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Treaty

Sioux (Lower Brule) at Fort Sully, Dakota Territory (1865)

The Lower Brule Sioux treaty of October 1865 promised a reservation near White River and $6,000 a year for leaving overland routes.

Signed
October 14, 1865
Senate
Ratified

What happened

On October 14, 1865, a United States commission met chiefs and head-men of the Lower Brule band of Dakota (Sioux) at Fort Sully, Dakota Territory. Commissioners were Governor Newton Edmunds, Edward B. Taylor, Major-General S. R. Curtis, Brigadier-General H. H. Sibley, Henry W. Reed and Orrin Guernsey.

As in the other Fort Sully treaties, Article 1 has the band acknowledge itself subject to the jurisdiction and authority of the United States, and Article 4 has it "withdraw from the routes overland" in exchange for $6,000 a year for twenty years, paid in articles chosen by the Secretary of the Interior.

This one is different in Article 6. The Lower Brule were to settle on a permanent reservation "at or near the mouth of the White River, to include Fort Lookout," twenty miles along the Missouri and ten miles deep. Once at least fifty lodges or families occupied it and took up farming, the United States would give $25 per family a year for five years, as a common fund for stock and implements, which stayed United States property. It would also employ a blacksmith and farmer, could build roads through, and could open schools. No white person other than officials could stay without being admitted to the band.

Article 7 let the Two Kettles band settle next to them. Ratified March 5, 1866; proclaimed March 17, 1866.

Good to know. This treaty ceded no land.

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

Well supported by the sources below.

  1. shall locate on a permanent reservation at or near the mouth of the White River, to include Fort LookoutTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Sioux (Lower Brule) at Fort Sully, Dakota Territory (1865)
  2. the sum of six thousand dollars annually, for twenty years, in such articles as the Secretary of the Interior may directTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Sioux (Lower Brule) at Fort Sully, Dakota Territory (1865)
  3. No white person, other than officers, agents or employés of the United States, shall be permitted to go on or remain on the said reservationTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Sioux (Lower Brule) at Fort Sully, Dakota Territory (1865)

Research notes. This account covers the signed terms only; the treaty text does not say what happened afterward, including later treaties. The text shows no cession of land. Whether the reservation was set aside as described is not shown in the text.

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.

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-lower-brule-band-1865-0885reference work
    Treaty with the Sioux-Lower Brule Band, 1865 Oct. 14, 1865. | 14 Stats., 699.

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