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All treaties and agreements

Treaty

Potawatomi at Washington, DC (1867)

In 1867 the Potawatomi agreed to seek a reservation south of Kansas and to sell unallotted Kansas land to a railroad.

Signed
February 27, 1867
Senate
Ratified
Land set aside for the nations
about 576,000 acres
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On February 27, 1867, in Washington, the United States signed a treaty with the Pottawatomie tribe, represented by chiefs, braves and headmen including Mazhee, Mianco and Shawgwe. The preamble says the Pottawatomies "believe that it is for the interest of their tribe that a home should be secured for them in the Indian country south of Kansas." It says they had funds from land sales to buy such a reservation.

Article 1 provided for a commission to visit the Indian country with delegates from the tribes proposing to move. A Pottawatomie delegation could join to pick a site of up to thirty miles square. If the Secretary of the Interior approved it, the tract would be set apart for the tribe and patented to the Pottawatomie Nation. If the site were land bought from the Creeks, Seminoles or Choctaws, the price could not exceed the government's cost. The Prairie band would have no interest in it but would get its share of land-sale proceeds in money.

Article 2 said that, the Leavenworth, Pawnee and Western Railroad Company having failed to buy, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé Railroad Company could buy the unallotted lands at one dollar an acre. Article 4 called for a register of members who wished to move or to stay and become U.S. citizens. The sources here do not describe the move or the tribe's own account.

Good to know. The treaty spells the U.S. commissioner's name "Lewis G. Bogy"; other treaties give Lewis V. Bogy.

Summarized with AI assistance from 4 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. a home should be secured for them in the Indian country south of KansasTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Treaty with the Potawatomi, 1867
  2. shall be set apart as a reservation for the exclusive use and occupancy of that tribeTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Treaty with the Potawatomi, 1867
  3. the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé Railroad Company may, within thirty days after the promulgation of this treaty, purchaseTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Treaty with the Potawatomi, 1867
  4. all who desire to remain and to become citizens of the United StatesTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Treaty with the Potawatomi, 1867

Research notes. This account draws on the treaty text only, which does not describe any pressure behind the move, and no Potawatomi source is cited. The treaty names the commissioner 'Lewis G. Bogy'; other treaties name Lewis V. Bogy.

What the treaty did to the land

About 576,000 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 576,000 acres

    Land of the Potawatomi in Oklahoma, ceded 1891 (area 506)

    Set apart for the Potawatomi in Indian Territory as a 30-mile-square tract in 1867 and shared with the Absentee Shawnee from 1872; ceded in agreements Congress confirmed in March 1891.

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. 1867

    This treaty

    About 576,000 acres set aside as a reservation for the Potawatomi

    In 1867 the Potawatomi agreed to seek a reservation south of Kansas and to sell unallotted Kansas land to a railroad.

  2. 1872

    Land record

    About 576,000 acres named in the record

    The 1899 record: “Home provided for Shawnees on 30 miles square tract of the Pottawatomies in Indian Territory”

    area 506

  3. 1891

    Land lost

    About 576,000 acres ceded to the United States by the Potawatomi

    The 1899 record: “Confirms agreement with said Indians whereby they cede to the U. S. the following lands: Beginning at a point on the right bank of the N. fork of the Canadian river”

    area 506

  4. 1891

    Land lost

    About 576,000 acres ceded to the United States by the Potawatomi

    The 1899 record: “Confirms agreement by which these Indians cede to the U. S. the following lands”

    area 506

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:

Working with these nations

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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-potawatomi-1867-0970reference work
    Treaty with the Potawatomi, 1867 Feb. 27, 1867. | 15 Stats., 531.

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