1858 treaty, the 1868 land error, 1877 removal and Standing Bear v. Crook (1879)

    An 1858 treaty promised Ponca protection on their land; the US removed them in 1877 and a third of the tribe died.

  3. 1879

    In court

    Standing Bear v. Crook

    In 1879 a federal judge held that an Indian is a "person" who may seek habeas corpus, and discharged Standing Bear and his companions.

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

    citizenship

    Elk v. Wilkins (1884) held the Fourteenth Amendment did not make Native people citizens at birth; Congress declared all remaining non-citizen Indians citizens in 1924.

  • 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.

  • Legal doctrine

    political status

    Morton v. Mancari (1974) held that the BIA's Indian hiring preference is political, based on tribal membership, not an impermissible racial classification.

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-ponca-1865-0875reference work
    Treaty with the Ponca, 1865 Mar. 10, 1865. | 14 Stat., 675.

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