Kaw (Kanza): annuities delayed, sale and removal from Kansas (1873), and Kaw Lake

What happened

In the 1825 treaty, signed at St. Louis, the Kansa ceded "all the lands lying within the State of Missouri" and more land west of it. The United States agreed to pay "three thousand five hundred dollars per annum, for twenty successive years." The treaty also set aside a reservation along the Kansas River.

In a second treaty in 1846, the Kansa ceded "two millions of acres of land" for two hundred and two thousand dollars. Kansapedia, from the Kansas Historical Society, says that left them 256,000 acres near Council Grove. It says that in June 1859 there was a violent confrontation with white settlers, many of whom were "settling on Kaw territory illegally," and that an 1859 treaty "reduced the reserve to 80,000 acres." A Kansas Historical Society article says their trust lands next to it covered another 175,000 acres.

A federal act in May 1872 provided for their removal, Kansapedia says. Chief Allegawaho opposed it, saying: "you whites treat us Kaws like a flock of turkeys." An act of February 14, 1873 appropriated $25,000 for removal, to be repaid from the sale of their Kansas lands, the society's article says. The Kaw left on June 4, 1873 and reached the new reservation on June 21. That article counts 533 people; Kansapedia says 553. The new reservation was 100,137 acres in present Kay County, Oklahoma, land first designated for the Osage.

Good to know. Population counts at removal differ: 533, 553 or about 516.

Summarized with AI assistance from 4 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error