Alabama Land Cessions Map

Alabama Land Cessions Map

The Alabama Land Cessions map, created in 1896 by A. Hoen Company for the Bureau of American Ethnology, illustrates land cessions in Alabama up to that year, based on Charles C. Royce’s compilation. It details 16 cessions defined by treaties with various tribes, including the Choctaws, Cherokees, and Chickasaws. Each cession reflects historical agreements regarding territory relinquished to the United States, showcasing the complex interactions between Native American tribes and the federal government over land rights.

Alabama Land Cessions by Native American Tribes

The Native American tribes of Alabama who ceded lands to the United States Government. Included in this list, were the tribes names at the time of the cession, and present day tribal name. The maps for the table can be found beneath the table.

Treaty of February 15, 1861

Articles of agreement and convention made and concluded at Fort Wise, in the Territory of Kansas, on the eighteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, by and between Albert G. Boone and F. B. Culver, commissioners on the part of the United States, and the following named chiefs and delegates, representing the confederated tribes of Arapahoe and Cheyenne Indians of the Upper Arkansas River, viz: Little Raven, Storm, Shave-Head, and Big-Mouth, (on the part of the Arapahoes), and Black Kettle, White Antelope, Lean Bear, Little Wolf, and Left Hand, or Namos … Read more

Treaty of May 15, 1846

Treaty with the Comanches and other tribes. Articles of a treaty made and concluded at Council Springs in the county of Robinson, Texas, near the Brazos River, this 15th day of May, A. D. 1846, between P. M. Butler and M. G. Lewis, commissioners on the part of the United States, of the one part, and the undersigned chiefs, counselors, and warriors of the Comanche, I-on-i, Ana-da-ca, Cadoe, Lepan, Long-wha, Keechy, Tah-wa-carro, Wichita, and Wacoe tribes of Indians, and their associate bands, in behalf of their said tribes, on the other part. Article I. The undersigned chiefs, warriors, and counselors, … Read more

An Act to Provide for the Allotment of Lands, Approved, February, 8, 1887

Section I. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in all cases where any tribe or band of Indians has been, or shall hereafter be, located upon any reservation created for their use, either by treaty stipulation or by virtue of an act of Congress or executive order setting apart the same for their use, the President of the United States be, and he hereby is, authorized, whenever in his opinion any reservation or any part thereof of such Indians is advantageous for agricultural and grazing purposes, … Read more

Supplementary Articles to the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek

Article I. Various Choctaw persons have been presented by the Chiefs of the nation, with a desire that they might be provided for. Being particularly deserving, an earnestness has been manifested that provision might be made for them. It is therefore by the undersigned commissioners here assented to, with the understanding that they are to have no interest in the reservations which are directed and provided for under the general Treaty to which this is a supplement. See Further: Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek As evidence of the liberal and kind feelings of the President and Government of the United … Read more

Treaty of 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 … Read more

Supplemental Article of April 27, 1868

Supplemental article to a treaty concluded at Washington City, July 19th, A. D. 1866; ratified with amendments, July 27th, A. D. 1866; amendments accepted, July 31st, A. D. 1866; and the whole proclaimed, August 11th, A. D. 1866, between the United States of America and the Cherokee Nation of Indians. Whereas under the provisions of the seventeenth article of a treaty and amendments thereto made between the United States and the Cherokee Nation of Indians, and proclaimed August 11th, A. D. 1866, a contract was made and entered into by James Harlan, Secretary of the Interior, on behalf of the … Read more

Treaty of February 19, 1867

Whereas it is understood that a portion of the Sissiton and Warpeton bands of Santee Sioux Indians, numbering from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred persons, not only preserved their obligations to the Government of the United States, during and since the outbreak of the Medewakantons and other bands of Sioux in 1862, but freely periled their lives during that outbreak to rescue the residents on the Sioux reservation, and to obtain possession of white women and children made captives by the hostile bands; and that another portion of said Sissiton and Warpeton bands, numbering from one thousand to twelve hundred … Read more

Treaty of June 1, 1868

Navajo, 1 June 1868 Treaty (1)

The 1868 Navajo Treaty enabled roughly 8,000 Navajo individuals to return from detainment in New Mexico to a 100-square-mile reservation along the borders of Arizona and New Mexico. This treaty concluded numerous years of Navajo disputes with the Spanish, Mexicans, and U.S. forces, and initiated the consolidation of the Navajo people into a single legal entity.

Treaty of March 2, 1868

Articles of a treaty and agreement made and entered into at Washington City, D. C., on the second day of March, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, by and between Nathaniel G. Taylor, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Alexander C. Hunt, governor of Colorado Territory and ex-officio superintendent of Indian affairs, and Kit Carson, duly authorized to represent the United States, of the one part, and the representatives of the Tabaquache, Muache, Capote, Weeminuche, Yampa, Grand River, and Uintah bands of Ute Indians, (whose names are hereto subscribed,) duly authorized and empowered to act for the body of the people of … Read more

Agreement of September 20, 1872

Whereas, the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands of Dakota or Sioux Indians made and concluded a treaty with the United States, at the city of Washington, D. C., on the 19th day of February, A. D. 1867, which was ratified, with certain amendments, by the Senate of the United States on the 15th day of April, 1868, and finally promulgated by the President of the United States on the 2d day of May, in the year aforesaid, by which the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands of Sioux Indians ceded to the United States certain privileges and rights supposed to belong to said … Read more

Amended Agreement of May 2, 1873

Whereas, the Sisseton and Wahpeton Bands of Dakota or Sioux Indians, on the 20th day of September A. D. 1872 made and entered into an agreement in writing, signed on one part by the Chiefs and headmen of said bands, with the assent and approval of the members of [said] bands, and upon the other part by Moses N. Adams, James Smith, jr., and William H. Forbes, commissioners on the part of the United States; which said agreement is as follows, to wit: “Whereas, the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands of Dakota or Sioux Indians made and concluded a treaty with … Read more

Agreement of October 17, 1882

This agreement made pursuant to an item in the sundry civil act of Congress, approved August 7, 1882, by Newton Edmunds, Peter C. Shannon, and James H. Teller, duly appointed commissioners on the part of the United States, and the different bands of the Sioux Indians by their chiefs and headmen whose names are hereto subscribed, they being duly authorized to act in the premises, witnesseth that— Article 1. Whereas it is the policy of the Government of the United States to provide for said Indians a permanent home where they may live after the manner of white men, and … Read more

Agreement of May 14, 1880

The chiefs of the Crow tribe of Indians now present in Washington hereby give their own consent and promise to use their best endeavors to procure the consent of the adult male members of said tribe to cede to the United States all that part of the present Crow reservation in the Territory of Montana described as follows, to wit: Beginning in mid-channel of the Yellowstone River, at a point opposite the mouth of Boulder Creek; thence up the mid-channel of said river to the point where it crosses the southern boundary of Montana, being the forty-fifth degree of north … Read more

Agreement of July 7, 1883

In the conference with chief Moses and Sar-sarp-kin, of the Columbia reservation, and Tonaskat and Lot, of the Colville reservation, had this day, the following was substantially what was asked for by the Indians: Tonasket asked for a saw and grist mill, a boarding school to be established at Bonaparte Creek to accommodate one hundred pupils (100), and a physician to reside with them, and $100. (one hundred) to himself each year. Sar-sarp-kin asked to be allowed to remain on the Columbia reservation with his people, where they now live, and to be protected in their rights as settlers, and … Read more

Treaty of June 24, 1862

Articles of agreement and convention, made and concluded at Washington City, on the twenty-fourth day of June, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, by and between William P. Dole, commissioner, on the part of the United States, and the following-named chief and councilmen of the Ottawa Indians of the united bands of Blanchard’s Fork and of Roche de Bœuf, now in Franklin County, Kansas, viz: Pem-ach-wung, chief; John T. Jones, William Hurr, and James Wind, councilmen, they being thereto duly authorized by said tribe. Article 1. The Ottawa Indians of the united bands of Blanchard’s Fork and of Roche de Bœuf, having … Read more

Agreement of July 27, 1866

Articles of agreement and convention made and concluded at Fort Berthold in the Territory of Dakota, on the twenty-seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, by and between Newton Edmunds, governor and ex-officio superintendent of Indian affairs of Dakota Territory; Major General S. R. Curtis, Orrin Guernsey and Henry W. Reed, commissioners appointed on the part of the United States to make treaties with the Indians of the Upper Missouri; and the chiefs and headmen of the Arickaree tribe of Indians, Witnessed as follows: Article I. Perpetual peace, friendship, and amity … Read more

Treaty of June 14, 1866

Treaty of cession and indemnity concluded at the city of Washington on the fourteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, by and between the United States, represented by Dennis N. Cooley, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Elija Sells, superintendent of Indian affairs for the southern superintendency, and Col. Ely S. Parker, special commissioner, and the Creek Nation of Indians, represented by Ok-tars-sars-harjo, or Sands; Cow-e-to-me-co and Che-chu-chee, delegates at large, and D. N. McIntosh and James Smith, special delegates of the Southern Creeks. Preamble. Whereas existing treaties between the United States and … Read more

Treaty of April 28, 1866

Articles of agreement and convention between the United States and the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations of Indians, made and concluded at the City of Washington the twenty-eighth day of April, in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-six, by Dennis N. Cooley, Elijah Sells, and E. S. Parker, special commissioners on the part of the United States, and Alfred Wade, Allen Wright, James Riley, and John Page, commissioners on the part of the Choctaws, and Winchester Colbert, Edmund Pickens, Holmes Colbert, Colbert Carter, and Robert H. Love, commissioners on the part of the Chickasaws. Article 1. Permanent peace and friendship are … Read more