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Treaty

Sioux (Two Kettles) at Fort Sully, Dakota Territory (1865)

The Two Kettles Sioux treaty of October 1865 paid $6,000 a year to leave overland routes and $1,000 for a chief killed by soldiers.

Signed
October 19, 1865
Senate
Ratified

What happened

On October 19, 1865, a United States commission met chiefs and head-men of the Two-Kettles 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.

Article 1 has the band acknowledge itself subject to United States jurisdiction. In Article 4 the band agreed to "withdraw from the routes overland" established or to be established through their country. The United States agreed to pay $6,000 a year for twenty years in articles chosen by the Secretary of the Interior.

Article 5 protects individuals who settle on band land for farming. Once twenty lodges or families had settled and told their agent, each would get $25 a year for five years in implements and improvements. At one hundred families they would be entitled to a farmer and blacksmith at government expense, and teachers at the Secretary's option.

Article 6 is unusual. It says soldiers in United States service had killed Ish-tah-chah-ne-aha (Puffing Eyes), a friendly chief of the band. The United States agreed to pay $500 to his widow and his seventeen children, and $500 to the band in common, as indemnity. 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 withdraw from the routes overland already established, or hereafter to be established, through their countryTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Sioux (Two Kettles) at Fort Sully, Dakota Territory (1865)
  2. Soldiers in the United States service having killed Ish-tah-chah-ne-aha, (Puffing Eyes,) a friendly chief of the Two-Kettles bandTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Sioux (Two Kettles) at Fort Sully, Dakota Territory (1865)
  3. they shall be entitled to a farmer and blacksmith, at the expense of the Government, also teachersTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Sioux (Two Kettles) 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.

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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Working with these nations

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Sources

  1. treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-sioux-two-kettle-band-1865-0896reference work
    Treaty with the Sioux-Two-Kettle Band, 1865 Oct. 19, 1865. | 14 Stats, 723.

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