Treaty with The Potawatomi
February 27, 1867
Articles of agreement concluded at Washington, D. C.,
on the twenty-seventh day of February, 1867, between the United
States, represented by Lewis G. Bogy, Commissioner of Indian
Affairs, W. H. Watson, special commissioner, Thos. Murphy,
supt. of Indian affairs for Kansas, and Luther R. Palmer,
U. S. Indian agent, duly authorized, and the Pottawatomie
tribe of Indians, represented by their chiefs, braves, and
head-men, to wit: Mazhee, Mianco, Shawgwe, B. H. Bertrand,
J. N. Bourassa, M. B. Beaubien, L. H. Ogee, and G. L. Young.
Whereas 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, while there is yet an opportunity
for the selection of a suitable reservation; and whereas the
tribe has the means of purchasing such reservation from funds
to arise from the sale of lands under the provisions of this
treaty, without interfering with the exclusive rights of those
of their people who hold their lands in common to the ownership
of their diminished reserve, held by them in common, or with
their right to receive their just proportion of the moneys
arising from the sale of unallotted lands, known as surplus
lands: Now, therefore, it is agreed-
Article 1.
It being the intention of the Government that a commission
shall visit the Indian country as soon as practicable after
the ratification of the treaties contemplating the removal
of certain tribes from Kansas, accompanied by delegates from
the several tribes proposing to remove, it is agreed that
a delegation of the Pottawatomies may accompany said commission
in order to select, if possible, a suitable location for their
people without interfering with the locations made for other
Indians; and if such location shall be found satisfactory
to the Pottawatomies, and approved by the Secretary of the
Interior, such tract of land, not exceeding thirty miles square,
shall be set apart as a reservation for the exclusive use
and occupancy of that tribe; and upon the survey of its lines
and boundaries, and ascertaining of its area, and payment
to the United States for the same, as hereinafter mentioned
and set forth, the said tract shall be patented to the Pottawatomie
Nation: Provided, That if the said Pottawatomies shall prefer
to select a new home among the Cherokees, by agreement with
the said Cherokees, for a price within the means of the Pottawatomies,
the Government will confirm such agreement.
Article 2.
In case the new reservation shall be selected upon the lands
purchased by the Government from the Creeks, Seminoles, or
Choctaws, the price to be paid for said reservation shall
not exceed the cost of the same to the Government of the United
States; and the sum to be paid by the tribe for said reservation
shall be taken from the amount which may be received for the
lands which were offered for sale to the Leavenworth, Pawnee,
and Western Railroad Company, under the treaty dated November
fifteen, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, which amount shall
be the common property of the tribe, except the Prairie band,
who shall have no interest in said reservation to be purchased
as aforesaid, but in lieu thereof shall receive their pro
rata share of the proceeds of the sale of said land in money,
as the same may be received: Provided, That if the United
States shall advance the amount necessary to purchase the
said reservation, the interest due upon the deferred payments
for said lands, sold as hereinafter provided, shall, when
received by the United States, be retained and credited to
said tribe interested in said reservation, or so much of said
interest as may be due said tribe under this treaty: And provided
further, That the Leavenworth, Pawnee and Western Railroad
Company, their successors and assigns, having failed to purchase
said lands, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé Railroad
Company may, within thirty days after the promulgation of
this treaty, purchase of the said Pottawatomies their said
unallotted lands, except as hereinafter provided, to St. Mary's
Mission, at the price of one dollar per acre, lawful money
of the United States, and upon filing their bond for the purchase
and payment of said lands in due form, to be approved by the
Secretary of the Interior within the time above named, the
Secretary of the Interior shall issue to the last-named railroad
company certificates of purchase, and such certificates of
purchase shall be deemed and holden, in all courts, as evidence
of title and possession in the said railroad company to all
or any part of said lands, unless the same shall be forfeited
as herein provided. The said purchase-money shall be paid
to the Secretary of the Interior in trust for said Indians
within five years from the date of such purchase, with interest
at the rate of six per cent. per annum on all deferred payments,
until the whole purchase-money shall have been paid; and before
any patents shall issue for any part of said lands, one hundred
thousand dollars shall be deposited with the Secretary of
the Interior, to be forfeited in case the whole of the lands
are not paid for as herein provided; (said money may be applied
as the payment for the last one hundred thousand acres of
said land;) payments shall also be made for at least one-fourth
of said unallotted lands at the rate of one dollar per acre,
and when so paid the President is authorized hereby to issue
patents for the land so paid for; and then for every additional
part of said land upon the payment of one dollar per acre.
The interest on said purchase-money shall be paid annually
to the Secretary of the Interior for the use of said Indians.
If the said company shall fail to pay the principal when the
same shall become due, or to pay all or any part of the interest
upon such purchase-money within thirty (30) days after the
time when such payment of interest shall fall due, then this
contract shall be deemed and held absolutely null and void,
and cease to be binding upon either of the parties thereto,
and said company and its assigns shall forfeit all payments
of principal and interest made on such purchase, and all right
and title, legal and equitable, of any kind whatsoever, in
and to all and every part of said lands which shall not have
been, before the date of such forfeiture, paid for as herein
provided: Provided, however, That in case any of said lands
have been conveyed to bona-fide purchasers by said Atchison,
Topeka and Santa Fé Railroad Company, such purchasers
shall be entitled to patents for said land so purchased by
them upon the payment of one dollar and twenty-five cents
per acre therefor, under such rules and regulations as may
be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior.
Article 3.
After such reservation shall have been selected and set apart
for the Pottawatomies, it shall never be included within the
jurisdiction of any State or Territory, unless an Indian Territory
shall be organized, as provided for in certain treaties made
in eighteen hundred and sixty-six with the Choctaws and other
tribes occupying "Indian country;" in which case,
or in case of the organization of a legislative council or
other body, for the regulation of matters affecting the relations
of the tribes to each other, the Pottawatomies resident thereon
shall have the right to representation, according to their
numbers, on equal terms with the other tribes.
Article 4.
A register shall be made, under the direction of the agent
and the business committee of the tribe, within two years
after the ratification of this treaty, which shall show the
names of all members of the tribe who declare their desire
to remove to the new reservation, and of all who desire to
remain and to become citizens of the United States; and after
the filing of such register in the office of the Commissioner
of Indian Affairs, all existing restrictions shall be removed
from the sale and alienation of lands by adults who shall
have declared their intention to remove to the new reservation:
But, provided, That no person shall be allowed to receive
to his own use the avails of the sale of his land, unless
he shall have received the certificate of the agent and business
committee that he is fully competent to manage his own affairs;
nor shall any person also be allowed to sell and receive the
proceeds of the sale of the lands belonging to his family,
unless the certificate of the agent and business committee
shall declare him competent to take the charge of their property;
but such persons may negotiate for the sales of their property
and that of their families, and any contracts for sales so
made, if certified by the agent and business committee to
be at reasonable rates, shall be confirmed by the Secretary
of the Interior, and patents shall issue to the purchaser
upon full payment; and all payments for such land shall be
made to the agent, and the funds by him deposited on the first
of each month in some Government depository to be designated
by the Secretary of the Treasury, and triplicate certificates
of deposit taken therefor, one to be forwarded to the Commissioner
of Indian Affairs, one to be retained at the agency, and the
third to be sent to the superintendent of Indian affairs for
Kansas; after which deposit the United States will be responsible
for said funds until drawn out for use as hereinafter provided,
and the bonds of the agent shall be increased to a sufficient
amount to cover his increased liabilities under this section.
Article 5.
The moneys received and deposited as provided in the preceding
article shall be retained until the party on whose behalf
it is held shall be ready to remove to the new reservation,
and shall then, or such part thereof as may from time to time
be necessary, be drawn out, under the direction of the Commissioner
of Indian Affairs, by the agent, and expended for the benefit
of the owner in providing for his removal and that of his
family to the new reservation, and in such articles and for
such uses as may, with the advice of the business committee,
be deemed for his best interest at his new home.
Article 6.
The provisions of article third of the treaty of November
fifteenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-one [April nineteenth,
eighteen hundred and sixty-two], relative to Pottawatomies
who desire to become citizens, shall continue in force, with
the additional provisions that, before patents shall issue
and full payments be made to such persons, a certificate shall
be necessary from the agent and business committee that the
applicant is competent to manage his own affairs; and when
computation is made to ascertain the amount of the funds to
the tribe to which such applicants are entitled, the amounts
invested in the new reservation provided for in the treaty
shall not be taken into account; and where any member of the
tribe shall become a citizen under the provisions of the said
treaty of eighteen hundred and sixty-two, the families of
said parties shall also be considered as citizens, and the
head of the family shall be entitled to patents and the proportional
share of funds belonging to his family; and women who are
also heads of families, and single women of adult age, may
become citizens in the same manner as males.
Article 7.
[Stricken out.]
Article 8.
Where allottees under the treaty of eighteen hundred and
sixty-one shall have died, or shall hereafter decease, such
allottees shall be regarded, for the purpose of a careful
and just settlement of their estates, as citizens of the United
States, and of the State of Kansas, and it shall be competent
for the proper courts to take charge of the settlement of
their estates under all the forms and in accordance with the
laws of the State, as in the case of other citizens deceased:
and in cases where there are children of allottees left orphans,
guardians for such orphans may be appointed by the probate
court of the county in which such orphans may reside, and
such guardians shall give bonds, to be approved by the said
court, for the proper care of the person and estate of such
orphans, as provided by law.
Article 9.
It is agreed that an examination shall be made of the books
of the Indian Office in order to ascertain what amount is
justly due to the Pottawatomies under the provisions of their
treaties of eighteen hundred and eighteen and eighteen hundred
and twenty-nine, providing for the payment of their annuities
in coin, whereas they have been paid for several years in
currency; and the result of such examination shall be reported
to Congress, and the difference in amount due to said Indians
shall be paid to them.
Article 10.
It is further agreed that, upon the presentation to the Department
of the Interior of the claims of said tribe for depredations
committed by others upon their stock, timber, or other property,
accompanied by evidence thereof, examination and report shall
be made to Congress of the amount found to be equitably due,
in order that such action may be taken as shall be just in
the premises.
And it is further agreed that the claims of the Pottawatomies
heretofore examined and reported on by the Secretary of the
Interior under the act of Congress of March two, eighteen
hundred and sixty-one, shall be submitted to two commissioners,
to be named by the President of the United States, for examination,
and said commissioners, after being sworn impartially to decide
on said claims, shall make report of their judgment in the
premises, together with the evidence taken, to the Secretary
of the Interior, and the same shall be communicated to Congress
at its next session: Provided, That no part of the money reported
due by the said commissioners shall be paid until the same
shall be appropriated by Congress.
Article 11.
The half sections of land heretofore set apart for the mission-schools,
to wit, those of the St. Mary's mission, and the American
Baptist mission, shall be granted in fee-simple, the former
to John F. Diels, John Schoenmaker and M. Gillaud, and the
latter to such party as the American Baptist Board of Missions
shall designate.
And the said John F. Deils, John Shoemaker, and M. Gillaud
shall have the right to purchase in a compact body ten hundred
and thirteen 54-100 acres of the unallotted lands at the price
of one dollar per acre, to be paid to the Secretary of the
Interior, for the use of said tribe, and when the consideration
shall be paid as aforesaid the President shall issue patents
to said purchasers therefor: and in selecting said ten hundred
and thirteen 54-100 acres, said purchasers shall have the
preference over all other parties.
Article 12.
No provisions of this treaty shall be held to apply in such
manner as to authorize any interference with the exclusive
rights in their own lands of those members of the tribe who
hold their lands in common; but such Indians shall be entitled
to their share in the ownership of the new reservation; and
it shall not be necessary at any future time to treat with
the representatives of the whole people for a cession of the
lands of those who hold in common, but special treaty arrangements
may be made at any time with the class of persons last named
for the sale of their lands, and the disposition to be made
of the proceeds thereof.
Article 13.
All provisions of former treaties inconsistent with the provisions
of this treaty shall be hereafter null and void.
Article 14.
The expenses of negotiating this treaty shall be paid by
the United States, not to exceed six thousand dollars.
In testimony whereof, the aforenamed commissioners on behalf
of the United States, and on behalf of the Pottawatomies the
aforenamed chiefs, braves, and headmen, have hereunto set
their hands and seals the day and year first above mentioned.
- Lewis V. Bogy, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. [SEAL.]
- W. H. Watson, Special Commissioner. [SEAL.]
- Thos. Murphy, Superintendent of Indian Affairs. [SEAL.]
- L. R. Palmer, United States Indian agent. [SEAL.]
- Mazhee, his x mark. [SEAL.]
- Mianco, his x mark. [SEAL.]
- Shawgwe, his x mark. [SEAL.]
- B. H. Bertrand. [SEAL.]
- J. N. Bourassa. [SEAL.]
- M. B. Beaubien. [SEAL.]
- L. H. Ogee. [SEAL.]
- George L. Young. [SEAL.]
In presence of-
- J. N. Bourassa, United States interpreter.
- Lewis S. Hayden.
- H. W. Farnsworth.
- Vital Jarrot.
- W. R. Irwin.
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