Treaty with The Crow
May 7, 1868
Articles of a treaty made and concluded at Fort Laramie,
Dakota Territory, on the seventh day of May, in the year of
our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, by and
between the undersigned commissioners on the part of the United
States, and the undersigned chiefs and head-men of and representing
the Crow Indians, they being duly authorized to act in the
premises.
Article 1.
From this day forward peace between the parties to this treaty
shall forever continue. The Government of the United States
desires peace, and its honor is hereby pledged to keep it.
The Indians desire peace, and they hereby pledge their honor
to maintain it. If bad men among the whites or among other
people, subject to the authority of the United States, shall
commit any wrong upon the person or property of the Indians,
the United States will, upon proof made to the agent and forwarded
to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs at Washington City,
proceed at once to cause the offender to be arrested and punished
according to the laws of the United States, and also re-imburse
the injured person for the loss sustained.
If bad men among the Indians shall commit a wrong or depredation
upon the person or property of any one, white, black, or Indian,
subject to the authority of the United States and at peace
therewith, the Indians herein named solemnly agree that they
will, on proof made to their agent and notice by him, deliver
up the wrong-doer to the United States, to be tried and punished
according to its laws; and in case they refuse willfully so
to do the person injured shall be re-imbursed for his loss
from the annuities or other moneys due or to become due to
them under this or other treaties made with the United States.
And the President, on advising with the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs, shall prescribe such rules and regulations for ascertaining
damages under the provisions of this article as in his judgment
may be proper. But no such damages shall be adjusted and paid
until thoroughly examined and passed upon by the Commissioner
of Indian Affairs, and no one sustaining loss while violating,
or because of his violating, the provisions of this treaty
or the laws of the United States shall be re-imbursed therefor.
Article 2.
The United States agrees that the following district of country,
to wit: commencing where the 107th degree of longitude west
of Greenwich crosses the south boundary of Montana Territory;
thence north along said 107th meridian to the mid-channel
of the Yellowstone River; thence up said mid-channel of the
Yellowstone to the point where it crosses the said southern
boundary of Montana, being the 45th degree of north latitude;
and thence east along said parallel of latitude to the place
of beginning, shall be, and the same is, set apart for the
absolute and undisturbed use and occupation of the Indians
herein named, and for such other friendly tribes or individual
Indians as from to time they may be willing, with the consent
of the United States, to admit amongst them; and the United
States now solemnly agrees that no persons, except those herein
designated and authorized so to do, and except such officers,
agents, and employés of the Government as may be authorized
to enter upon Indian reservations in discharge of duties enjoined
by law, shall ever be permitted to pass over, settle upon,
or reside in the territory described in this article for the
use of said Indians, and henceforth they will, and do hereby,
relinquish all title, claims, or rights in and to any portion
of the territory of the United States, except such as is embraced
within the limits aforesaid.
Article 3.
The United States agrees, at its own proper expense, to construct
on the south side of the Yellowstone, near Otter Creek, a
warehouse or store-room for the use of the agent in storing
goods belonging to the Indians, to cost not exceeding twenty-five
hundred dollars; an agency-building for the residence of the
agent, to cost not exceeding three thousand dollars; a residence
for the physician, to cost not more than three thousand dollars;
and five other buildings, for a carpenter, farmer, blacksmith,
miller, and engineer, each to cost not exceeding two thousand
dollars; also a school-house or mission-building, so soon
as a sufficient number of children can be induced by the agent
to attend school, which shall not cost exceeding twenty-five
hundred dollars.
The United States agrees further to cause to be erected on
said reservation, near the other buildings herein authorized,
a good steam circular saw-mill, with a grist-mill and shingle-machine
attached, the same to cost not exceeding eight thousand dollars.
Article 4.
The Indians herein named agree, when the agency-house and
other buildings shall be constructed on the reservation named,
they will make said reservation their permanent home, and
they will make no permanent settlement elsewhere, but they
shall have the right to hunt on the unoccupied lands of the
United States so long as game may be found thereon, and as
long as peace subsists among the whites and Indians on the
borders of the hunting districts.
Article 5.
The United States agrees that the agent for said Indians
shall in the future make his home at the agency-building;
that he shall reside among them, and keep an office open at
all times for the purpose of prompt and diligent inquiry into
such matters of complaint, by and against the Indians, as
may be presented for investigation under the provisions of
their treaty stipulations, as also for the faithful discharge
of other duties enjoined on him by law. In all cases of depredation
on person or property, he shall cause the evidence to be taken
in writing and forwarded, together with his finding, to the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, whose decision shall be binding
on the parties to this treaty.
Article 6.
If any individual belonging to said tribes of Indians, or
legally incorporated with them, being the head of a family,
shall desire to commence farming, he shall have the privilege
to select, in the presence and with the assistance of the
agent then in charge, a tract of land within said reservation,
not exceeding three hundred and twenty acres in extent, which
tract, when so selected, certified, and recorded in the "land
book," as herein directed, shall cease to be held in common,
but the same may be occupied and held in the exclusive possession
of the person selecting it, and of his family, so long as
he or they may continue to cultivate it.
Any person over eighteen years of age, not being the head
of a family, may in like manner select and cause to be certified
to him or her, for purposes of cultivation, a quantity of
land not exceeding eighty acres in extent, and thereupon be
entitled to the exclusive possession of the same as above
directed.
For each tract of land so selected a certificate, containing
a description thereof and the name of the person selecting
it, with a certificate endorsed thereon that the same has
been recorded, shall be delivered to the party entitled to
it by the agent, after the same shall have been recorded by
him in a book to be kept in his office, subject to inspection,
which said book shall be known as the "Crow land book."
The President may at any time order a survey of the reservation,
and, when so surveyed, Congress shall provide for protecting
the rights of settlers in their improvements, and may fix
the character of the title held by each. The United States
may pass such laws on the subject of alienation and descent
of property as between Indians, and on all subjects connected
with the government of the Indians on said reservations and
the internal police thereof, as may be thought proper.
Article 7.
In order to insure the civilization of the tribe entering
into this treaty, the necessity of education is admitted,
especially by such of them as are, or may be, settled on said
agricultural reservation; and they therefore pledge themselves
to compel their children, male and female, between the ages
of six and sixteen years, to attend school; and it is hereby
made the duty of the agent for said Indians to see that this
stipulation is strictly complied with; and the United States
agrees that for every thirty children, between said ages,
who can be induced or compelled to attend school, a house
shall be provided, and a teacher, competent to teach the elementary
branches of an English education, shall be furnished, who
will reside among said Indians, and faithfully discharge his
or her duties as a teacher. The provisions of this article
to continue for twenty years.
Article 8.
When the head of a family or lodge shall have selected lands
and received his certificate as above directed, and the agent
shall be satisfied that he intends in good faith to commence
cultivating the soil for a living, he shall be entitled to
receive seed and agricultural implements for the first year
in value one hundred dollars, and for each succeeding year
he shall continue to farm, for a period of three years more,
he shall be entitled to receive seed and implements as aforesaid
in value twenty-five dollars per annum.
And it is further stipulated that such persons as commence
farming shall receive instructions from the farmer herein
provided for, and whenever more than one hundred persons shall
enter upon the cultivation of the soil, a second blacksmith
shall be provided, with such iron, steel, and other material
as may be required.
Article 9.
In lieu of all sums of money or other annuities provided
to be paid to the Indians herein named, under any and all
treaties heretofore made with them, the United States agrees
to deliver at the agency house, on the reservation herein
provided for, on the first day of September of each year for
thirty years, the following articles, to wit:
For each male person, over fourteen years of age, a suit
of good substantial woolen clothing, consisting of coat, hat,
pantaloons, flannel shirt, and a pair of woolen socks.
For each female, over twelve years of age, a flannel skirt,
or the goods necessary to make it, a pair of woolen hose,
twelve yards of calico, and twelve yards of cotton domestics.
For the boys and girls under the ages named, such flannel
and cotton goods as may be needed to make each a suit as aforesaid,
together with a pair of woollen hose for each.
And in order that the Commissioner of Indian Affairs may
be able to estimate properly for the articles herein named,
it shall be the duty of the agent, each year, to forward to
him a full and exact census of the Indians, on which the estimate
from year to year can be based.
And, in addition to the clothing herein named, the sum of
ten dollars shall be annually appropriated for each Indian
roaming, and twenty dollars for each Indian engaged in agriculture,
for a period of ten years, to be used by the Secretary of
the Interior in the purchase of such articles as, from time
to time, the condition and necessities of the Indians may
indicate to be proper. And if, at any time within the ten
years, it shall appear that the amount of money needed for
clothing, under this article, can be appropriated to better
uses for the tribe herein named, Congress may, by law, change
the appropriation to other purposes; but in no event shall
the amount of this appropriation be withdrawn or discontinued
for the period named. And the President shall annually detail
an officer of the Army to be present and attest the delivery
of all the goods herein named to the Indians, and he shall
inspect and report on the quantity and quality of the goods
and the manner of their delivery; and it is expressly stipulated
that each Indian over the age of four years, who shall have
removed to and settled permanently upon said reservation,
and complied with the stipulations of this treaty, shall be
entitled to receive from the United States, for the period
of four years after he shall have settled upon said reservation,
one pound of meat and one pound of flour per day, provided
the Indians cannot furnish their own subsistence at an earlier
date. And it is further stipulated that the United States
will furnish and deliver to each lodge of Indians, or family
of persons legally incorporated with them, who shall remove
to the reservation herein described, and commence farming,
one good American cow and one good, well-broken pair of American
oxen, within sixty days after such lodge or family shall have
so settled upon said reservation.
Article 10.
The United States hereby agrees to furnish annually to the
Indians the physician, teachers, carpenter, miller, engineer,
farmer, and blacksmiths as herein contemplated, and that such
appropriations shall be made from time to time, on the estimates
of the Secretary of the Interior, as will be sufficient to
employ such persons.
Article 11.
No treaty for the cession of any portion of the reservation
herein described, which may be held in common, shall be of
any force or validity as against the said Indians unless executed
and signed by, at least, a majority of all the adult male
Indians occupying or interested in the same, and no cession
by the tribe shall be understood or construed in such a manner
as to deprive, without his consent, any individual member
of the tribe of his right to any tract of land selected by
him as provided in Article 6 of this treaty.
Article 12.
It is agreed that the sum of five hundred dollars annually,
for three years from the date when they commence to cultivate
a farm, shall be expended in presents to the ten persons of
said tribe who, in the judgment of the agent, may grow the
most valuable crops for the respective year.
- W. T. Sherman,
- Lieutenant-General.
- Wm. S. Harney,
- Brevet Major-General and Peace Commissioner.
- Alfred H. Terry,
- Brevet Major-General.
- C. C. Augur,
- Brevet Major-General.
- John B. Sanborn.
- S. F. Tappan.
- Ashton S. H. White, Secretary.
- Che-ra-pee-ish-ka-te, Pretty Bull, his x mark. [SEAL.]
- Chat-sta-he, Wolf Bow, his x mark. [SEAL.]
- Ah-be-che-se, Mountain Tail, his x mark. [SEAL.]
- Kam-ne-but-sa, Black Foot, his x mark. [SEAL.]
- De-sal-ze-cho-se, White Horse, his x mark. [SEAL.]
- Chin-ka-she-arache, Poor Elk, his x mark. [SEAL.]
- E-sa-woor, Shot in the Jaw, his x mark. [SEAL.]
- E-sha-chose, White Forehead, his x mark. [SEAL.]
- Roo-ka, Pounded Meat, his x mark. [SEAL.]
- De-ka-ke-up-se, Bird in the Neck, his x mark. [SEAL.]
- Me-na-che, The Swan, his x mark. [SEAL.]
Attest:
- George B. Wills, phonographer.
- John D. Howland.
- Alex. Gardner.
- David Knox.
- Chas. Freeman.
- Jas. C. O'Connor.
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