Treaty with The Winnebago
February 27, 1855
Articles of agreement and convention, made and concluded
at Washington City on the twenty-seventh day of February,
eighteen hundred and fifty-five, between George W. Manypenny,
commissioner on the part of the United States, and the following-named
chiefs and delegates representing the Winnebago tribe of Indians,
viz: Waw-kon- chaw-koo-kaw, The Coming Thunder, or Kinnoshik;
Sho-go-nik-kaw, or Little Hill; Maw-he-coo-shah-naw-zhe-kaw,
One that Stands and Reaches the Skies, or Little Decorie;
Waw-kon-chaw-hoo-no-kaw, or Little Thunder; Hoonk-hoo-no-kaw,
Little Chief, or Little Priest; Honch-hutta-kaw, or Big Bear;
Wach-ha-ta-kaw, or Big Canoe; Ha-zum-kee-kaw, or One Horn;
Ha-zee-kaw, or Yellow Bank; and Baptiste Lassallier, they
being thereto duly authorized by said tribe:
Article 1.
The Winnebago Indians hereby cede, sell, and convey to the
United States all their right, title, and interest in, and
to, the tract of land granted to them pursuant to the third
article of the treaty concluded with said tribe, at Washington
City, on the thirteenth day of October, one thousand eight
hundred and forty-six, lying north of St. Peter's River
and west of the Mississippi River, in the Territory of Minnesota,
and estimated to contain about eight hundred and ninety-seven
thousand and nine hundred (897,900) acres; the boundary-lines
of which are thus described, in the second article of the
treaty concluded between the United States and the Chippewa
Indians of the Mississippi and Lake Superior, on the second
day of August, one thousand eight hundred and forty seven,
viz: "Beginning at the junction of the Crow Wing and
Mississippi Rivers; thence, up the Crow Wing River, to the
junction of that river with the Long Prairie River; thence,
up the Long Prairie River, to the boundary line between the
Sioux and Chippewa Indians; thence, southerly, along the said
boundary-line, to a lake at the head of Long Prairie River;
thence, in a direct line, to the sources of the Watab River;
thence, down the Watab to the Mississippi River; thence, up
the Mississippi, to the place of beginning:" Provided,
however, That the portions of said tract embracing the improved
lands of the Indians, the grist and saw mill, and all other
improvements made for or by them, shall be specially reserved
from pre-emption, sale, or settlement until the said mills
and improvements, including the improvements to the land,
shall have been appraised and sold, at public sale, to the
highest bidder, for the benefit of the Indians, but no sale
thereof shall be made for less than the appraised value. And
the President may prescribe such rules and regulations in
relation to said sale as he may deem proper; and the person
or persons purchasing said mills and improvements, shall have
the right, when the land is surveyed, to enter the legal subdivisions
thereof, including the improvements purchased by them, at
one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre.
Article 2.
In consideration of the cessions aforesaid, and in full compensation
therefor, the United States agree to pay to the said Indians,
the sum of seventy thousand dollars, ($70,000,) and to grant
them, as a permanent home, a tract of land equal to eighteen
miles square, on the Blue Earth River, in the Territory of
Minnesota, which shall be selected and located by the agent
of the Government and a delegation of the Winnebagoes, immediately
after the ratification of this instrument, and after the necessary
appropriations to carry it into effect shall have been made;
and a report of such selection and location, shall be made
in writing, to the superintendent of Indian affairs for the
Territory of Minnesota, who shall attach his official signature
to the same, and forward it to the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs; and the country thus selected shall be the permanent
home of the said Indians; Provided, Said tract shall not approach
nearer the Minnesota River than the mouth of the La Serrer
fork of the Blue Earth River.
Article 3.
It is agreed, that the moneys received form the sale of the
Indian improvements, as provided for in the first article,
and the sum stipulated to be paid by the second article of
this instrument, shall be expended under the direction of
the President, in removing the Indians to their new homes,
including those who are now severed from the main body of
the tribe, living in Kansas Territory, Wisconsin, or elsewhere;
in subsisting them a reasonable time after their removal;
in making improvements, such as breaking and fencing land,
and building houses; in purchasing stock, agricultural implements
and household furniture, and for such other objects as may
tend to promote their prosperity and advancement in civilization.
And the said Winnebago Indians agree to remove to their new
homes immediately after the selection of the tract hereinbefore
provided for, is made.
Article 4.
In order to encourage the Winnebago Indians to engage in
agriculture, and such other pursuits as will conduce to their
well-being and improvement, it is agreed: that, at such time
or times as the President may deem advisable, the land herein
provided to be selected as their future home, or such portions
thereof as may be necessary, shall be surveyed; and the President
shall, from time to time, as the Indians may desire it, assign
to each head of a family, or single persons over twenty-one
years of age, a reasonable quantity of land, in one body,
not to exceed eighty acres in any case, for their separate
use; and he may, at his discretion, as the occupants thereof
become capable of managing their business and affairs, issue
patents to them for the tract so assigned to them, respectively;
said tracts to be exempt from taxation, levy, sale, or forfeiture,
until otherwise provided by the legislature of the State in
which they may be situated, with the assent of Congress; nor
shall they be sold or alienated, in fee, within fifteen years
after the date of the patents, and not then, without the assent
of the President of the United States being first obtained.
Prior to the patents being issued, the President shall make
such rules and regulations as he may deem necessary and expedient,
respecting the disposition of any of said tracts, in case
of the death of the person or persons to whom they may be
assigned, so that the same shall be secured to the families
of such deceased person; and should any of the Indians to
whom tracts may be assigned, thereafter abandon them, the
President may take such action in relation to such abandoned
tracts, as in his judgment may be necessary and proper.
Article 5.
All unexpended balances now in the hands of the agent of
the tribe, arising under former treaties, for schools, pay
of interpreter therefor, support of blacksmiths and assistants;
and also of the sum of ten thousand dollars set apart by the
treaty of October thirteenth eighteen hundred and forty-six,
for manual-labor schools, shall be expended and applied, in
the opening of farms, building and fur nishing of houses,
and the purchase of stock for said Indians. And the stipulations
in former treaties providing for the application or expenditure
of particular sums of money for specific purposes, are hereby
so far modified and changed, as to confer upon the President
the power, in his discretion, to cause such sums of money,
in whole or in part, to be expended for, or applied to such
other objects and purposes and in such manner as he shall
deem best calculated to promote the welfare and improvement
of said Indians.
Article 6.
No part of the moneys stipulated to be paid to the Winnebago
Indians by these articles of agreement and convention, nor
any of the future instalments due and payable under former
treaties between them and the United States, shall ever be
taken, by direction of the chiefs, to pay the debts of individual
Indians, contracted in their private dealings, known as national
or tribal debts.
Article 7.
The missionaries, or other persons who are, by authority
of law, now residing on the lands ceded by the first article
of this agreement, shall each have the privilege of entering
one hundred and sixty acres of the said ceded lands, to include
any improvements they may have, at one dollar and twenty-five
cents per acre: and such of the mixed-bloods, as are heads
of families, and now have actual residences and improvements
of their own, in the ceded country, shall each have granted
to them, in fee, eighty acres of land, to include their improvemants:
Provided, however That said entries and grants shall in no
case be upon, or in any manner interfere with, any of the
lands improved by the Governmemt, or by or for the Indians,
or on which the agency building, saw and grist mill, or other
public or Indian improvements have been erected or made.
Article 8.
The laws which have been or may be enacted by Congress, regulating
trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes, shall continue
and be in force within the country herein provided to be selected
as the future permanent home of the Winnebago Indians; and
those portions of said laws which prohibit the introduction,
manufacture, use of, and traffic in, ardent spirits in the
Indian country, shall continue and be in force within the
country herein ceded to the United States, until otherwise
provided by Congress.
Article 9.
All roads and highways authorized by law, the lines of which
may be required to be laid through any part of the country
herein provided as the future permanent home of the Winnebago
Indians, shall have right of way through the same; a fair
and just value of such right being paid to the Indians, in
money, to be assessed and determined according to the laws
in force for the appropriation of land for such purposes.
Article 10.
The said tribe of Indians, jointly and severally, obligate
and bind themselves, not to commit any depredation or wrong
upon other Indians, or upon citizens of the United States;
to conduct themselves at all times in a peaceable and orderly
manner; to submit all difficulties between them and other
Indians to the President, and to abide by his decision; to
respect and observe the laws of the United States, so far
as the same are to them applicable; to settle down in the
peaceful pursuits of life; to commence the cultivation of
the soil; to educate their children, and to abstain from the
use of intoxicating drinks and other vices to which many of
them have been addicted. And the President may withhold from
such of the Winnebagoes as abandon their homes, and refuse
to labor, and from the idle, intemperate, and vicious, the
benefits they may be entitled to under these articles of agreement
and convention, or under articles of former treaties, until
they give evidences of amendment and become settled, and conform
to, and comply, with the stipulations herein provided; or,
should they be heads of families, the same may be appropriated,
under the direction of the President, to the use and enjoyment
of their families.
Article 11.
These articles of agreement and convention, shall be in lieu
of the "Articles of a convention made and concluded between
Willis A. Gorman and Jonathan E. Fletcher, on the part of
the United States, and the chiefs and head-men of the Winnebago
tribe of Indians, on the 6th day of August, A.D. 1853,"
and the amendments of the Senate thereto, as expressed in
its resolution of July twenty-first eighteen hundred and fifty-four;
to which amendments the said Winnebago Indians refused to
give their assent, which refusal was communicated to the Commissioner
of Indian Affairs, by the governor of Minnesota Territory,
on the twenty-fourth of January, eighteen hundred and fifty-five.
Article 12.
The United States will pay the necessary expenses incurred
by the Winnebago delegates in making their present visit to
Washington, while here, and in returning to their homes.
Article 13.
This instrument shall be obligatory on the contracting parties
as soon as the same shall be ratified by the President and
the Senate of the United States.
In testimony whereof the said George W. Manypenny, commissioner
as aforesaid, and the said chiefs and delegates of the Winnebago
tribe of Indians, have hereunto set their hands and seals,
at the place and on the day and year hereinbefore written.
- George W. Manypenny, commissioner, [L. S.]
- Waw-kon-chaw-koo-haw, the Coming Thunder, or Win-no-shik, his x mark [L. S.]
- Sho-go-nik-kaw, or Little Hill his x mark [L. S.]
- Maw-he-coo-shaw-naw-zhe-kaw, One that Stands and Reaches the Skies, or Little Decorie, his x mark [L. S.]
- Waw-kon-chaw-hoo-no-kaw, or Little Thunder, his x mark [L. S].
- Hoonk-hoo-no-kaw, Little Chief or Little Priest his x mark [L. S.]
- Honch-hutta-kaw, or Big Bear, his x mark [L. S.]
- Watch-ha-ta-kaw, or Big Canoe, his x mark [L. S.]
- Ha-zhun-kee-kaw, or One Horn, his x mark [L. S.]
- Ha-zee-kaw, or Yellow Bank, His x mark, [L. S.]
- Baptiste Lasallier.
In presence of -
- Geo. Culver,
- Asa White,
- John Dowling,
- J. E. Fletcher,
- Peter Manaiy, United States interpreter.
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