Treaty of Fort Laramie (Horse Creek), 1851
At Horse Creek in 1851 eight Plains nations agreed to peace, mapped their territories, and let the United States build roads and posts.
- Signed
- September 17, 1851
- Senate
- Ratified 1852-05
- Land set aside for the nations
- about 108 million acres
What happened
What happened
On September 17, 1851, at Fort Laramie, commissioners D. D. Mitchell and Thomas Fitzpatrick met the chiefs, headmen and braves of the Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Crow, Assiniboine, Gros Ventre, Mandan and Arikara nations. Article 1 had the nations agree to "abstain in future from all hostilities whatever against each other."
In Article 2 the nations "recognize the right of the United States Government to establish roads, military and other posts, within their respective territories." In Article 3 the United States bound itself to protect them against depredations by its own people. Article 5 set out the boundaries the nations recognized as their territories. It added that they did not "abandon or prejudice any rights or claims they may have to other lands" and did not "surrender the privilege of hunting, fishing, or passing over" them. Article 7 promised $50,000 a year for ten years, with up to five more at the President's discretion, in provisions, merchandise, domestic animals and farm tools.
A footnote in the database says the Senate ratified the treaty with an amendment cutting the annuity from fifty years to ten, subject to the tribes' acceptance, and that all tribes except the Crows assented. In Montana v. United States (1981), the Supreme Court said the treaty "did not by its terms formally convey any land to the Indians at all."
Good to know. Sources disagree on whether the Crow accepted the Senate's amendment; one says the treaty was never published as ratified in the Statutes at Large.
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
Supported by the sources below; some details rest on one source.
the aforesaid nations do hereby recognize the right of the United States Government to establish roads, military and other posts
Tribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Treaty of Fort Laramie with Sioux, etc., 1851This treaty as signed was ratified by the Senate with an amendment changing the annuity in Article 7 from fifty to ten years
Tribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Treaty of Fort Laramie with Sioux, etc., 1851Assent of all tribes except the Crows was procured
Tribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Treaty of Fort Laramie with Sioux, etc., 1851The 1851 treaty failed to overcome this presumption, since it did not by its terms formally convey any land to the Indians at all.
Montana v. United States, 450 U.S. 544 (1981)
Research notes. A web reproduction of Kappler (littlebighorn.info) says the Crows accepted the amendment on September 18, 1854 and that the treaty was never published as ratified in the Statutes at Large; the OSU footnote says all tribes except the Crows assented. These sources disagree on the Crow assent, so the Crow acceptance is not stated here.
What the treaty did to the land
About 108 million 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.
recognized as Native landabout 48 million acres
Land of the Arapaho of Upper Arkansas and Cheyenne of Upper Arkansas in several states, ceded 1861 (area 426)
Defined as Cheyenne and Arapaho territory by the 1851 Fort Laramie treaty (noted in the 1899 federal record as never ratified), ceded except a reserve at Fort Wise in 1861, with more claims given up in 1865.
recognized as Native landabout 30 million acres
Land of the Crow in Montana and Wyoming, ceded 1868 (area 517)
Recognized as Crow country by the 1851 Fort Laramie treaty (noted in the 1899 federal record as never ratified); the Crow gave up this land outside their reserve in the 1868 treaty.
Linked to this treatyabout 12 million acres
Land of the Blackfoot and Chippewa, Ontonagon band in Montana and Wyoming, recorded 1851 (area 398)
Linked to this treatyabout 11 million acres
Land of the Nez Percè, Blackfoot and Flathead Nations in Montana, recorded 1851 (area 399)
recognized as Native landabout 6.5 million acres
Land of the Arikara, Gros Ventre and others in Montana and North Dakota, ceded 1880 (area 620)
Recognized as Arikara, Gros Ventre and Mandan land in 1851 and set apart as part of the Fort Berthold reservation in 1870; returned to the public domain in 1880.
recognized as Native landabout 6.4 million acres
Reservation of the Arapaho, Arikara and others in Montana and North Dakota (area 300)
Recognized by the 1851 Fort Laramie treaty as territory of the northern Plains nations, including the Sioux, Gros Ventre, Mandan, Arikara, Assiniboin, Crow, Cheyenne and Arapaho; not a cession or reservation.
recognized as Native landabout 5.2 million acres
Land of the Crow in Montana, recorded 1851 (area 635)
What remained of the 1868 Crow reservation after the 1880 cession; an 1882 act only ratified a 400-foot railroad right of way.
recognized as Native landabout 4.5 million acres
Land of the Arikara, Gros Ventre and others in Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming, ceded 1870 (area 529)
Recognized as Arikara, Gros Ventre and Mandan land by the 1851 Fort Laramie treaty; by accepting the Fort Berthold reserve in 1870, they were treated as giving up this land outside it.
recognized as Native landabout 3.8 million acres
Land of the Arapaho and Cheyenne in Colorado, ceded 1865 (area 477)
Recognized as Cheyenne and Arapaho territory in 1851, made their reserve at Fort Wise in 1861, and ceded in the 1865 Little Arkansas treaty.
recognized as Native landabout 2.7 million acres
Reservation of the Arikara, Gros Ventre and others in North Dakota (area 621)
Set apart as the Fort Berthold reservation for the Arikara, Gros Ventre and Mandan in 1870, with an addition in 1880; this area was not ceded in the period covered.
recognized as Native landabout 1.4 million acres
Land of the Crow in Montana, ceded 1880 (area 619)
Recognized as Crow land in 1851 and set apart as their reservation in 1868; this part was ceded in a June 1880 agreement confirmed in April 1882.
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.
- 1851
This treaty
About 108 million acres recognized as land of the Arapaho of Upper Arkansas, Cheyenne of Upper Arkansas and others
At Horse Creek in 1851 eight Plains nations agreed to peace, mapped their territories, and let the United States build roads and posts.
- 1852
This treaty
Ratified by the Senate
- 1858
Promise broken
Fort Laramie 1851: Pike's Peak gold rush invades treaty territory
The 1851 treaty promised protection from US citizens; gold seekers settled Cheyenne and Arapaho land and the US then sought a cession.
- 1861
Land lost
About 48 million acres ceded to the United States by the Arapaho of Upper Arkansas and Cheyenne of Upper Arkansas
By Treaty of Fort Wise (Arapaho and Cheyenne of the Upper Arkansas), 1861
- 1861
Land kept
About 3.8 million acres set aside as a reservation for the Arapaho and Cheyenne
By Treaty of Fort Wise (Arapaho and Cheyenne of the Upper Arkansas), 1861
- 1865
Land lost
Part of the land ceded by the Arapaho of Upper Arkansas and Cheyenne of Upper Arkansas
By Treaty of Little Arkansas (Cheyenne and Arapaho), 1865
- 1865
Land lost
About 3.8 million acres ceded to the United States by the Arapaho and Cheyenne
By Treaty of Little Arkansas (Cheyenne and Arapaho), 1865
- 1868
- 1868
Land kept
About 6.6 million acres set aside as a reservation for the Crow
By Treaty with the Crow, 1868
- 1870
- 1870
Land lost
About 4.5 million acres ceded to the United States by the Arikara, Gros Ventre and others
The 1899 record: “By virtue of accepting this reserve they relinquished claim to the remainder of the territory assigned them by the Fort Laramie treaty of 1851”
- 1880
Land lost
About 1.4 million acres ceded to the United States by the Crow
The 1899 record: “The Crows execute another agreement, ceding a portion of their reserve under treaty of May 7, 1868”
- 1880
Land lost
About 6.5 million acres of reservation taken back by the United States
The 1899 record: “President restores to public domain a portion of Fort Berthold reservation, established by Executive order Apr. 12, 1870”
- 1880
Land kept
About 2.7 million acres set aside as a reservation for the Arikara, Gros Ventre and others
The 1899 record: “President sets apart an addition to Fort Berthold reservation”
- 1882
Land record
Earlier terms confirmed for the land of the Crow
The 1899 record: “Confirms agreement of June 12, 1880, for cession of a portion of their reserve”
- 1882
Land record
About 5.2 million acres named in the record
The 1899 record: “Ratifies agreement of Aug. 22, 1881, for cession of a portion of their reservation”
- 1944
Law
Flood Control Act of 1944 (Pick-Sloan Plan)
The Flood Control Act of 1944 approved the Pick-Sloan Missouri River plans; dams built under it flooded reservation land of several Native nations.
- 1944
Promise broken
Garrison Dam (1946-1956): the Fort Berthold Reservation and the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara
Congress took Fort Berthold land for Garrison Dam over the tribes' refusal; in 1992 it acknowledged the 1950s payment was unjust.
- 1981
In court
Montana v. United States
The Crow Tribe could not regulate non-Indian hunting on fee land in its reservation, and the Big Horn riverbed went to Montana.
- 2016
Related history
Dakota Access Pipeline and Lake Oahe (2016-2026): context, not an adjudicated treaty violation
The Dakota Access Pipeline crosses Lake Oahe near Standing Rock; courts ruled on environmental review, not on the 1868 treaty.
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
civil jurisdiction
Tribal civil power is strongest over members; Williams v. Lee (1959) protected it, and Montana (1981) limited it over non-members.
Legal doctrine
implicit divestiture
Under implicit divestiture, the Supreme Court holds tribes lost some powers, such as trying non-Indians, by their dependent status unless Congress restores them.
Legal doctrine
inherent sovereignty
Tribes' powers of self-government predate the Constitution and are not delegated by Congress, though the Supreme Court says Congress can limit or end them.
Legal doctrine
montana rule
Montana v. United States (1981) set a presumption against tribal civil power over non-members on non-Indian fee land, with two exceptions.
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:
- Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes
- Northern Arapaho Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming
- Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota
- Fort Belknap Indian Community of the Fort Belknap Reservation of Montana
- Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montana
- Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Montana
- Crow Tribe of Montana
- Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe
Working with these nations
- Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes Nation government Seeking return of about 6,700 acres at Fort Reno
- Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Sicangu Oyate) Nation government Pe' Sla (1,942 acres, Nov 30, 2012)
- Right Relationship Boulder (Land Group) Native-led Funds tribal youth camps and gatherings, plant-gathering access, trail content with tribes, pushes for tribal… Give on their site Website
- Cheyenne River Youth Project (CRYP) Native-led Youth programs Website
- Siċaŋġu Co (Sicangu Community Development Corporation; Wolakota Buffalo Range) Native-led Sicangu Lakota economic engine incl. Wolakota Buffalo Range, food sovereignty initiative, local foods Give on their site Website
- Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation (Lakota Land Systems) Native-led Lakota-led regenerative community development on Pine Ridge: Lakota Land Systems Give on their site Website
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
Research notes
Senate reduced annuity period from 50 to 10 years (Art. 5); UNL Treaties Portal holds a proposed corrected text reflecting unpublished Senate changes. This treaty does NOT appear in the NARA RIT table as extracted (no 1851-09-17 row between RIT 258/259) - verify NARA numbering. Stat./Kappler pages from Wikipedia pointer and Stat. vol. 11 index. Ratification detail: 1852-05 (Senate, with amendment)
Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.